Apple’s iPad 2 to Ship by March 2011?
Posted by Zack | Posted in Consumer Electronics | Posted on 07-12-2010
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Apple’s iPad, probably one of the biggest selling pieces of technology to come out of Steve Jobs’ empire since the iPod, is not only Apple’s biggest product but also one of the hottest selling pieces of tech in today’s market. The iPad is one portable device that everybody wants to get their hands on and one product that Apple has trouble keeping on store shelves. Now rumors have been floating around recently about a second generation iPad dutifully named the iPad 2. While many people aren’t expecting this product for a while, the tech world was shaken up when news surfaced that the iPad 2 would be shipping by the end of February 2011.
Foxconn Electronics out of Shenzhen, China, was recently notified by Apple that they will ship the iPad 2 “within the next 100 days”. Initial shipments are said to reach between 400,000 and 600,000 units according to sources from component makers in Taiwan. However, Foxconn has thus declined to release any official comments.
According to the sources, the iPad 2 is supposed to ship as early as the end of February 2011. Apple’s original plan for the iPad 2 was to begin mass production of the product in January 2011. This, however, doesn’t seem likely as the firmware of the iPad 2 is still undergoing testing. Foxconn has new plants in Chengdu but they are still in pilot production which means the iPad 2 will be primarily made in Foxconn’s Shenzhen plants. Foxconn’s upstream component partners have also been notified of the iPad 2 shipment schedule.
Apple announced that it sold a total of 4.19 million iPads in the third quarter of 2010 which makes the iPad’s combined sales since release total 7.5 million units in only nine months. Apple is looking forward to iPad sales increases in the coming months due primarily to the holiday season but also because Apple will begin selling the iPad in South Korea and Latin America in the fourth quarter.
On the flipside, the iPad’s shipments on the supply side of things are relatively higher than channel sales. This means that Apple could potentially come up with inventory issues. Despite this fact though, Apple has no plans to stop production of the iPad whatsoever. It is expected that Apple will shorten shipments after January 2011 to dissect inventory across the entire first quarter in order to launch the iPad 2 in April.
If Apple follows through with this plan, we can expect a huge post-holiday increase in sales for Apple as many people will be rushing out to get their hands on the newer and, hopefully, better iPad 2. Keep checking back here for more news about the iPad 2 as well as all of Apple’s other products.
