Between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, lead times for the market-leading tablet device dropped to just 3-5 days from 1-2 weeks on the Cupertino-based company's online store. That's a marked improvement from overwhelming backlog of 4-5 weeks customers saw during the iPad 2's first month on the market.
Ironically, the improvements in availability come in the face of a report from DigiTimes, which claimed Thursday Apple's share of the tablet market in June slipped to 50% from its average of 60-70% due to supply shortages.
Alongside the U.S., shipping times for the tablet also improved through Apple's direct international sales channels, however the company still has a hill to climb before the device enters into a true supply and demand balance.
Spot shortages of the iPad 2 remain throughout the company's indirect sales channels and Apple continues to impose a strict limit of 2 units per customer through all of its online shops.
In addition to sheer demand, Apple has faced several challenges in ramping production of its new tablet. The device launched just days before Japan's natural disaster, which shut down operations at several of the company's component suppliers.
But even with a steady supply of the parts needed, building iPad 2's has been incredibly challenging for Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn, Chairman Terry Gou said at a recent investor meeting.
As such, the contract electronics assemblerâs profits have lagged behind those of Apple because the devices are âvery difficult to make,â he said, adding that his company is continuously learning ways to make the products more efficiently.
Foxconn recently implemented measures to assemble iPads more efficiently, the benefits of which are expect to further improved availability of the devices during 'the second half of this year and next year.'
As it stands, build plans coming into Foxconn for the third calendar quarter of 2011 suggest the manufacturer has been commissioned to build anywhere between 14 and 15 million iPad 2 units over the next three months.
19 Comments
Why still limit to 2?
The article in Digitimes, while dubious, did not mean a drop to 50 percent in the overall market, but a drop in the Taiwan domestic tablet market.
the article cites a 35,000 total number of tablets. That alone should have given you a clue. 35K of a 15 million unit market is not even a rounding error.
I had ordered one late last week and Apple was telling me that I wouldn't get it until the 20th. Then I got an email from Apple last night saying it's coming this Monday! Straight from China! What an honor!
Everyone will need to readjust their estimates for Apple's tablet market share after all the other makers have cut their own estimated sales as much as in half in some cases.
So, while everyone else is downgrading their own expectations, Apple is still trying to increase their production to meet demand. With the school season beginning in this quarter you can bet Apple will see MAJOR sales gains. Then of course the following season is usually Apple's best as we go into the holidays.
I looked at the site just two days ago, and they were still showing up to 2 weeks to ship.