Apple finally started taking pre-orders for its much-hyped iPad on Friday, and despite the device’s widely criticized cost and disappointing feature set, customers are already eating it up. Apple’s sold over 100,000 iPads this weekend alone.
Initial indications are that early adopters are opting for the cheaper WiFi-only model of the iPad, which does not have the ability to connect to AT&T’s 3G data network, by a 2-to-1 margin. That likely won’t come as a surprise to many people — even AT&T’s CEO anticipated before the product went on sale that customers wouldn’t want to add another charge to their monthly bills given the state of the economy.
But it’s not clear those customers are getting the best bang for their buck because the iPad’s 3G capabilities, unlike the iPhone’s, do not require a subscription to use. Thanks to an exclusive deal between Apple and AT&T, customers are free to enable or disable their iPad’s 3G service as necessary with the higher-end model.
Whether dedicated Apple users, who regularly pay premiums for the company’s stylish computers, have ever been concerned about getting the best feature set for their money is another issue entirely.
The WiFi-only model ships out on April 3. The 3G variation comes a few weeks later.
Via CNN:
Based on a sampling of 99 orders (for 110 iPads) over 19.5 hours, and not counting units that were reserved but not ordered, the Sanity team estimates:
* Nearly 120,000 iPads sold. Their math: 124,596 (orders of all Apple products Friday) minus 16,500 (the average number of online orders on a normal day) times 1.11 (the average number of iPads ordered per customer) equals 119,987 iPads.
[...]
“Apple has been able to generate over $75 million in revenue in one day on a product that 99.9% of purchasers haven’t touched or for that matter, even seen in person,” said Victor Castroll, an analyst with Valcent Financial Group. “And, we’re still three weeks away. That is amazing.”
Full story: Day 1 Estimate on iPads – CNN Fortune
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