The launch of the Apple iPad into international markets like Australia has seen sales of the popular device surpass 2 million since going on sale in the US two months ago.
As a result, retailers like JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith are struggling to get stock of the popular device. At JB Hi-Fi, the most popular model has been the $1049, 64GB, 3G wireless model, which CEO Terry Smart claims is in “big demand”.
Having sold out of iPads over the past weekend JB Hi-Fi is now restocking both the iPad and several lines of accesories which are proving popular. “There is big demand for covers and attach accesories” said a JB Hi-Fi store Manager in Sydney.
Analysts had tipped sales of 1.5 million units for the quarter ending in June. Yesterday, Apple said that sales of the iPad have been stronger than for the original iPhone, which took more than two months to reach 1 million. But analysts said it had fallen short of the iPhone 3G, which came out in 2008 and sold about 3 million units in the first month.
Apple last week eclipsed Microsoft in market capitalisation, becoming the most valuable technology group in the world. In the quarter that ended in March, Apple sold 2.94 million Macs, or just less than 1 million per month.
But Macs are intended to perform essential household and business tasks, while the iPad is a small luxury device aimed at consuming digital media.
According to The Financial Times, the new figures suggest the company has succeeded in creating a category of device between traditional personal computers and smartphones.
Apple sells more than 6 million iPhones and iPods each month.
Apple delayed the iPad launch overseas by weeks because of short supply, then shifted most of its inventory to those new markets, leaving many shelves bare in the U.S. after the initial rush.
Apple had announced 1 million sales in the U.S. alone in the 28 days after it became available there on April 3, for a starting price of $499. It took another 31 days to sell the second million units, implying a fall-off in the U.S. not quite compensated for by the international shipments.
Apple did not break out the number of sales by country or by model. In the U.S., the less expensive Wi-Fi-only versions have proved more popular, but anecdotal evidence over the weekend suggested stronger international performance for the type of iPad that remains connected to the internet with data-transmission plans from telecoms carriers.
Analysts said last week that the iPad, like the iPhone before it, should do as well in overseas markets as it does domestically and perhaps better, since more telecom carriers support the new device than for the iPhone at its debut.
