Apple May Sell 600,000 iPad 2 Units This Weekend

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Photo by jwpriebe - http://flic.kr/p/9btNjg
Photo by jwpriebe - http://flic.kr/p/9btNjg

Although online sales began just a few hours ago and brick-and-mortar sales of the iPad 2 are set for later Friday, analysts already are expecting Apple’s new tablet to outsell the original device. The Cupertino, Calif. company could sell 600,000 iPad 2s this weekend – double the 300,000 first-generation iPads sold during its first 24-hours of availability.

“Apple has such a huge lead,” Creative Strategies’ analyst Tim Bajarin told Bloomberg News early today. “Competitors are going to be chasing Apple for many years,” he adds.


Other analysts echo Bejarin’s comments. Well-known Gene Munster, a well-known Apple analyst with Piper Jaffray, forecasts the tech giant will sell 5.5 million iPad 2s during the first quarter of availability – surpassing the 3.27 million units sold during the original iPad’s first three-month period.

Earlier this week, a JPMorgan Research analyst told investors the iPad 2 could burst the bubble of rival tablet makers. The iPad 2, which is thinner and has a longer battery-life than the original could “make it tougher for the first generation of competitive offerings to play catch-up, meaning actual shipments could fall well short of plan,” Mark Moskowitz said Wednesday.

Moskowitz warned competitors are placing large orders for tablet components, but risk leaving up to 51 percent of the devices unsold in the face of the iPad’s strong position.

[Bloomberg, AppleInsider]

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