Apple’s iPad 2 On Track for February Shipments (AAPL)

Taiwan’s Digitimes is reporting that Foxconn’s plants in Shenzen, China, are preparing to ship the iPad 2 for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) “within the next 100 days with initial shipments to reach 400,000-600,000 units.” Digitimes cites its sources as “Taiwan-based component makers,” who “have all been notified of the shipments schedule.” Foxconn is not saying a word, declining to say even that it makes the iPad for Apple.

Digitimes also includes a chart of iPad shipments and sales since the tablet’s introduction in the second quarter of this year. Estimated shipments for the nine months comes in at 15.8-16.3 million units. Channel sales come in at 14.49-14.99 million units, meaning Apple will be sitting on iPad inventory of about 1.31 million units at the end of December. Apple is expected to order 1.6-1.8 million units of the original iPad in January, then cut back as the company reducing inventory through the end of March.

The iPad 2 (not its official name) was initially expected to ship in January, but Apple is still testing the tablet’s firmware. There had been a lot of speculation that the new iPad would be launched in the first quarter of 2011, but April seems like a better bet now.  We have noted before and will note for all those who are buying iPads and iPhones and seeing the upgrade models come out within months of a launch… At what point will a “consumer lemmings” feeling act as a negative against Apple?

Apple has had no comment on any of this speculation, of course. Nor has the company commented on what’s new with the iPad 2. Most Apple watchers expect to see a second camera on the front of the iPad, to allow for video phone calls. The new iPad is also expected to run on both CDMA and GSM networks, making the device truly international.

The effect of this story on Apple’s shares today is negligible, although the shares touched a new 52-week high in the first half-hour of this morning. The stock has since given most of that back.

Paul Ausick