[wiredfool]

I think that in time, there will be an array of iOS devices at all price points from the ca. $100 to the laptop like $1k. (with some adjustments for carrier subsidies).

They did it before with the iPod, from $99, add $50 for more storage, add $50 for a different form factor, and so on, for every price point between $100 and $400.

Right now, the iPod touch is at $200, the iPad at 400, and 500-800. Phones are 400-700 w/o subsidies. Pushing the iPad down into the $200 range fills out that array of devices so that there's something for everyone who has a little bit of money to spend.

[Tloewald]

The thing which attracts me to windows 8 (or maybe 9) is that it will run on everything. If I want to build giant wall sized touch apps, I can.

I hope Apple releases a headless iOS box (some kind of AppleTV descendant?) at some point so that arbitrary touch surfaces can be powered by iOS. (I doubt Apple will release a software only iOS to compete with Windows, so this is the best I can reasonably hope for).

[mturmon]

Sounds reasonable. This idea is in Gruber's article, when he quotes Tim Cook saying (about iPhone) that Apple did not want to leave a "price umbrella" -- an open price range leaving a niche in which competitors could flourish.

[alexqgb]

$300 for a 7.85" with a Retina display would be outstanding. I say that as someone who loves the idea of the iPad, but has not gotten one because they're too cumbersome for extended reading.

[wiredfool]

I certainly didn't get my iPad for reading, but I've wound up reading a bunch of books on them, both through the kindle app and the iBooks one. While the experience isn't as good as a hardback, it's nowhere near bad enough to keep me from a good book. And it's far lighter than Stephenson's latest.

Though, when opening one of the hardbacks I got this past christmas, I was very impressed with the resolution of the font and the crispness and uncluttered look of the pages. No fingerprints, no icons. Just well formatted text.

[mtgx]

The software on the iPod wasn't much of a problem, though. For iOS devices they need to keep supporting the older hardware, and I don't think they can do that for hardware that is older than 3 generations/years. We're already seeing how some major features are not landing on even newer than 3 generations devices, like Maps and Navigation on iPad 1 and iPhone 4.