iPad Mini May Have Sold 2 to 2.5 Million Units First Weekend

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Previous estimate suggested tablet would sell 1 to 1.5 million units.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes the majority of launch weekend iPad sales were from the iPad Mini.

Out of the three million iPad units Apple sold during the past weekend, he estimates that the company sold 2 to 2.5 million iPad Minis, which is a considerably higher amount from a previous estimate of 1 to 1.5 million. The analyst based his estimation on line surveys, which shows that around nine out of every 10 customers were waiting for the iPad Mini as opposed to the iPad 4.

Munster said he maintains his previous estimate of $12.6 billion in overall iPad revenue during the December quarter for Apple. Depending on the availability of the Mini, the unit totals may shift.

"Specifically, units may increase driven by iPad Mini, but have a slight cannibalization effect, which, when factoring in the lower [average selling price], would result in revenue unchanged," Munster said. "We are currently modeling for 25 million total iPads including 20 million full-sized iPads and 5 million Minis in December."

J.P.Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, meanwhile, agreed with Munster's prediction of most first-weekend sales were likely attributed to the iPad Mini. He expects the tablet to take share away from the $199 tablet market, as well as hurt e-reader and PC markets.

"Given the global economic uncertainty, we think price-sensitive users could gravitate toward an iPad mini instead of making a PC purchase. Our view is that the incremental use case is more differentiated for first-time tablet users. In tough times, unique or 'feel good' purchases can be more amenable to end users, which gives the edge to the tablet versus the PC, in our view," Moskowitz noted.

Rather than the iPhone, which makes the bulk of Apple's revenues and profits, the analyst believes the iPad Mini could help the tablet become the firm's main growth market. "In our view, barring entry of another new category, Apple's iPad Mini could set the stage for the iPad product set to carry the growth baton in the future, particularly as iPhone growth momentum moderates."

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Zak Islam
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • joytech22
    Still less than the amount of condoms sold within the same time frame.
    Reply
  • mas
    This article misses the point just as Apple has really missed the boat.

    The iPad mini should have been a converged tablet/iphone (like the Note2) - and if they really wanted to define the category, they would implement secure remote terminal access (eg ssh) tightly integrated at the OS level rather than as an add-on notoriously unstable 3rd party app - allowing secure remote access and 'real' app access on personal or business computers with the ability to push pull data down as needed, thus allowing us to leave the laptop at home and eliminating the security exposure of lugging around a laptop.

    The result: a TRULY converged device that would allow phone, browsing & access to real apps and data as needed in a single secure package. The irony: it requires no new technology nor engineering - they simply implement that which has been around for more than a decade. All it takes is a a few moments to think of how the various duplicitous devices now offered are used. And that being the case, I anticipate such an advancement to take another 10-20 years...

    As it stands, we simply have a slightly smaller under-powered over-priced device that still requires that we carry a cell phone and a laptop.
    Reply
  • deftonian
    Apple played that one well... put out a statement of lower sales expectations so that when it breaches the mark it gains notoriety from users as "this must be good since it sold more than expected!"

    sly foxes O_O
    Reply
  • dark_knight33
    Continuing on Jimmy Kimmel's idea: Anyone that pays $329 for an ipad mini instead of $200 for an 7" android device should be punched in the throat.
    Reply
  • robochump
    Still amazing how iHaters are quick to post on Apple related articles...lol. Good to see they care enough to post. :)
    Reply
  • sundragon
    robochumpStill amazing how iHaters are quick to post on Apple related articles...lol. Good to see they care enough to post.
    Amen!

    Sent from my Nexus 7
    Reply
  • weierstrass
    To those Apple haters: if you want to know the time you buy a watch for 10$, if you want something shiny you may spend 50000$ on a Rolex. Now 130$ extra for some iDevice might be much for some people but for those who earn it in a couple hours or less the hole point of comparing the devices vanishes and get reduced to Apple or not Apple; and there are enough such people out there. But I agree that there are also a lot of idiots out there, who should have actually saved the 130$. Just saying the the price is not everything, who has not spend some extra bucks on brand-name clothing for example?
    Reply
  • izmanq
    so now it's prediction, i thought the headline previously, mini ipad is sold 1.5 million :p even i don't believe that number, and now they said they're going to sell 2.5 million ? :p yeah sure
    Reply
  • zybch
    So they only sold 40% as many of heir crappy iPad minis than MS sold their Surface tablets in about the same timeframe? Hmmm.
    Reply
  • Kami3k
    weierstrass who has not spend some extra bucks on brand-name clothing for example?
    I never have, I'm not a drone like you are.

    If you care so much for "social status" that you will spend 10 - 1000x more on a product with no difference in quality you have serious issues.
    Reply