iPad 2 Deals: Where to Buy it for Less

An upgrade to a product line usually brings bargains for the older models, and some iPad shoppers are watching for the iPad 2 deals to break. But you don't have to wait until the third-generation iPad ships on March 16 find a deal on an iPad 2. Major national retailers, including Apple itself, have already slashed prices on last year's Apple tablet.

Apple recently implemented the new pricing and other retailers quickly followed suit, but not every retailer has jumped on the iPad 2 price cut bandwagon. Here's where you can snap up Apple's 2011 iPad for less than its original $499 price tag.

Apple Store

Apple has already implemented its discount pricing on the 16GB Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models selling for $400 and $530 respectively, in both black and white. 

If you're looking for something even cheaper, or an iPad 2 with more memory, Apple is selling refurbished versions of the iPad 2 with Wi-Fi for $350 (16GB), $450 (32GB), and $550 (64GB). If you want Wi-Fi + 3G it will cost $480 (16B), $580 (32GB), and $680 (64GB). Color and availability could change.

Refurbished devices are typically defective units that have been returned to "just like new" condition and sold at a discount. Apple refurbished iPads come with the company's typical one-year warranty. Apple limits iPad 2 purchases to two per customer.

Best Buy

Best Buy is matching Apple's iPad 2 pricing for the 16GB Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G pricing at $400 and $530 respectively, in both black and white.

You can also get other versions of the iPad 2 for $100 cheaper including the 32GB iPad 2 for $500 in both colors, or the 64GB Apple tablet is available for $600. For Wi-Fi + 3G, you can get the 32GB version for $630 and the 64GB version for $730.

Walmart

Walmart is matching Apple's new pricing with the 16GB iPad 2 for $399 in white or black, and the Wi-Fi + 3G version for $529.

You can also get the 64GB Wi-Fi only version for $650, $50 cheaper than pre-third generation iPad pricing. Walmart's prices were available online and in store.

Radio Shack

RadioShack is selling the iPad 2 only in its stores for $100 cheaper than original pricing. Availability will vary in your area, but calls to several Radio Shack locations on the east coast suggests that you are more likely to find 16GB ($399) and 32GB ($499) Wi-Fi only devices, and 16GB  Wi-Fi + 3G ($529) models. If you plan to buy from Radio Shack you might want to call ahead and see what your local stores have in stock.

Where Not To Buy, Yet

So far, Amazon and third-party retailers selling via the site have yet to drop iPad 2 prices. The best price the online retailer offered at the time of this writing was $433 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad 2.

Target also hasn't budged on pricing, and you should steer clear of eBay sellers for now as well. That being said, if you can't find a cheap iPad 2, keep your eye on pricing wherever the iPad 2 is sold near you. As we get closer to March 16, iPad 2 pricing is likely to drop at most major, and possibly local, retailers.

iPad (Third Generation) vs iPad 2

The biggest feature addition to the new iPad is its improved display resolution of 2048-by-1536 at 264 pixels per inch, over the iPad 2's 1024-by-768 resolution. The screen size remains the same at 9.7 inches. The new iPad also has a new A5X processor with an improved GPU for better graphics processing.

Units also have a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture, bumped over the iPad 2's 720p video recording. Bluetooth is upgraded from Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR to the new Bluetooth 4.0, and those looking for wireless broadband will appreciate the zippier LTE 4G speeds over the iPad 2's 3G connectivity. The new iPad is available for advance orders now and is scheduled to hit store shelves on March 16.

Verizon Wireless Seen Getting More Benefit Than AT&T From Apple’s New IPad

Verizon Wireless is poised to get a bigger boost from Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s new iPad than competing wireless- service provider AT&T Inc. (T), even though both carriers will be the first in the U.S. to sell the tablet, unveiled March 7.

Verizon Wireless will probably sell 3 million to 4 million new iPads this year, while AT&T will sell about 2 million units, said Kevin Smithen, an analyst at Macquarie Securities USA Inc. The iPad is designed to work on the companies’ next-generation wireless networks, based on a technology called long-term evolution, or LTE.

AT&T’s LTE network isn’t as extensive, covering fewer potential customers. Verizon Wireless also lets subscribers turn their iPad into a mobile hot spot, a capability not yet possible with AT&T. As a result, Verizon Wireless customers may be able to make more use of their Apple tablets, Smithen said.

“Verizon is going to benefit more,” he said. “The iPad could mean pretty significant growth for Verizon, because they have good LTE coverage.”

The Verizon Wireless LTE network covered more than 200 million potential customers at the end of last year, the company said in January. AT&T, based in Dallas, said that month that it reached 74 million would-be users with LTE.

“Competitively, Verizon Wireless’s more extensive LTE footprint gives it a modest marketing advantage,” James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Barclays Capital, wrote in a report yesterday.

Even when AT&T customers are outside an area covered by LTE, they “are still going to have a very fast experience,” said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T.

More Data Purchasing
Many owners of the iPad 2 use the tablet on free Wi-Fi networks at homes, offices and cafes to avoid costly wireless data charges. That’s likely to change as subscribers seek to take advantage of the fuller range of iPad capabilities. As many as 30 percent of purchasers of the new device will use it on carriers’ networks, up from less than 20 percent for prior- generation iPads, Smithen said.

For AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which is owned by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD), that may mean an extra $45 a month per iPad subscriber, on average, Smithen said.

Verizon Communications declined less than 1 percent to $39 at 12:52 p.m. New York time, while AT&T was little changed at $31.07.

Portable Hot Spot
An average owner of the new iPad will use twice as much data as users of prior-generation iPads, Chetan Sharma, an independent analyst, said in an interview. As many as 10 percent of those owners may look to upgrade to a more expensive data plan, to allow for higher data usage, Sharma said.

“The new LTE is much faster,” Sharma said. “The performance and user experience will be better. I expect the consumers will use it more.”

The new iPad will have a faster chip and a sharper screen, which will make it better for viewing video and graphics.

Verizon’s iPad will also let owners turn it into a hot spot, to which other devices can connect to surf the Web. AT&T’s iPad doesn’t currently have this capability, but is working with Apple to offer it in the future, AT&T’s Siegel said.

As data usage of their networks continues to skyrocket, many U.S. wireless carriers have moved to new broadband technologies like LTE to keep up with demand. They also began capping customers’ monthly use and raising prices. Wireless-plan prices may rise by 5 percent a year, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Tim Horan said in an interview.

Earlier this month, AT&T said it will start slowing data speeds of customers with unlimited wireless plans who use more than 3 gigabytes of data a month.

The strain on the global mobile networks more than doubled last year, as consumers began watching more mobile video and using tablets, according to networking-equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO)

New iPad lights up trade-in services

Record numbers of iPad owners sold their devices yesterday following Apple's introduction of its next-generation model.

Today both eBay and Gazelle, online services that buy used tablets and other gadgets, reported a record influx of people selling their tablets, many of which were models less than a year old.

eBay says it had "more than" 20,000 trade-in offers for tablets yesterday, 89 percent of which were iPads. eBay says that 20,000 number represents a 10-fold increase in the volume of trade-ins the company pulled in the day before Apple's event. Perhaps more telling is that more than half of those trade-ins were Apple's iPad 2, a device that went on sale less than a year ago.

Separately Gazelle, which does not offer a way to auction off goods to other buyers like eBay does, said that customers were selling it an iPad on the service every eight seconds.

"Since the announcement yesterday we've already had about 80,000 offers presented to Gazelle customers, which is a 650 percent increase in trades," Anthony Scarsella, Gazelle's "chief gadget officer" told CNET in an interview.

75 percent of those trade-ins were iPad 2s, Scarsella said, with the other 25 percent consisting of first-generation models.

To put these numbers in perspective, last week eBay said it generated more than 125,000 tablet trade-in offers during the entire month of February, with 97.6 percent of those consisting of Apple iPad models. That number was up tenfold from the number of offers during the same month last year, the company said.

That more people are trading in their iPads now than this time last year shouldn't be too much of a surprise. In February 2011, the first-generation iPad had been out less than a year and had suffered considerable supply shortages that pushed availability back several weeks for those looking to get their hands on one. By comparison, Apple sold 32 million iPads last year, with the majority of those being the second-generation model--a device that had supply problems of its own.

Worth noting is that eBay's trade-in numbers come from the online commerce site's Instant Sale program, which differs from its auction services by giving gadget owners a way to trade in items for cash. Users describe the quality of their item, and eBay picks up the shipping cost, as well as the job of wiping whatever data is on it. A company spokesperson said auction listings for both the iPad and iPad 2 increased nearly three times the number the previous day.

Where do these devices go?
You may be wondering where these tablets and smartphones go once they're traded-in, and the simple answer is that they're sold right back to new buyers. Both Gazelle and eBay wipe the data on the device, then clean it up and package it for a sale back to someone else.

Stacks of iPads sit waiting to be sold on launch day in San Francisco in 2010.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

In Gazelle's case, the company says the majority of traded-in gadgets are re-sold on the company's online stores on eBay and Amazon. Gazelle will also sell the units wholesale in the U.S. and internationally, where they end up being sold by other companies.

eBay manages its trade-ins through a third-party company, which assesses the value then puts them up for sale again on eBay's site. Whereas eBay once made users define the quality of the item, that's now something that's been simplified to "working" and "non-working."

Time is money
The diminishing resale value of electronic goods in the gadget world is not a new phenomenon, and with the advent of trade-in services has become a publicly-viewable exercise in economics. Both eBay and Gazelle estimate the value you'd get based on a supply and demand curve. And both offer a way for iPad owners to "lock in" the price they'd get for their used goods, making the eventual trade days or weeks after the price is set.

In eBay's case, the company is providing a pre-set value for how much it will give owners for their device as long as it's sent in within a certain time frame. That deadline is this Saturday, with owners having to postmark their package by Tuesday, March 20.

For Gazelle, the amount buyers can get is a moving target ahead of them locking it in, a price the company will put on hold for 30 days. Gazelle also says that it sometimes increases the pricing of trade-ins when people misjudge the quality of their item, with some 5 percent of iPad trade-ins getting a post-trade bump.

As gadgets go, Scarsella said smartphones hold their value the best among the products the company buys, but that the return people are getting on those devices has changed considerably among the varying device makers.

"In the past we tended to see that with BlackBerry devices, now nobody wants them," he said. "iPhone and iOS are becoming more corporate than when it first started, so businesses are adapting iPhone models and businesses and people are just dumping BlackBerrys. That's causing them to lose quite a bit of value."

Scarsella added that Apple's products are among the top items in terms of holding trade-in value among gadgets.

"Now that people are beginning to catch on to [Apple's] upgrade cycle, users are beginning to trade in much earlier than before," Scarsella said. "Previously they would wait until the actual launch day to know it has certain specs or features to commit to buying it. Now it's just like they're going to buy it, no matter what Apple puts out there. It could be a blender and they're going to buy it."

Apple unveils new 4G iPad

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Wednesday introduced a new iPad that, as expected, will have a sharper display, faster processor, voice dictation and the ability to tap into faster cellular networks.

The new iPad is "taken to a whole new level, and redefines the category Apple created with the original iPad," said Apple CEO Tim Cook at a press event here.

As with the previous iPad, the new iPad starts at $499 with 16 GB of storage for a Wi-Fi model, or $629 to get cellular Internet access. It will be available on March 16.

The iPad, first introduced in April 2010, is the most successful tech product of the last few years. It has sold over 55 million units to date, and analysts expect it to top 100 million by year's end.

Apple is keeping iPad 2 in the lineup, dropping the price to $399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi version.

Also Wednesday, Apple unveiled a new version of itsApple TV set-top box, which brings Internet movies and TV shows — and music from your computer — to the TV set.

The new box upgrades the high-definition from 720p to a sharper 1080p and sells for $99. The Apple TV box will also be available on March 16.

One of the biggest selling points for the new iPad is the sharper "retina" display, which was first introduced on the iPhone 4 in 2010.

Most HD TVs are 1920x1080 resolution, but the sharper resolution of the iPad is 2048x1530, or "1 million more pixels than HDTV," said Apple senior vice-president Phil Schiller.

The new, faster processor is "four times" faster than the previous iPad, which means that e-mails, videos, photos and other programs will open much faster.

There were expectations that Apple would add Siri, the digital personal assistant from the iPhone 4S to the new iPad, but it didn't. It did add voice dictation, however.

A new tab has been added to the keyboard. Press a button and users can dictate texts, e-mails and the like.

The improved camera first introduced on the iPhone 4S — which many consumers have turned to in place of their point and shoot camera, has been added to the iPad.

The 5-megapixel camera has built-in image stabilization, to help eliminate the shakes, and also offers the ability to shoot video in full 1080p HD resolution.

Previous iPads could access cellular 3G networks; the new one can get faster 4G, which is available from AT&T and Verizon, but not everywhere nationally. The 4G services are in more markets from Verizon.

Apple also introduced new updates to the iMovie video-editing app and GarageBand for virtual music playing for the iPad.

For iMovie, you can create movie trailers, as you can on Mac computers. And with GarageBand, new virtual instruments have been added.

Additionally, iPhoto, the photo program on Mac computers, is now part of iPad. With iPhoto, as opposed to the camera roll photo app on previous iPads, you can both edit photos and access the same libraries ("our vacation," "baby born") created on computers.

Live coverage: Apple to launch the next iPad

 

Technology Live is in San Francisco, where we will provide live coverage of Apple's big event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

It's expected that the company will introduce its next generation iPad. What features will make it past the rumor mill into reality? Will we see a sharper display, or 4G connectivity? What other options will Apple reveal?

Follow us as we deliver updates from the event starting at 1 p.m. ET.

It's always tricky to trawl in Apple rumors before a release, but here are a few things that could be on the new iPad, according to an Associated Press roundup:

- A sharper display. The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S both have a "retina" display. A whopping 2048 by 1536 pixel screen resolution would make text easier to read, but won't make much of a difference on video resolution.

-A new name. Apple generally sticks to its numbering system (iPad 2, iPhone 3, iPhone 4, etc.) but the Apple rumor mill thinks the company might break with tradition and call the new iPad the "iPad HD."

- Faster processor. This one just makes logical sense. The iPad 2 is fast, but why not make it faster?

- 4G capability. The iPad 2 (and iPhone 4S, for that matter) still use the 3G cellular network, which is slower but uses much less battery. An upgrade to 4G capabilities would make the iPad much faster (when not on Wi-Fi anyway), but would also drain the battery quicker.

-Siri. This was Apple's big addition to the iPhone 4S. Users haven't all taken to Siri, but it would make sense to add superior voice-control capabilities.

-Wildcard. Who knows! The rumor mills have a way of getting things seriously wrong. Everyone thought the iPhone 4S was going to be the iPhone 5. Whoops!

iPad 3 Rumors Continue as Possible Unveiling Looms

With Apple’s iPad-related event March 7, the rumor mill has kicked into its highest gear.

The popular assumption is that Apple will use the event to unveil its next iPad, which the media has dubbed “iPad 3” but could arrive under another name altogether. Because Apple typically refuses to part with details of its upcoming devices ahead of their unveiling, accurate information on the next iPad’s features is virtually non-existent.

However, the rumor mill has proven more than adept at filling that vacuum with all manner of conjecture, some of it plausible. Among the most pervasive ones: that the next iPad will feature a high-resolution “Retina Display,” backed by a more powerful processor and support for 4G LTE. Some news sources have also suggested the device will boast an improved camera and Siri, Apple’s “digital personal assistant.”

Even Apple’s invitation to the event sparked a flurry of speculation. “We have something you really have to see. And touch,” read that missive, which included an image of a finger touching the calendar app on an iPad screen. The respective positions of hand and hardware led the blog Gizmodo to theorize that the iPad 3 would lack a home button.   

Although the iPad has managed to dominate the consumer tablet market, it faces two threats in 2012. The first comes from Microsoft, which intends to challenge Apple in a big way with Windows 8 on tablets. Reportedly due closer to the end of the year, Windows 8 features an interface optimized for touch input; moreover, a variety of developers and manufacturing partners are committed to creating software and hardware for the ecosystem, which could give Microsoft the momentum that other iPad competitors have lacked.

In addition, Google and its own manufacturing partners show no signs of abating their collective quest to make Android a tablet player, despite the anemic performance of many supposed “iPad killers” that hit the marketplace in 2011.

A bevvy of new, high-powered features could help the iPad beat back these threats. But the exact nature of those features will have to wait a few more days: at this late date, Apple has still confirmed exactly nothing about its plans, aside from that it intends to host an event March 7.

iPad rivals catching up: Can iPad 3 keep them at bay?

Apple should be blowing us away with the iPad 3, but it probably won't.

The latest rumors call for a higher resolution screen on par with the iPhone's Retina Display, a possible upgrade to the iOS software, and possibly a few other improvements. That's certainly enough to draw the Apple faithful and sell a ton of iPads. But with the rapid advances that the competition is making, will it be enough to secure the company's continued dominance in the tablet business?

Sure, the iPad has been a blockbuster franchise for Apple. In the fourth quarter alone, Apple sold 15.4 million units--outstripping what the competition sold for the entire year.

But the iPad 2 doesn't represent the pinnacle of all technology. In fact, the iPad 2's specifications fall short versus some of the other devices in the market. Beyond the specs, companies have worked hard to ensure that it offers features, hardware, or services that set it apart from Apple's monster tablet.

We'll find out on Wednesday if the iPad 3 raises the bar again, or merely tacks on a few incremental advances. For now, here's a breakdown of what some of the competition can offer that's lacking in the iPad:

Amazon Kindle Fire 
At first glance, the Fire's biggest advantage is price. It's hard to argue with a $200 tablet. Sure, the specs aren't the greatest, and it feels sluggish at times, but it's not a bad experience for the price. Another key feature is the access to Amazon Prime and its streaming video service. Apple has iTunes, but it doesn't have its own dedicated service for streaming video for a low flat rate.

The Kindle Fire also boasts its own custom Silk Browser, which is supposed to enable faster Web surfing through a cached architecture. It's debatable whether Silk is that much better.

Asus Transformer Prime 
The Prime uses Nvidia's quad-core processor, which on paper means two more cores than the iPad's dual-core chip (Nvidia would argue there's yet another stealth "ninja" core in there as well).

But the Prime's best feature is its detachable keyboard, which makes it a virtual laptop. One of the best parts is that the keyboard actually powers the tablet, giving it some extra juice on those days when you're away from an outlet.

The tablet also has Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest flavor of Android meant to bridge the gap between the smartphone and tablet user interface. Only time will tell if that's a true advantage.

Asus Padfone 
Okay, the Padfone may be more of a gimmick than anything else, but you have to hand it to Asus for going even bolder with its Transformer concept. The phone part of the Padfone docks into the tablet part, giving you a bigger screen. The tablet itself, like the Transformer Prime, can dock into a keyboard, creating a pseudo-laptop.

It also offers a stylus headset that's connected to the tablet/phone combination via Bluetooth, and can be used to answer phone calls while the phone is docked.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 
Say what you will about the 5-inch Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 10.1 is a tablet that makes sense. Its main advantage, like its 5-inch brother, is the S-Pen stylus, which works extremely well on the larger surface.

The S-Pen this time around has been improved with a clip, "eraser" on top, and is more comfortable to use.

Like the Transformer Prime, it also offers Android's Ice Cream Sandwich variant.

Also like many other competing tablets, it features a higher quality 2-megapixel front-facing camera, something the iPad 2 lacks. Hopefully, Apple addresses this issue, which has been a barrier to high-quality video chatting.

Research in Motion PlayBook 2.0 
I've given the PlayBook a hard time in the past, but the folks at RIM took me through some of the features of the updated software, and I have to say, they are pretty slick. From the deeper integration of the contact and calendar list with social networks, to the visual cues of the calendar--for instance, bigger numbers mean a busier day--the company has shown it is paying attention to the details.

Its recently launched Mobile Fusion service, which finally brings secure e-mail to its PlayBook, is something that may turn some IT managers' heads. Features like the ability to send a "kill command" to wipe just the work data, and not the personal information, are a step in the right direction for RIM.

It's priced at $200 like the Kindle Fire, but that's more a result of market demand than an early intent to create a more affordable competitor.

Of course, these tablets all have their share of weaknesses as well, but that doesn't take away from the fact these features are ones that iPad users would certainly appreciate, and indicate that gap between Apple and its rivals isn't as wide as most people think.