Apple will release its new iPad on March 16, as promised, and said today that it will open its retail stores at 8 am local time in the U.S and nine other countries and territories. No word on how early it expects customers to line up before the doors open.
In addition to Apple's retail and online stores, customers will also be able to pick up the new tablet at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Target and Wal-mart.
Apple is counting on the iPad to maintain its market lead in tablets as competitors from Amazon to Google to Microsoft tout new devices and mobile technologies. Market research firm IDC earlier this week boosted its forecast for tablet sales in 2012, saying it saw better than expected shipments in 2011 and that new products like the iPad will win over even more buyers. IDC now expects consumers will take home 106.1 million tablets this year, a boost from its prior estimate of 87.7 million, and up from the 68.7 million sold in 2011.
Apple led the market in the fourth quarter, selling 15.4 million iPads to capture a 54.7 percent worldwide market share, according to IDC. That was down from its 61.5 percent share in the third quarter, a nod to the release of Amazon's new ebook reader. Amazon took second place, with 4.7 million Kindle Fires shipped and a 16.8 percent share of the market. Samsung was No. 3 in the market last quarter, with a 5.8 percent share, up from 5.5 percent in the third quarter, IDC said.
As for Apple, the company has sold more than 55 million iPads since the touch-screen tablet was introduced in 2010 and analysts predict the company may sell as many as that this year alone. It's Apple's second-best selling product after the iPhone, and last quarter accounted for 20 percent of revenue. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who introduced the new version on March 7, called the device the "poster child" for the post-PC revolution, which he described as the move away from PCs to more mobile, personal devices.
Ben Reitzes, an analyst with Barclays Capital, said his estimates for iPad shipments — of 8.5 million units for the quarter ending this month and for 51 million this year — could be "conservative" if Cook is right. Reitzes, who says Apple has likely "pre-sold millions" of iPads in the days after its unveiling, said that every million in upside to his unit estimate for iPads adds about 20 cents to Apple's annualized EPS. Here's more of his thinking:
"We believe there is plenty of room for the expansion of Apple’s iPad business. In fact, CEO Tim Cook recently stated that he believes the iPad market could be as big as the PC market. The PC market currently stands at about 350 million units and $253 billion in revenue. Applying a conservative tablet market share for Apple of about 50% equates to 175 million iPad units could be sold on an annualized basis in a peak year, contributing about $87.5 billion in revenue based on an average selling price of $500. Last week, we unveiled a long-term framework for Apple’s EPS to reach $75 with this iPad target serving as a critical component. We believe consumers will dock iPads more and more to keyboards – taking an even bigger bite out of the PC market over time."
The third-generation iPad — which has no number or modifiers after its name — adds support for faster 4G LTE wireless networks, the Retina display Apple offers in its iPhone, support for High Definition video and a faster new custom processor called the A5X designed to power the higher-resolution display.
Three versions that support Wi-Fi are priced starting at $499, while three models that work with 4G networks and require a service contract with AT&T, Verizon and other carriers start at $629. Apple is also continuing to sell the iPad 2, but at $100 less than its original price, to appeal to price-conscious buyers.
In addition to the U.S., Apple will also sell the new iPad on March 16 in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the U.K., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
What will be different about this year's iPad release? In the past, former CEO Steve Jobs visited his hometown Apple store in Palo Alto, California, to check out the crowd and chat with the Apple fans who lined up hours in advance to get their hands on new products. Maybe Cook will do the same.
