Originally Posted By: wfaulk
Originally Posted By: drakino
some type of simplified consumer electronics computing device will

The problem is, generally speaking, people don't want to pay more for a less capable device. If the iPad were $150, I would likely have none of these complaints.

$500 may be the best price point they could make, but it's just still far too expensive for what it is.

$500 to me doesn't seem unreasonable for what it does. Especially when compared directly against a Kindle DX at $490. $150 would mean it's $110 cheeper then the normal sized Kindle you own. Plenty of people are buying "less capable" devices like the Kindle or Nook to read ebooks on versus buying a cheep netbook. In time, it will probably drop in price a bit, but for the most part, having a high quality screen viewable at any angle (very important in a device usable in any orientation), along with the battery life and functionality is going to demand a certain price range.

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Honestly, the thing that's going to make a device like this work is cheap ubiquitous data service. Right now, if grandma wants one as her first internet device, not only is she going to have to pay $500, she's going to also have to pay an additional $300 for the GSM version plus a $40 monthly bill for the service, or she's going to have to pay an additional $50 for a wireless router plus a $30 monthly bill for some sort of broadband service. That cost is $0 to you and me because we already have the infrastructure to support an iPad, but it's not insignificant to those that don't.

$629-$499 = $130 for GSM (and GPS), not $300. And data plans are $15 or $30. Though your point does stand, internet access in the US is still stupidly priced compared to most other places in the world. However, that data price is going to be a constant, no matter what the base product is.