Apple to Launch New iPad in 20 Additional Countries by April 27
Apple just announced that the new iPad is scheduled to launch in 11 countries on April 20 and nine more on April 27. Conspicuously missing from the list of lucky countries to officially get their hands on the new iPad is China.
The 11 countries to see the new iPad in their local stores on April 20 include South Korea, Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela. The nine additional countries to receive an official launch one week later are Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.
Apple’s newest tablet has seen record sales since it first hit store shelves. The new iPad sold an estimated three million units in its first weekend. That is two million more than the iPad 2’s numbers in 2011. What is even more impressive is that it took nearly three months to accomplish those same sales figures when the first-generation iPad came out.
Recently, Sterne Agee increased their estimate for iPad shipments for the second quarter of 2012 from 11.5 million units to 12.3 units and a survey conducted by Baird Equity Research showed that 24 percent of Americans plan on buying the new iPad in the next couple of months. Foxconn is also expected to increase production of Apple’s new tablet from 12 million to 15 million in the second quarter.
With the upcoming widespread international release, these numbers are likely to keep going strong for 2012.