Flutterby™! : iPad and printer ink

One of the topics of conversation on my morning walk for coffee with Phil was how none of the new tablets that are coming out are as cheap as the low-end iPad. We meandered around a few of the things that that might mean, one was that Apple was willing to commit to a tens of millions manufacturing run, that the market in smart phones is such that for iPhone there's one device in production at any one time whereas there are a plethora of Android phones, and sales seem about even for iPhone and Android. so the Android market is split over more devices.

But really I think the issue is this: Apple's making so much money from iTunes and the app store that they could give away the hardware. They've found a way to bring the printer/ink model to computer hardware, and people are diving into it. Hard.

Bryant linked to Pattern Recognition: Apple intentionally hurting eBook stores, in which you can see that they're further consolidating the "only Apple ecosystem paid for through Apple's payment mechanisms with Apple's 30% cut" business model.