Apple not sold out of iPad 2, after all

By Andrew Couts March 15, 2011

ipad-2-black-and-white-side-by-side-together-as-one — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Despite allegedly massive sales this weekend, Apple is not “sold out” of the iPad 2. In fact, the company has reportedly already begun to replenish inventory at its retail outlets, and has even decided to open at least some stores one hour early today, in an attempt to sell as many of their second-generation tablet to desiring customers as possible, reports Apple Bitch.

From what we can gather, only stores that received additional iPad 2 shipments would open early. Since most stores open at 10am, that would mean participating locations would be open as early as 9am local time. And even if they don’t open early, it would still be much faster to buy an iPad 2 in person that it would be to wait the four-to-five weeks Apple says it will take to ship out online orders.

By the end of the weekend, many Apple stores and partner retail outlets, like Best Buy, Target and Walmart, were sold out of the iPad 2. Analysts predicted that Apple had sold anywhere between 400,000 and 1 million iPad 2 units in the opening weekend.

Apple has not yet announced any sales figures, however, arousing suspicion of lower-than-expected numbers. The only official word from Apple so far comes from a spokeswoman who told The Loop that iPad 2 sales have been “amazing,” so far.

“Demand for the next generation iPad 2 has been amazing,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller told The Loop. “We are working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible.”

The only actual sales figure available comes via Apple’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City, where a “well-connected source” tells Business Insider that the store doled out 7,200 iPad 2s during the first day of sales. And analysts say the lines of people waiting to get their hands on the device were longer this year than for the original iPad.

So, were iPad 2 sales excellent or mediocre? Well, considering analysts expect Motorola to sell only 300,000 of its Xoom tablets during the entire first quarter — 100,000 less than even the lowest predictions for Apple’s opening weekend iPad 2 sales — no one can call the iPad 2 a flop, regardless of the actual numbers.

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