iPad And "Nimble" Pricing

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Nimble? Apparantly, that's Apple-speak for price cuts regarding the iPad.

Here's where it comes from: a meeting earlier this week between Credit Suisse and Apple executives about its pricing structure for the upcoming iPad line

"While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble,"

- Bill Shope, Credit Suisse Analyst, after meeting with Apple executives about the iPad

Perhaps Apple is already worrying just how many will be camping out in lawn chairs for the iPad.

They should be.

This is not summer 2007 when the iPhone first came out and one could discuss the economy without recalling The Great Depression.

Even then, within two months Apple had lowered the iPhone's initial asking price by $200.

So far, the cheapest iPad is supposed to start at $499 when they come out in April.

Let's go back to the iPhone for a moment.

When the iPhone was on the eve of release, tech reviewers were in a froth with rave previews. The iPhone was being hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread (and admittedly it pretty much delivered on that one).

The iPad is not getting similar reviews; not much frothing going on. In fact, the word "underwhelming" is a word that keeps popping up in early reviews.

The iPhone started with outrageous prices. Within two months, Even though it was selling like hotcakes, Apple crunched the numbers and saw the wisdom in selling more for less. Within two months, prices were slashed by about $200. Apple also ticked off early adopters by only crediting them with a $100 store coupon to offset the $200 price drop they missed out on by being a first customer.

Apple managed to take only a minor helping of grief for such poor treatment of their early adopters. In this economy, with this product, can they get away with that again?

We'll see.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio