Apple expected to sell up to 1.5M iPad minis over launch weekend - Page 2

Most of the new Data Share plans (like on AT&T and Verizon) include talk, text, data AND tethering.  But yes, it'll consume data from your pre-selected data package.

I believe that Verizon still offers free tethering from the iPad even without the Data Share plan...or not...the dang data plans keep changing.

 

The best way to tether is to jail break your iPhone (that is grandfathered with unlimited Data) and hope that the network doesn't threaten to throttle you...unless you have Sprint, which gives unlimited data.

 

Regardless, I would think that the vast majority would want the potential to use cellular coverage even if they don't use it very often.  I can say that almost all of my friends (all 5 of them), who bought WiFi-only regret not getting the cellular model.

So you think they could sell less than 15 thousand unit per country this weekend? That sounds very low to me.

That is rather low, I'm guessing he meant USA numbers, but even then I don't believe it.

If it was just the US or just the standard handful of countries we typically have seen with the iPhone release I'd say that less than a million was possible because it's a "smaller" iPad amongst every new iDevice update possible and new Mac, but we're talking about an unprecedented 34 countries getting this on the same day.

That plus the number of component leaks we've seen for months tells me they've been ramping up production for awhile. It does not mean they will sell millions opening weekend but I think it's very likely that they expect (or expected) to sell millions opening weekend based on the ramp up and number of countries.

Now, we can say that Apple isn't directly competing with the Nexus of Kindle Fire because they are not playing the low-end of the small tablet market — and to a certain extent that's true — but these first weekend numbers are important as marketing the initial success of a new product for many reasons so I think anything that's far outside the norm for an Apple launch would be bad press, hence the long ramp up in production and the 34 countries at launch.

That said, we still have to consider those that want the Cellular version (which anecdotally is all but one person I know who is getting one) which won't be out for a couple weeks(?) affecting unit sales.


PS: I really had no interest because if I have a choice between my MBP and my iPad (3) I'll choose my MBP every time, except for playing Kingdom Rush (love that game!), so I really didn't see a usage case that would make me give up one for the other.

I really love the Retina display and not sure I want to give that up despite my previous comment about preferring my MBP over my iPad whenever possible, so maybe I would be fine with it. I'm actually fairly torn but will go to the store to check them out today.

So far this image from The Verge has made me very, very interested in getting one.