Apple has confirmed the sale of at least three million iPads in just three days since the launch of its new mini and fourth generation iPad.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the above-mentioned sales are double the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation iPad in March.
“Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad,” said Cook. “We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We’re working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand.”
Cook also noted demand for the iPad mini had exceeded Cupertino’s initial supply – and while many of the pre-orders have been shipped to customers, some are scheduled to be mailed later this month. In addition, he confirmed that the Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad will ship in a few weeks in the US, with additional countries to follow later this year.
As TG Daily previously reported, a number of analysts, including Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee, believe the latest iteration of the wildly popular iPad represents “the worst [possible] nightmare” for Windows 8 tablet manufacturers.
“We continue to believe iPad mini is the competition’s worst nightmare and will likely slow down adoption of competitor tablets,” Wu explained in an industry note. “In particular, we believe this could end up being a very tough holiday season for Windows 8.”
According to Wu, competitive analyses comparing the iPad mini and Android tablets like Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD are somewhat misdirected.
Indeed, says Wu, Apple’s smallest iPad will likely have the most significant impact on PC vendors, as the unit’s $329 price of entry effectively undercuts many new Windows 8 products – including Microsoft’s $600 Surface RT, which the analyst ranked as “arguably overpriced.”
Wu also said he disagreed with analysts who believe the iPad Mini’s price point is set too high, comparing the product’s positioning to that of iPod mini and iPod nano.
“This controversy reminds us of what happened with iPod mini and iPod nano,” Wu wrote. “Both predecessors were criticized as being overpriced but went on to do much better than expected. The key reason being high quality at a reasonable price and we see something similar here.”
