Apple's announcement yesterday that it had sold 3 million iPads in its opening weekend — the best ever launch of the tablet, according to the company — is so much better than analysts expected that a few have raised their estimates for shipments this year.
Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, who predicted opening sales of 1 million to 3 million, says Apple could sell as many as 66 million of its touch-screen tablets in 2012, up from his prior estimate of 60 million. Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee, noting that 3 million was at the high end of his estimate, boosted his forecast to 60 million for 2012, up from 55 million.
"The bottom line is the iPad is ramping at an accelerating rate," Munster said in an investor note this morning. "We believe the unprecedented ramp of the iPad over the past year is evidence that the tablet market will be measurably larger than the PC market."
He predicts the new iPad, which went on sale March 16, will hold the market lead through 2015. Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the unveiling of the iPad on March 7 that he expects the device to lure buyers away from PCs and to help usher in the "post-PC" world.
Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since it introduced the device in 2010, and it is now the company's second best-selling product after the iPhone, accounting for 20 percent of revenue.
The new version, dubbed simply iPad, comes as Apple is facing increasing competition from Amazon, with its Kindle, and Google, which is driving development of tablets based on its Android operating system. Market research firm IDC last week dubbed Apple the market leader in worldwide tablet sales last year.
Apple held the No. 1 spot 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.
Confidence in demand for the new iPad, which adds a faster processor, new high-resolution display and support for 4G wireless networks, led IDC to raise its estimates for overall tablet sales this year. It now expects that consumers will take home 106.1 million tablets, a boost from its prior estimate of 87.7 million, and up from the 68.7 million sold in 2011.
Meanwhile, Apple's shares rose $4.86 (or less than 1 percent) to close at $605.96 in regular Nasdaq trading today.
