Launch Weekend iPad 2 Sales: One Million Sound About Right to You?

“Demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing.”

That’s Apple’s sole comment to date on sales of its newest tablet and one far less specific than those with which it trumpeted sales of the first iPad. Which likely means one of two things: 1) early sales don’t merit a press release; 2) they do and Apple just hasn’t issued one yet or has decided to save that data point for its next earnings report.

Market consensus seems to be the latter. Already, early first weekend sales estimates of 400,000 to 600,000 are being made to look conservative as more bullish predictions hit the wires. Brian White at Ticonderoga Securities and Scott Sutherland at Wedbush both say they wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple sell close to one million iPad 2s in the opening weekend. And assuming supplies weren’t too constrained, they may well be proven right. With the consumer electronics market consumed by tablet mania largely unfulfilled by rival devices that have yet to arrive at market, the demand is certainly there. And the broader distribution network supporting the iPad 2′s launch (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target, AT&T, Verizon) suggests that Apple was reasonably prepared to meet it.

That said, nearly every analyst report I’ve read this morning notes that field checks of iPad retail outlets found most stores, including Apple retail locations, had weekend stock-outs. “Our checks pointed to a shocking 100% stock-out rate across Apple/authorized retail stores just a few hours into the official launch Friday evening, contributing to what we believe was one of the company’s most successful product launches to date,” Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore said in a note to clients Monday.

So in the end, Apple didn’t have enough iPad 2s on hand to completely satisfy demand. The question now is, did it satisfy enough of it to brag about.

Anonymous

Once again – they are selling them as fast as they can make them. And will do so for the foreseeable future.

Now the question is: How fast can they make them?
http://www.eideard.com/ Ed Campbell

That final question? Useless, absurd, non sequitur? You choose 1 of 3.
http://www.gadginator.com Dunnion

I avoided my local Apple store this weekend, it took all my will power!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tony-Mills/1099638671 Tony Mills

So then, I guess we could say it was “smooth”?
Anonymous

No, more like it was “rough.” For everyone else.

I doubt they’ll wait for the next conference call with stockholders to reveal the results. I’m betting they do it at an early April meeting with the press on the subject of iOS 5.
http://twitter.com/BongBong BongBong

Apple is the Han Solo of technology companies. Wooo-hoooo!
Anonymous

Hopefully they will add manufacturers. They will likely sell iPad 2 for 2 years, along with iPad 3 during the second year. It is also obviously better designed for mass production, as opposed to the way iPad 1 was designed just to ship. And none of their would-be competitors is even in the same class as iPad 2. They are all both lower quality and higher price. So Apple should make and sell so many iPad 2′s that Steve Ballmer has to up his blood pressure medication. These kinds of sales numbers make iPad development even more attractive, which will mean more apps, and then more iPad sales, and then more apps.

Launch Weekend iPad 2 Sales: One Million Sound About Right to You?

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