Apple To Suppliers: Give Us 3M iPads Per Month

Talk of iPad shortages may be history if reports of Apple’s new marching orders for suppliers are true. Apple CEO Steve Jobs, after doubling iPads built to 2 million, recently ordered 3 million iPads for the fourth quarter of 2010, according to one analyst.

The figure puts Apple on track to ship 36 million iPads in calendar year 20111, just shy of the 40 million iPads expected to be purchased next year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty.

In late August, we reported Apple had shrunk iPad shipping delays to 24 hours, down from more than a week. Reports at the time indicated Apple’s decision to order 3 million more iPad displays from Samsung (in a $240 million deal) was paying-off.

One suggested reason why Apple is telling suppliers to put their foot to the floor is that the Cupertino, Calif. company anticipates Google’s expected Android tablet and wants anyone looking for an iPad to find one.

DON'T MISS
Apple Catching Up to Demand: Now Shipping iPads in 24 Hours

[All Things Digital, Business Insider]

7 comments »

About the author

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by Ed Sutherland.

Posted in News |

Yargo
LOL. I’ve gotta’ feeling that Jobs will still be around in 20111.
TTOM
Is the above picture the 20111 model?
Johnny Rocket
Agree with TTOM, what’s with the picture? Definitely should have been some sort of caption, considering the source.
Hello, COM, “if one picture is worth a thousand words” and “every picture tells a story,” don’t you think you could spare just a few more words of explanation?
Who, what, when, where, how, why? Or is this another Coffee Table iPad?
Rob
LOL possibly the year 20,111 AD model…
So 40 million iPads next year, 40+ million iPhones, 50+ million iPod Touch…
for year 2011
http://mackeeper.zeobit.com/ MacKeeper_Fan_Modua
Another interesting marketing blunder for Apple. You would have thought that Apple would have had the major supply of iPads on hand for the roll-out. The competition is now coming on stream with their tablet computers and ereaders and within another month or two the stores will be full of the things.
Grant
Not too sure about the math in this one: headline says 3m units per month but the first paragraph says 3m units for the fourth quarter 2010 ie 3 months. Likewise lack of detail about the 2m units that are presumably already built/sold. Since product went on sale, US only, third quarter 2010??
Poppa
I am still waiting for the first update of the ipad before I buy one, the iphone and ipod touch both have cameras for Facetime,so surely the next ipad should have a camera and better display….