New iPad Launches to 'Record Weekend' in Sales

MacRumors · Mar 19, 2012

During today's financial conference call, one analyst asked if Apple would be issuing a press release about last weekend's launch sales numbers for the iPad. Apple refocused the conversation back on their dividend announcement but did reveal that they had a "record weekend" and were "thrilled with it."

Apple launched the new iPad in 10 countries on Friday, March 16th. The iPad saw long lines in some areas, though Apple was able to retain stock in many U.S. locations. Apple has yet to release actual sales numbers for the initial launch. The initial iPad sold 300,000 units in the first day and went on to sell 1 million units by 28 days. The iPad 2 initial sales numbers were never released, though long lines and sales shortages were common in the weeks after its launch.

Article Link: New iPad Launches to 'Record Weekend' in Sales

soco · Mar 19, 2012

I think their supply being higher this year made it seem like it wasn't selling as well.

Clearly this isn't the case. Blockbuster release as usual.

BornAgainMac · Mar 19, 2012

3 Million?

igazza · Mar 19, 2012

iPad launched in more countries so you would expect record sales.

toshmac · Mar 19, 2012

predictions?

4 million?

Caliber26 · Mar 19, 2012

Don't underestimate the power of Retina.

toddybody · Mar 19, 2012

Whoa, did NOT see this coming.

Herdfan · Mar 19, 2012

soco said:
I think their supply being higher this year made it seem like it wasn't selling as well.

I think it depends on what they are calling sales. How many of the 240 my local BB got did they count? Did they count all 240 since BB bought them or did they count the 25 people in line Friday morning who bought them? I know they sold more than that, but they did sell all if them as even the 16GB WiFi is still in stock.

futbalguy · Mar 19, 2012

soco said:
I think their supply being higher this year made it seem like it wasn't selling as well.

Clearly this isn't the case. Blockbuster release as usual.

This might have been the best they have done of actually being prepared for the release. Im sure there was incredible demand as usual. As much as people act like they only revised it a little, the screen is probably the most visible (no pun intended) component so its a big deal.

Gregintosh · Mar 19, 2012

Apple typically talks about units sold and not shipped, so I am sure they will have some statistics for that.

Maybe they are also waiting for the scalpers to return their hoards of units so that they can report how many actually went out to customers.

It would be kind of dubious to say that they sold 1,000,000 units on day 1 and call that a big success when in reality many scalpers got 10-20 units each and are returning them as the days move on.

My personal estimate is that they sold at least 1 or 2 million on launch day, with most of those being pre-orders.

MH01 · Mar 19, 2012

I wonder what their definition of Record Weekend in sales means?

I had mine delivered to the office, but went past the local Apple store here in London (westfield) and it was dead compared to the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 launches. A lot of the stores in Westfield opened to also sell the ipad and these were empty in the morning, only Apple had a small line (compared to iphone 4).

I would argue that Apple has kinda saturated the market and your average joe blow is not going to buy the ipad 3, if they have a 2.

I think it was kinda a non even to be honest.

looking at http://www.ipad-stock.co.uk/ its readily available. Dubious about this record sales stuff.... mind you most of the people I saw in line were going to be flogging them on Ebay in countries that did not have it released.....

Rogifan · Mar 19, 2012

Herdfan said:
I think it depends on what they are calling sales. How many of the 240 my local BB got did they count? Did they count all 240 since BB bought them or did they count the 25 people in line Friday morning who bought them? I know they sold more than that, but they did sell all if them as even the 16GB WiFi is still in stock.

Maybe they stocked up more this time. We don't know exactly what the comparison is but Cook wouldn't use a word like "record" if sales have been soft.

----------

MH01 said:
I wonder what their definition of Record Weekend in sales means?

I had mine delivered to the office, but went past the local Apple store here in London (westfield) and it was dead compared to the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 launches. A lot of the stores in Westfield opened to also sell the ipad and these were empty in the morning, only Apple had a small line (compared to iphone 4).

I would argue that Apple has kinda saturated the market and your average joe blow is not going to buy the ipad 3, if they have a 2.

I think it was kinda a non even to be honest.

looking at http://www.ipad-stock.co.uk/ its readily available. Dubious about this record sales stuff.... mind you most of the people I saw in line were going to be flogging them on Ebay in countries that did not have it released.....

Since there was pre-ordering I'm sure a lot of people ordered online the day of the keynote. I'm curious how you know most people would be flogging them on eBay?

PhoneI · Mar 19, 2012

MH01 said:
I would argue that Apple has kinda saturated the market and your average joe blow is not going to buy the ipad 3, if they have a 2.

I would argue that you are incorrect. There was no iPad 2 pre-orders. Therefore everybody had to wait in line.

We will know soon, but I bet the sales were in the millions.

TheBronx · Mar 19, 2012

Congrats to Apple as always!

David085 · Mar 19, 2012

Congrats

soco · Mar 19, 2012

Herdfan said:
I think it depends on what they are calling sales. How many of the 240 my local BB got did they count? Did they count all 240 since BB bought them or did they count the 25 people in line Friday morning who bought them? I know they sold more than that, but they did sell all if them as even the 16GB WiFi is still in stock.

They count each individual sale to the stores that re-sell.

If Best Buy bought a million and only sold 4, Apple sold a million.

MH01 · Mar 19, 2012

PhoneI said:
I would argue that you are incorrect. There was no iPad 2 pre-orders. Therefore everybody had to wait in line.

We will know soon, but I bet the sales were in the millions.

Iphone 4. Pre-orders + crazy lines. Just comparing the lines that I noticed.

I actually spent a few months checking in on the ipad 2 as was going to get one intially, no hope after launch. I can go pick up a new ipad right now.

Though we will see. As this is effectively an Ipad 2S, we will see how many are prepared to upgrade. A lot of money for a nice screen to be honest. For myself going from Ipad 1, the decision was easier

tann · Mar 19, 2012

Epic win!

That 300k number for the original iPad is bonkers still to me! Well done :apple:

!

MH01 · Mar 19, 2012

Rogifan said:
Maybe they stocked up more this time. We don't know exactly what the comparison is but Cook wouldn't use a word like "record" if sales have been soft.

----------

Since there was pre-ordering I'm sure a lot of people ordered online the day of the keynote. I'm curious how you know most people would be flogging them on eBay?

Apple use the word magic.... come on!!. Watch a keynote, everything is amazing, wonderful, awesome etc etc.

The awesome thing about stats is your manipulate them for your purposes.

when you walk past the same apple store for 5 years and see the same people lining up each morning to get a device..... its not for personal use.

thelookingglass · Mar 19, 2012

MH01 said:
Iphone 4. Pre-orders + crazy lines. Just comparing the lines that I noticed.

I actually spent a few months checking in on the ipad 2 as was going to get one intially, no hope after launch. I can go pick up a new ipad right now.

Though we will see. As this is effectively an Ipad 2S, we will see how many are prepared to upgrade. A lot of money for a nice screen to be honest. For myself going from Ipad 1, the decision was easier

Yes, but what's missing in your argument is what the supply of the iPhone 4 was compared to the new iPad. None of us knows the answer, but anecdotally from posters on this board who work at retail stores in the US, the supply of new iPads for launch weekend was much, much higher than last year.

Also, another thing to consider is that these aren't subsidized devices the way phones are, nor are they as commonly used as phones. Overall market for tablets is smaller.

Thunderhawks · Mar 19, 2012

toddybody said:
Whoa, did NOT see this coming.

Get Retina and you see it coming AND going

bbeagle · Mar 19, 2012

igazza said:
iPad launched in more countries so you would expect record sales.

Bingo!

This is what many people don't get about Apple in the past 2 years. Apple's market was almost exclusively USA, and now Apple's market is the world. Analysts have never understand how Apple kept increasing it's sales exponentially year after year. This is the main reason.

TheBronx · Mar 19, 2012

bbeagle said:
Bingo!

This is what many people don't understand about Apple in the past 2 years. Their market used to be almost entirely USA, and now is the world. Analysts didn't understand how Apple kept increasing it's sales exponentially. This is the main reason.

So how come other tech companies that already have a global presence come nowhere close to the success of Apple? Believe me, it's far more then just added availability.

futbalguy · Mar 19, 2012

TheBronx said:
So how come other tech companies that already have a global presence come nowhere close to the success of Apple? Believe me, it's far more then just added availability.

Well if you are talking about why the growth has been as spectacular in the past few years then international growth is the reason. Apple only recently started to market internationally compared to the other tech giants (most hardware are located in Asia so they had that presence). There is so much untapped potential in China and some other markets its crazy to think about.

Leaping Tortois · Mar 19, 2012

I wonder if some of their supply issues have been solved by switching displays to Samsung. Say what you will about their mobile business but their semi-conductor and display businesses are pretty much unmatched in terms of quality and volume that they can deliver in short amounts of time.

Also, say what you will about samsung mobile, but their flagship devices have always had great screens!

New iPad Launches to 'Record Weekend' in Sales

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