Apple could sell more than 66 million iPads in 2012, according to one analyst. That would allow the iPad to continue to dominate the tablet market.
Apple could sell 66 million iPads this year, buoyed
by strong interest in its newest version, according to Gene Munster, an analyst
with Piper Jaffray.
Due to the strong launch, we are raising our
[calendar year 2012] iPad estimates from 60 [million] to 66 [million], Munster
wrote in a March 20 research note. We believe the unprecedented ramp of the
iPad over the past year is evidence that the tablet market will be measurably
larger than the PC market. (Piper Jaffray buys and sells Apple securities,
according to a disclosure in the research note.)
By 2015, Munster suggested, the iPad market will
expand to some 176 million units. He also believes that Apple will release a
sub-$300 iPad sometime in 2013.
Apple claims it sold some 3 million new iPads
in the first weekend of release. By comparison, it took the first iPad about 28
days to sell one million units.
Despite the consumer interest, another analyst
believes that at least one group is disenchanted with the new device and its
capabilities.
We also think 3 million iPads in three days is
impressive, but the developers were less impressed, Trip Chowdhry, an analyst
with Global Equities Research, wrote in a March 18 research note. Developers
were being encouraged to modify their applications for Retina display, with
some beliefwhich they created in their own mindsthat the new iPad sales will
be north of 5 million or maybe more.
The new iPad (Apple has so far declined to give it
an official name along the lines of iPad HD or iPad 3) features a high-resolution
Retina display, an improved camera and processor and comparable battery life to
its predecessors.
Although the iPad continues to dominate the tablet
market as a whole, Apple clearly wasnt willing to leverage that advantage into
higher device prices: The highest-cost version of the new iPad is $699 for the
WiFi-only 64GB model and $829 for the 64GB model with WiFi and 4G. Individuals
in the United States have the option of purchasing the new iPad with 4G
Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity via either Verizon or AT&T, but not through
Sprint (which carries the iPhone).
However, there are indications that Apple is spending more to manufacture each unit.
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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.
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