i-Pad2 to Drag Down Average Tablet PC Price?

Recently, Apple released its i-Pad2 at a price of US$499, much lower than previously expected. Then, the prices of its competitors’ products have been affected and reset in the same price range. Now, something similar to it is happening in the high-end laptop market, too. Between early March and May 19, the price of Apple’s MacBook Pro dropped by 100,000 won or so. During the period, those of the up-market laptop PCs of other manufacturers, including Samsung and LG Electronics and Sony, declined by 200,000 won on average. For example, Samsung’s NT900X3A-A51 of Series 9 reached down to 1.9 million won as of May 18. The factory price of the premium notebook using duralumin amounts to 2.49 million. LG Electronics’ Xnote A520-TE4BK 3D is being marketed at about 2.7 million won, some 200,000 won less than its early-March price and approximately 400,000 lower than the initial one. Adopting Intel’s second-generation Core processor, it shows a much improved performance in terms of 3D imaging, multitasking, streaming of HD video footages and running high-resolution games. Its FPR (film patterned retarder) 3D display has been well received by many early adopters. At present, the price of Apple’s MacBook Pro is moving between 2.1 million and 2.2 million won, not dropping further. It is pretty contrary to those of its rival products which are falling faster relatively.