Ina Fried

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AT&T Says iPad Activations Triple Those of Last Year’s Launch Weekend (Updated)

AT&T said Monday that it saw a strong increase in iPad business with the launch of the iPad Air, with activations more than triple those from last year’s launch weekend.

“[I]Pad activations on AT&T increased more than 200% over the past three days compared to last year’s launch weekend, driven by consumer excitement around the new iPad Air and the popularity of AT&T Mobile Share, which lets customers add an iPad to their existing data plan for just $10 a month,” AT&T said in a statement.

(Update: An AT&T representative clarified that sales were double those of a year ago, not triple as the statement implied. Scratch that — AT&T now says that it meant triple, after all.)

Math 101 aside, it’s also worth noting that Apple launched multiple iPad models last year with the fourth generation iPad coming just a few months after the intro of the third-generation iPad, and that the cellular-equipped models last year didn’t launch until two weeks after the Wi-Fi models went on sale. That said, this past weekend’s sales mean lots of folks are buying the new iPad air and would exclude all those waiting for the retina-capable iPad mini.

The iPad Air launched on Friday. Apple has yet to break out sales figures for the thinner, lighter model of its full-size tablet. An updated iPad mini is due to go on sale late this month.

The iPad Air is the first iPad to offer options to run on all four major U.S. carriers, as well as the standard Wi-Fi only option. Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile representatives were not immediately available for comment.

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus