As reported earlier, Apple has recently issued its Q3 2012 financial statements. Buried inside all the details, there is one number that especially stands out — the 18 million iPads Apple sold. It isn’t entirely clear what portion of the 18 million are new iPad sales and what portion are sales of iPad 2. However, a statement by Apple CEO Tim Cook suggests Apple has seen success by lowering the price of iPad 2 by $100 to $399, and this success might further encourage Apple to produce a cheaper iPad mini.

The following is a quote from Tim Cook:

“The reason that we [adopted a lower price point for the iPad 2] was because we believed that sales would be incrementally larger if there was price elasticity. We knew there were buyers that really wanted the best product, but needed it to be a little less expensive. … So I think the lower price did help our sales. And I think it’s particularly helping in K-12. The adoption rate of iPad in education is something I’d never seen from any technology product in history. Usually, education tends to be fairly conservative in terms of buying or K-12 does, and we’re not seeing that at all on the iPad.”

As Cook himself says, lower price helps sales. If a $399 iPad 2 can have such a noticeable impact on iPad sales, such as in the education market as Tim Cook points out, then why not build an even cheaper iPad mini? Amirite Apple?

[via AllThingsD]