IPad Sales Accelerating on Faltering Competition
Launching the second iteration of the iPad earlier this year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs proclaimed 2011 the year of the iPad 2. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to hear that analysts don’t expect the company to debut a new version of the tablet until 2012.
Apple has refreshed the iPad once already this year, and Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar says it’s unlikely to do so a second time. The release of a “premium version” of the device has been pushed out to year’s end or beyond, he says — though not because of any production issues. Kumar says this is strictly a marketing/positioning decision. And given the company’s profound lead in the tablet market, there’s little reason for it to rush out the next-generation iPad, hot on the heels of its predecessor. As we noted here last week, Apple is expected to claim the majority of the tablet market for the next couple of years.
So this quarter is already in the bag.
Next one too, most likely.
“Expanding geographic foot print, back-to-school sales and faltering competition suggest upwards of 11 million for the September quarter or almost 20 percent sequential unit growth,” says Kumar. “With competition being held back by either legal injunction or weak sell-through, iPad volumes could further accelerate in the December quarter approaching 15 million units.”
So, Motorola’s struggle, Samsung’s legal woes, Hewlett-Packard’s humiliating flight from the market: All boons for Apple, which seems to be selling the only tablet that people really want.