Watch Out Amazon, The iPad 2 Is Now Just $399

Matt Burns

Matt is a Senior Editor at TechCrunch. Matt Burns is a family man first and attempts to be a writer second. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, only cars eclipse his love of gadgets. He previously wrote for Engadget and EngadgetHD before moving into the party house that is TechCrunch. He learned the retail side of... → Learn More

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
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There was a debate over the last few months regarding the iPad 2. Some said the iPad 3, now known as the new iPad, would replace the iPad 2. Others, including myself, speculated that the similar form factor and slightly upgraded specs (plus it’s still selling like gangbusters) all told a different story. Well, as it turns out, Apple is in fact keeping the iPad 2 on the market for the time being.

Starting today, the iPad 2 will be available in only 16GB form. The WiFi version will cost $399 and the WiFi/3G version is $529. That’s a $100 drop from its previous MSRP. Android tabs should officially be on notice now.

This puts the best selling tablet in a new price point range. At $399 it’s within striking distance of Android tablets like the Asus Transformer and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. This is huge.

This strategy will likely increase Apple’s dominance in the tablet space. It now is officially selling two models. It doesn’t matter to the average consumer if one of them is a year old; it’s still better than nearly every other Android tab.

Since the iPad 2 and the new iPad share many components and manufacturing processes, it’s all prancing unicorns for Apple. 2012 is going to be the year of the iPad (and new iPad).


Company: Apple
Website: apple.com
Launch Date: April 1, 1976
IPO: NASDAQ:AAPL

Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...

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