Apple's iPad 2 should sell better than the first iPad, said Piper Jaffray, which said lines should be shorter owing to retail availability from Target, Best Buy and Walmart.
Apple's iPad 2
will sell 1 million units faster than the 28 days it took the first-generation iPad
to sell because the new tablet is available from more stores, according to one
industry analyst.
Piper Jaffray
analyst Gene Munster said in a March 8 research note that initial demand for
iPad 2 will be strong but said the increased distribution points will mean
shorter lines at Apple retail stores than there were for the inaugural iPad
that sold 15 million units last year.
Apple launched
the original iPad at 221 U.S. Apple retail stores and most of the 1,100 U.S.
Best Buy stores on April 3, 2010.
Apple March 11
will sell the iPad 2 at 236 U.S. retail stores and in more than 10,000 other
stores, including AT&T and Verizon stores, as well as retailers Target,
Best Buy and Walmart in the United States. Assuming the weather is good and
Apple fans come out to shop, the iPad 2 should enjoy a solid opening weekend
this Friday.
"It
appears iPad 2 supply will be better than the first iPad, given Apple expects
to be in 27 countries in the first two weeks with iPad 2 (and we expect the
iPad 2 to launch in China in April), vs. just 10 countries in the first two
months for the first iPad," Munster added.
The analyst
asserted that the iPad 2 will sell well, which would quell concerns that there
would be weak initial demand from the short lines at the Verizon iPhone launch.
Apple CEO
Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2 March 2 in San Francisco, one week after Verizon
Wireless launched the Motorola Xoom Android 3.0
"Honeycomb" tablet.
The iPad 2,
which is thinner, lighter and faster than its predecessor
and includes dual cameras for video chat via Apple's FaceTime application, is
expected to hamper Xoom sales because it is priced the exact same way the first
iPads were priced. The base WiFi version costs $499, and the 16GB WiFi+3G
version is priced at $629.
By comparison,
the Xoom costs $799, off contract ($599 for a two-year Verizon data deal), or
$70 more than Apple's comparable, 32GB WiFi+3G iPad and iPad 2.
While the Xoom
is upgradeable to Verizon's speedier 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network,
Apple's low-ball iPad 1 pricing appears poised to dull the appeal of the Xoom
for cost-conscious consumers, and should force Verizon to slash the device's price.
Even so,
Munster acknowledged that the iPad 2 is more evolutionary than revolutionary
over the first iPad.
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