Apple sells 3 million iPads over the weekend, remains coy on how many were Mini

Apple has announced that it has sold three million iPads over the opening weekend, but fails to break down that figure into how many were iPad Mini tablets and how many were fourth generation full-size model.

Apple has sent forth its traditional, post-opening weekend press release trumpeting how many new iPads it has sold. We say iPads — plural — because it wasn’t only the iPad mini that went on sale, but the fourth generation iPad too, despite it being almost completely ignored by the press.

From November 2 to November 5, Apple sold 3 million iPads, which it says “doubles the previous first weekend milestone of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third generation in March.” Neither of the two new iPads have cellular connectivity yet, but 4G models will ship in the next few weeks.

Just in case you didn’t quite catch it, Apple CEO Tim Cook chimed in to confirm that the company “set a new launch weekend record,” and adds that it had “practically sold out of iPad minis.”

So, a resounding success? Well, possibly, but there’s no breakdown of exactly how many units of that 3 million magic number were iPad minis. Reports from around the world on Friday didn’t contain the same degree of excitement over the iPad Mini as they have for previous Apple products, and described shorter lines at stores.

This didn’t stop it from selling out, a fact that anyone could gather from a cursory glance at Twitter late in the launch day, as frustrated buyers found the shelves empty at their local stores. Apple’s statement closes with reference to online pre-orders selling-out too, confirming that “demand for the iPad mini exceeded the initial supply.”

Three million sales needed for success

Prior to the weekend, an analyst from BTIG said Apple needed to shift at least 3 million iPad Mini tablets for it to be hailed a success. For some context, the iPhone 5 sold 5 million over its opening weekend and as we reported last week, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has taken nearly 40 days to reach 3 million sales.

Apple analyst Gene Munster warned the company may fall short of this figure, estimating between 1 million and 1.5 million iPad mini devices would be sold. He noted that this lower than expected figure is because the iPad mini will be a “grower,” and that once people see and try it, demand will increase.

Without the aforementioned sales breakdown, it’s impossible to know how close Munster came to the truth, but he’s probably not far off. At least we assume he’s not, as for all we know, the fourth generation iPad could have been responsible for 75 percent of the total.

With the iPad mini selling out online and in stores, it certainly looks like another successful launch for Apple. But it’s difficult to say just how much of this was true demand, and how much was lack of supply. Among the endless iPad Mini rumors, you may recall an analyst warning that there would only be “acceptable” iPad mini stock levels for the first month, due to problems with the supply chain. This rumor may have come true, and comes soon after the iPhone 5’s similar problems.

The iPad mini came out in 34 countries on Friday and according to the Apple Store, is currently limited to two per customer with a two-week wait before it ships.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Watch out Apple, Google Play now has 700,000 apps too

It's reported that Google Play now contains 700,000 apps, which means it equals Apple's figure provided for its iTunes App Store. With Android activations growing too, Android could soon overtake iOS here too.

It’s being reported that there are now 700,000 applications available inside the Google Play store, which sees the two giants of the app world — Google and Apple — tied for first place. Although not officially confirmed by Google, CNet.com says its own sources agree with Bloomberg’s original report.

This means there has been an influx of 25,000 new apps since September, when Google announced the Play store was home to 675,000 apps, and that it had seen 25 billion of them downloaded since it opened in late 2008.

Apple also states the iTunes App Store contains 700,000 apps, a figure it has repeated at both the launch of the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini, and each time prefacing the figure with either “more than” or “over.” The last number Apple officially provided was back in June, when it announced there were 500,000 apps to download.

This is the first time the two major app forces have been tied, with Apple traditionally maintaining its lead over Google. However, the growth of Google Play mirrors the growth of Android as a platform, which recently reached 900,000 activations per day and is expected to tip over the magic one million mark at the end of this, or early next year.

The amount of available apps is a crucial figure for marketing teams, as it can be used to show the operating system has a vibrant community behind it. However, quantity doesn’t always mean quality, and with interest in tablet-only apps at an all-time high, Apple still has the upper hand, with more than 200,000 of its app total being optimized for a bigger screen.

Now Google has caught up with Apple, it also serves to illustrate the gulf between the two industry leaders and their competition. Earlier this week, Microsoft told those gathered for the launch of Windows Phone 8 that its application store, the newly christened Windows Phone Store, contained 120,000 apps. A figure expected to grow at a faster rate now that the new Windows Phone SDK has been released.

As for BlackBerry App World at the end of September, 105,000 apps were reported to be available, up from 90,000 in July.

Will Apple be happy to concede another one of its trophies to Google? Probably not, so expect a revised figure from them soon, perhaps when it releases iTunes 11.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com