Apple announced a price drop for the iPad 2 on Wednesday as part of the introduction of its replacement, which is simply named iPad (or new iPad). iPad 2 will be priced at US$399, a $100 price drop that allows Apple to better compete against low-end devices like Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire ($199).
$399 is still twice as much as the Kindle Fire’s $199 price tag, of course, but Apple’s year-old iPad 2 offers better battery life, a better display, a faster processor, better graphics performance, higher quality materials, and far more apps than the Kindle Fire. Apple’s 20% price drop could mean a lot for some price-conscious consumers.
Apple’s new iPad goes on sale on March 16th, while iPad 2 will continued to be offered in a 16GB model for $399. A 16GB iPad 2 model with 3G support will be priced at $529.
As of this writing, the Apple Store is offline, but iPad 2 will be available there when it comes back online.