Except that it didn't. Even if it were true that most people were intimately acquainted with the pricing habits of tablet makers (and they're not), the fact tha

Except that it didn't. Even if it were true that most people were intimately acquainted with the pricing habits of tablet makers (and they're not), the fact that one product in the Apple canon happens to be comparatively cheap is not even really salient information when virtually every other product in the Apple store is not cheap. $100 for a power cord? You've got to be kidding me. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro that I bought with my money AND I'm aware that the iPad is cheap, and I STILL think they're a bit expensive. But of course, the fact that the iPad is cheap is not really that well-known, and particularly not among the people who are likely to say such things anyway (i.e., the people who have already written Apple off). And in practice I still hear this all the time. From friends, from family, from other nerds.