13 Million iPads Shipped In 2010 – Demand Exceeds Supply
By iSuppli, a market intelligence company, just upped its 2010 iPad sales estimates: the company now believes that Apple will ship about 13 million iPads this year, about twice as much as what it initially estimated about 4 months ago. iSuppli is also expecting Apple to ship 37 million iPads in 2011, and 50 million in 2012.
In other words, iSuppli is predicting that Apple will have sold its 100 millionth iPad less than 3 years after its launch, which would make the iPad one of the fastest selling Apple product to date – in comparison, it took 6 years for Apple to sell 100 million iPods.
The most interesting tidbit from iSuppli’s report comes from the fact that these figures could be even higher if Apple and its partners were able to manufacture more iPads, as the main limiting factor seems to be the iPad’s supply chain: “iSuppli believes that the only limitation on iPad sales now is production – and not demand”.
iSuppli is also expecting a new version of the iPad to be released in April 2011, with new features such as various screen sizes, and an embedded camera. The new features will be added to fight back against the upcoming wave of tablets currently in the works, and to maintain Apple’s position as a leader in the tablet market – Apple’s share of the market is expected to be a whopping 84% by the end of the year.
Finally, iSuppli doesn’t expect any strong contender to the iPad available until at least 2011, as most netbooks and tablet makers delayed the release of their own “iPad killer” in hopes to better fight against the iPad. Similarly to the iPod and the iPhone, the iPad became the leader of its market in a matter of months, and the rest of the players are still playing catch-up at this point.
Photo credit: iSuppli
