Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, a notorious Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) bull, estimates 300,000 3G iPads were sold last weekend, its first on the market. This can be added to the one million WiFi-only iPads that have been sold since its was launched.
The strength of the iPad does several good things for the company and may cripple competitors the way that the Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Kindle did to the e-reader market.
The tablet computer is a relatively old concept which Apple decided to dust off and actually build. That it has done so well that it shuts up most naysayers who believe its functions and chip power make it a hard sell.
Apple’s revenue should begin to show an increase from iPad sales as early as this month. The average unit costs $600. The company could easily ship 2 million units in the 90 day period since its launch. iPad’s contribution will almost certainly grow as it become available overseas.
Apple is often a first mover and a muscular one as well. It took nearly the entire multimedia market with the iPod when it was launched in 2001. It has had a more muted effect on the smartphone market but the iPhone is so successful that it now drives about one-third of Apple’s revenue. The consumer electronics company’s rapidly expanding sales will make it harder for Windows 7 based table PCs to be successful. There are rumors that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has backed off its plans to create a tablet. There are no signs that Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) plans a tablet of its own.
Apple has once again sucked most of the air out of the room with the iPad launch leaving almost no breathing room for its competition.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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