With a seemingly successful iPad launch behind us, early reports indicate that Apple pushed a lot more iPads out the door than initially expected.
With a seemingly successful iPad launch behind us, early reports indicate that Apple pushed a lot more iPads out the door than initially expected. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray originally anticipated iPad sales in the 200,000-300,000 range, but in a updated note to investors, Jaffray upped his estimate more than twofold, now predicting iPad sales to fall somewhere in the 600,000-700,000 range. This figure of course includes iPad pre-orders which have been rolling in since March 12.
By way of comparison, it took Apple two and a half months to sell 1 million units of the original iPhone, and about 3 days to sell 1 million units of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS. For a device that will primarily be used as a multipurpose secondary device, those are extremely strong numbers – especially considering that the iPad’s base pricepoint is $499.
It’s also important to keep in mind that this weekend was just phase one of Apple’s iPad rollout. A 3G equipped iPad will hit store shelves later this month while international sales of the iPad will also begin in just a few weeks.
In tabulating his estimate, Munster compared the number of people waiting in line at Apple’s 5th Avenue store in NYC this past Saturday (730) to the number of people waiting in line for the iPhone 3G and 3GS on launch day (540 and 350 respectively). Munster’s team also placed a number of calls to Apple Stores nationwide in order to gauge their iPad supply. Admittedly, Munster’s methods are anything but scientific, but if his estimates are anywhere close to being accurate, Apple appears to have another hit on its hands.
