Apple's iPad 2 attracted a majority of buyers new to the iPad, according to a survey by analyst firm Piper Jaffray. Apple hopes the iPad 2 will fend off rivals.
Apple's iPad 2 is attracting first-time iPad buyers,
according to a new survey by analyst firm Piper Jaffray. That could bode well
for the new tablet, which Apple needs to help fend off competition from a
number of high-powered rivals, including the Motorola Xoom and Research In
Motion's upcoming PlayBook.
"We spoke with 236 people in line for the iPad 2 on Fri.
(3/11) in New York and Minneapolis," analyst Gene Munster wrote in the survey
results. "Typically demand on Apple product launch days is driven by upgrades,
but our data suggests Apple is gaining new iPad users vs. upgrading existing
ones."
To that end, the survey found that some 70 percent of iPad 2
buyers "were new to the iPad compared to 23 percent of iPhone 4 buyers that
were new to the iPhone at launch."
Munster also believes that Apple sold between 400,000 and
500,000 iPad 2 units. "We note that the weekend number for the iPad 2 is
essentially a launch day total because stock across retailers was mostly
depleted by late Friday and not replenished during the weekend."
While a sample size of 236 people pales in comparison to the
millions of people expected to purchase the iPad 2, it could certainly suggest
certain rough trends emerging during the tablet's first days of shelf life. The
firm's survey also found that 47 percent of iPad 2 purchases chose a model with
3G capability. Some 41 percent purchased the 32GB "midrange" iPad 2. Out of all
purchasers, some 65 percent already owned an iPhone, and 24 percent had a
Kindle.
On March 11, eWEEK visited three Apple Stores in New York
City and found a situation similar to that described by Munster. At the
company's flagship Fifth Avenue store, the line for iPad 2 purchasers snaked in
multiple directions, and press photographers steadily photographed everyone
exiting the door with a boxed iPad 2 in hand. On the Upper West Side, the line
for the iPad 2 stretched around the corner. And down in SoHo, the crowd packed
around the entrance resembled a very polite riot.
Apple employees at the SoHo store said their initial supply
of the iPad 2 had been stripped.
Meanwhile, Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdry,
based on an analysis of four Apple stores and three Best Buy retail outlets,
decided that Apple had already sold three times as many iPad 2 units over two
days as the original iPad.
Research firm IDC recently suggested that Apple's share of
the tablet market declined from 93 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to 73
percent in the fourth quarter. Despite the presence of more competitors in the
tablet space, IDC expects that Apple will maintain a 70 percent to 80 percent
market-share in 2011. A flood of new iPad owners could help make that
happen.
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Email
Print
