I'm biding my time ... sooner or later, my local charity shops will have trays of 'unwanted Apples' in their window displays ... 2 for a fiver!

Yes, that season is coming and Amazon, Google/Asus and Samsung have affordable tablets out, or will have by then.

In part, but it's more a case of why does Google (and Amazon and Barnes & Noble) subsidise the hardware? The answer is that they are organisations that make revenue from content, and the devices exist in order to drive custom through the stores. In fact, the Nexus 7's price is an admission from Google that it has a problem: few apps in its store, and a relatively tiny amount of money spent there considering the vast number of Android devices in the wild. (Microsoft has a similar problem with its store, which is why it sits incongruously in desktop Windows 8, and why it is made remarkably easy for content makers to get a Windows app into the Windows Store).

Apple, on the other hand, makes its money from designing hardware products that people will like, and selling them for a reasonable profit. It never strays from this model (or at least it hasn't since Steve Jobs returned). Clearly the App Store is critical to Apple's success, and it makes a lot of revenue there, but it is chiefly important as a way of locking in people to the iOS ecosystem. If you have a lot of apps and iTunes you are less likely to switch to Android (and more likely to buy an iPad Mini).

Of course, it's just speculation on my part and I could be completely wrong! We'll find out in a week or so...

But if you take out the Nexus 7 and look at the rest of the tablet market, you'll see that a high-quality tablet of any size is hardly ever found for less than £300. And Apple is all about the premium.

Whatever it should be, it'll be at least £250 - The Nexus 7 (and Kindle Fire HD) are subsidised in order to flog apps and media. And Apple won't do that. I wrote a thing:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/features/apple/3404031/ipad-mini-price-in-uk/

Hmmm . . . I don't really want to be picky, but the subject and the text differ slightly in the words WILL and SHOULD.

So to answer both, imho Apple SHOULD charge £199 to remain competetive with the Nexus 7 16GB Model, but they WILL (probably) charge £250-300 for elitism. I've seen 7" tablets for £100 upwards

For a different reason I think they WILL (probably) charge £300-£350 because they know that their products are good and no matter what price they charge there will be a queue at the shops at 3am, and after that everyone will want one.

It's an odd question. They should do it at Nexus price. They won't, though, if they are true to form; they will want to mark themselves out as the exclusive option. I wonder if there will be more than the slightly bigger screen to warrant it.

We don't buy the sun in this area, so I guess we will have to pay full price.

I can't see them pricing it as low as £200 as it would be too cheap compared to the current iPad (unless they reduce that too).

Personally I'm expecting it to be priced somewhere between £250 and £300, probably closer to £300. Apple know that most people will be prepared to pay a premium over Android tablets, just like they do with mobile phones.

I think they should charge as little as possible, so I have plumped for the £150 mark. I know that's not what they will charge but that's not the question. Is it?

I will be surprised if it's priced above £249 and delighted if it's less. Apple's order for 10 million units in this quarter is about twice the order placed by Amazon for the Kindle Fire for the same period.

Let battle commence, as they say - competition (and it will be fierce) can only be good for consumers.