Lines for launch of Apple's new iPad declared 'better than expected'
Lines for the new iPad in New York City were declared "better than expected" on Friday, considering Apple began accepting preorders online more than a week ago.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray counted the number of people in line Friday at Apple's stores in New York City, and found that the crowds were smaller than last year's iPad 2 launch. But last year's launch came later in the day, at 5 p.m., and Apple also didn't take iPad 2 pre-orders in 2011.
Munster counted 750 people in line at the flagship Fifth Avenue Store, compared to 1,190 for the iPad 2 last year. In addition to the pre-orders and earlier start time, he said the new Grand Central Terminal Apple Store probably took some traffic away from the glass cube on Fifth Avenue.
Munster has maintained his prediction that Apple will sell a million units on launch day, including pre-orders. He expects Apple to announce that figure next week, on Monday.
"We believe this would imply iPad units slightly ahead of the Street at 10.2 million for the March quarter," he said in a note to investors on Friday.
Fifth Ave opening for new iPad launch. Video credit to AppleInsider reader Ryan.
Customers who order a new iPad from Apple's online store will wait an estimated two to three weeks before their order ships. The launch of the new iPad has been Apple's largest product roll-out ever, as sales began on Friday in a total of 10 countries.
Munster believes that Apple will sell 60 million iPads this year, with sales growing to 86.5 million in 2013, 122 million in 2014, and 176 million by calendar year 2015. In the coming years, he expects that Apple will continue to maintain majority market share of the tablet space, and he also believes that Apple will release a smaller, sub-$300 iPad in 2013.
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Comments
I just ordered it.
Lines for the new iPad in New York City were declared "better than expected" on Friday, considering Apple began accepting preorders online more than a week ago.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray counted the number of people in line Friday at Apple's stores in New York City, and found that the crowds were smaller than last year's iPad 2 launch. But last year's launch came later in the day, at 5 p.m., and Apple also didn't take iPad 2 pre-orders in 2011.
So, IOW, Munster's opinion is worthless. He has no basis for claiming that it's better, the worse, or the same as last year.
Oh Welll... Eagerly awaiting the arrival of my (pre-ordered) 'new iPad' 64/LTE!
(... though I do have concerns over how large these 'new iPad' optimized apps are looking).
Now I'm thinking that maybe I should have braved the stores... FedEx says it's on the truck, out for delivery... BUT there is a delivery exception to "future delivery," so it has only a half red bar on "in transit." AND expected delivery has been charged from "by 3:00 PM" to "by 10:00 PM."
That's what mine says. At first I thought that maybe the doorman wasn't there to sign for it. However, I think since it updated exactly at 9:00am it was pre-programmed. On mine, it said it was on the vehicle for delivery at 7:36am, and then had the 9:00am "delivery exception." Usually FedEx gets to my building late in the morning or early in the afternoon. I'm expecting that it will be the same today.
Lines for the new iPad in New York City were declared "better than expected" on Friday, considering Apple began accepting preorders online more than a week ago...
What do you mean by "better"? Honest question, as I suspect that there could be some ambiguity in values. The best line I know has 0 people in it...
Munster counted 750 people in line at the flagship Fifth Avenue Store, compared to 1,190 for the iPad 2 last year.
Waiting for someone to turn that into proof that the iPad is losing interest.
(... though I do have concerns over how large these 'new iPad' optimized apps are looking).
Thank you for the useful post.
My iPad is coming via UPS. I don't know what their numbers are like. But if UPS' numbers are similar to Fedex, it sounds like 1 million iPads is going to be well within reach on the first day.
Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen business stories about how busy the shippers are going to be today. Apparently, it's enough of a strain for Fedex to put out an internal memo.
I'm thinking 2.5 to 3 million units this weekend.
Waiting for someone to turn that into proof that the iPad is losing interest.
I'm not at all surprised and it's not about losing interest. It's a tablet, not a phone and unsubsidized so the upfront costs are higher. Look how many millions of people JUST bought the iPad2 through the holidays. You honestly think the average person is going to run out and buy the newerish one launch weekend because the screen may be a little better? It's no doubt going to be a runaway success, in time, this go around. I'd very much assume the majority of sales are still first time tablet buyers.
I picked up my new AppleTV at the Fedex facility last night (I wasn't home when they attempted to deliver it). The guy there told me he just finished reading a company memo stating that it was shipping 450,000 iPads.
My iPad is coming via UPS. I don't know what their numbers are like. But if UPS' numbers are similar to Fedex, it sounds like 1 million iPads is going to be well within reach on the first day.
Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen business stories about how busy the shippers are going to be today. Apparently, it's enough of a strain for Fedex to put out an internal memo.
Interesting, thanks for that angle on the story. This is all about the screen. Unprecedented.
That's what mine says. At first I thought that maybe the doorman wasn't there to sign for it. However, I think since it updated exactly at 9:00am it was pre-programmed. On mine, it said it was on the vehicle for delivery at 7:36am, and then had the 9:00am "delivery exception." Usually FedEx gets to my building late in the morning or early in the afternoon. I'm expecting that it will be the same today.
On FedEx vehicle for delivery-my line is at my door, wait for FedEx
Mine just arrived via Fedex 20 mins ago. HIGH FIVE!
May I ask, what state are you in,,?
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1341323
(... though I do have concerns over how large these 'new iPad' optimized apps are looking).
Solution: skip everything but the Martha Stewart Cookies.
(... though I do have concerns over how large these 'new iPad' optimized apps are looking).
Most apps use pre-generated images for everything, and thus, they'll now include copies of those same images at twice the resolution (which dramatically increases the amount of storage space required).
This is why I always push to have as much be drawn "programmatically" as possible. A few lines of code to draw things (rather than using images) can save you many megabytes in your app size. And, if done right, it can automatically scale to higher resolutions with no extra effort required. The apps which didn't increase much in size likely took this approach.
Interesting, thanks for that angle on the story. This is all about the screen. Unprecedented.
I want to see it in person. The iPhone screen is great (but way too tiny), and the huge high rez iPad screen promises to be gorgeous.
I'd very much assume the majority of sales are still first time tablet buyers.
I'm wondering how many 1st generation buyers will be getting the 3rd generation iPad. I know of at least 2 people in that camp... myself and a friend of mine. So there's 2 sales you can count in the previous buyer's list.