AppleInsider Staff
Despite severe constraints throughout the holiday quarter, supply of Apple's iPad mini is finally catching up with demand as the Online Apple Store is now quoting ship-by dates of 3-5 business days.
The change comes one week after Apple kicked off sales of cellular-enabled versions of the iPad mini in China, a market thought to be a major player in the company's future growth. At the time of launch, availability stood at two weeks for the Chinese market and one week for the U.S.
Supply of the hot-selling 7.9-inch tablet has been constrained since the device went on sale in October, with brisk sales amounting to quick stockouts on Apple's online store. The company announced that the iPad mini sold three million units over its first weekend on sale.
In early December, iPad mini availability improved as quoted Online Apple Store shipment estimates fell to one week for the first time since launch.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company's quarterly earnings conference call in October that he thought the smaller iPad, along with the fourth-gen iPad and iPad 2, would be "extremely attractive" stand-ins for PCs. During Apple's most recent conference call for the first fiscal quarter of 2013, Cook said suppliers were having difficulty meeting high demand, but a balance could be reached by the end of the upcoming quarter.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
18 Comments
Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.
I bought my 64GB white AT&T mini a few days ago. The local Apple Store was the only one that had any in stock.
[quote name="Cash907" url="/t/155648/ipad-mini-shipment-times-improve-to-3-5-days-from-online-apple-store#post_2265173"]Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately. What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are. [/quote] Best Buy's iPad factories are more productive than Apple's¡ [INDENT][INDENT][B][SIZE=4]- or -[/SIZE][/B][/INDENT][/INDENT] Apple is sending more to 3rd party retailers than they can sell in comparison to the demand they are facing in their own online and B&M stores.
Or you could just go to bestbuy.com, where they are all in stock and shipping immediately.
What is up with the Apple Store lately? 3rd party suppliers are doing a better job keeping things in stock than they are.
More and more people are buying at the Applestore ONLY, especially around the world. Intermediates only get on the way and never facilitate anything (especially outside the US).
besides that they have special deals like laser engraving etc, people love that.
Oh, NO. Demand is down and Apple's backlog is declining. Apple is doomed. Don't worry, if the lead time goes back up, I'll simply use the alternate response: Oh, NO. Apple can't keep up with demand. Apple is doomed. And if lead time doesn't change, Apple is doomed because they're not improving.