As everyone awaits Apple’s announcement about the next-generation iPad, the Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is gearing up to sell 6.5 million of both the new tablet and the initial product during the first quarter of 2011. The tech giant could ship 40 million of the popular devices during the full calendar year, the Wednesday report adds.
Possibly preparing for heavy demand and hoping to not repeat shortages seen for the first iPad, Apple has between 300,000 to 400,000 iPad 2 units for the initial San Francisco, Calif. launch, slated for today at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern. The company has reportedly already ordered between 1.7 million and 2 million iPads during the first two months of the year. Apple in March is expected to order more than 2 million of the iPad 2 devices.
According to industry publication DigiTimes, there were between 1 million and 1.5 million iPads in the January inventory. The iPad 2 is expected to replace the original iPad. More than half of the iPad 2 initial inventory will be 3G-capable, with Apple eventually producing three versions of the new tablet for Wi-Fi, GSM/UMTS and CDMA/EVDO, the report claims.
