Sales of the iPad 2 in the few days since its launch could be as high as one million, according to analyst Brian White, of Ticonderoga Securities. White told investors that ‘he would not be surprised’ to see sales of one million in the first weekend. The original iPad took 28 days to sell that many.
White’s analysis was based on demand for the new iPad at Apple retail stores and the fact that the company is quoting a delay of two to three weeks on online orders.
In Apple’s flagship retail store in downtown San Francisco, the queue was snaking around the block five hours before the 5pm launch. That store ran out of wifi models within hours and another San Francisco Apple store, in the Stonestown district, was completely out of stock shortly after launch.
In New York, the queues around the Fifth Avenue store were reported to be the longest ever for an Apple product launch. And in Minneapolis, the Mall of America Apple Store had three times as many people queueing as it did last year.
The evidence of increased demand led long time Apple-watcher and Piper Jaffrey analyst, Gene Munster to increase his first day sales forecast to an upper figure of 500,000.
A hardware analysis conducted by iFixit.com concluded that the new iPad has 512MB RAM, a more powerful battery, and a screen that is glued into place rather then held in place by clips as it is on the original iPad.
