Sam Oliver
Demand for the iPad 2 has been so strong in its first 24 hours of availability that Apple has been forced to push back estimated ship times yet again. While initial orders placed in Apple's online store began shipping Saturday for a March 17 delivery, those who hesitated to buy will be forced to wait longer.
Initial orders were scheduled to ship in two to three days, but that estimate was quickly pushed back on Friday as orders continued to flood in. By later Friday morning, new orders were estimated to ship within 2 to 3 weeks.
But orders placed late Saturday may not ship for up to a month. And many retail locations, which began selling the iPad 2 in person Friday evening, have already sold out of their initial stock.
Analysts expect Apple to sell more than a half million of the iPad 2 in its first weekend of availability, besting the debut of the first-generation iPad last year. On the bullish end, one analyst has said that Apple could sell as many as a million of the iPad 2 at launch, thanks to expanded retail availability of the device and greater consumer interest.
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
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46 Comments
I would *love* to know how many Apple had available for sale yesterday...
*deleted - yawn.
I would *love* to know how many Apple had available for sale yesterday...
I agree. I suspect the earlier reports of problems ramping up to production volumes had more than a kernel of truth, and Apple simply refused to delay and face the bad press. Thus, Apple didn't have nearly the volumes available needed for the rush. If there's no talk of actual sales volumes early next week, we'll know the number is below everyone's expectations.
Fortunately, we ordered our new iPad 2 at 12:55 AM on Friday here in CA, and delivery is scheduled for next Thursday! So, we're checking our FedEx tracking number every hour for updates.
This is hardly surprising to me, and I can only LOL at some people who are claiming that this is some sort of conspiracy. These people obviously have no concept of logistics or any common sense at all. These are probably the same clueless people that were expecting a retina display in the iPad2. I'm pretty sure that the factories are pumping out iPad2's as fast as they can make them. Even so, the initial demand is so great that there is bound to be supply shortages when it first comes out. This isn't the Xoom we're talking about here, this is the iPad.
Should Apple have quit making and selling iPad1's months ago and just stocked up many millions of iPad2s and put them in a huge warehouse somewhere?
I think that people don't realize that the iPad is being adopted faster than the VHS, DVD, game console and digital camera was when they were first released. The iPad is huge! That means that some people might have to wait a little bit to get one. Not bad for a useless toy huh?
The iPad built a following faster than the original video- cassette recorder, DVD player, game console or digital camera, said Colin McGranahan, a retail analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...rst-model.html
I agree. I suspect the earlier reports of problems ramping up to production volumes had more than a kernel of truth, and Apple simply refused to delay and face the bad press. Thus, Apple didn't have nearly the volumes available needed for the rush. If there's no talk of actual sales volumes early next week, we'll know the number is below everyone's expectations.
Fortunately, we ordered our new iPad 2 at 12:55 AM on Friday here in CA, and delivery is scheduled for next Thursday! So, we're checking our FedEx tracking number every hour for updates.
I was on line Friday at an Apple store here in NYC. The first one to go was the 16GB WiFi white. It went pretty quickly. The white models in general went pretty fast, according to sales people. There had to be a thousand people in line at the 14th st store.