Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/04/05/300k_ipads_sold/
Apple understates iPad demand
Cupertino hypemeisters low on hype
Posted in Personal Tech, 5th April 2010 18:52 GMT
Apple says it "sold over 300,000 iPads in the US as of midnight Saturday, April 3." But that figure is an uncharacteristic understatement by Cupertino's hyperactive hypemeisters.
As The Reg noticed - and MacDailyNews also pointed out - Apple's press release refers only to "deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores."
Missing from that 300,000 figure are pre-sales for the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, for which Apple has been banking pre-orders since March 12. "Banking," however, doesn't include Apple engorging its coffers with $629 to $829 per pre-ordered iPad Wi-Fi + 3Gs. According to Cupertino's payment and pricing terms, "your card will only be charged after your order has shipped."
Including the yet-to-be-delivered 3G iPads, which are scheduled to be released on an unspecified date later this month, total iPad orders and sales may be more in the 400,000 to 500,000 range. But Apple, to no one's surprise, isn't providing specific figures.
Apple's release also notes that iPad users downloaded more than one million apps and a quarter million ebooks from Apple's App Store and iBookstore on the first day that the iPad was released into the wild.
Keeping more to their core code of using the largest numbers possible while providing the least detail possible, Apple did not disclose how many of those apps and ebooks were free and how many were paid.
“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world - it's going to be a game changer,” Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a canned statement that also declares that the "magical" tablet is "defining the future of mobile media and computing devices." ®