New iPad for a battery-weakened iPad; an excellent business strategy by Apple

Apple has an eyebrow rising policy for its just launched iPad tablet PC with weak batteries. Once the battery in the iPad looses its capacity to store charge, Apple is not replacing the battery for you, but is giving away a new iPad at 100$ provided your iPad is in good working condition. This looks weird for a moment, but think little deep, there is hidden business strategy.

Generally a battery lasts for 2/3 year. After 2/3 years the electronics equipment price drops at a rate close to what iPad is offering for a battery replacement. Apple is hitting not just two preys in single stone but many preys.

The product cloning experts in Asia will be stopped right now from making iPad like tablets at a far lesser price, the typical China made products. Customer is happy to own a brand new iPad after the battery becomes unfit, so more usage, more sales and more popularity. Consumer is motivated to use the iPad more often than what otherwise they could do without this offer.
Later with millions of battery-less 2/3 year old iPads in its stock, Apple can think off many creative business plans or even social work plans for poor students. They can flood schools or any such ebook users in developing nations with these used iPads.

The Taiwanese and Chinese portable computer designers who are already delivering smarter products will now stop cloning effort and get more innovative in creating new generation portable computers to compete strongly with iPads. Now they may stop cloning the product but they start cloning the ideas.

Just like Andy Groove's book title " Only the paranoid survive"!