6 ms·

New iPad Tops Three Million

78 points by yoda_sl 15y ago

zackzackzack 15y ago
Today would be a good day to own stock in AAPL, methinks.
- ebaysucks 15y ago
  A great business does not necessarily imply a great investment.
  - enoptix 15y ago
    I think in this case, it does.
solsenNet 15y ago
what's the asp on ipad2s? $750 per? $2.25B in revenue in a weekend. not bad.
- 2arrs2ells 15y ago
  ASP for iPads has been ~$600 in the past. It might drop a bit, now that Apple has lowered the entry price point (or could rise, as LTE pulls more people away from WiFi only). $1.8B in revenue in a weekend, still not bad :P
  - kenrikm 15y ago
    It costs them around $300 (Can't say exactly, however the LTE version was pegged at $330, could be less depending on volume deals) they are making a sizable portion of that 1.8bil in net profit.
    - thehigherlife 15y ago
      cost of parts for the device != cost to manufacture/design device
      - kenrikm 15y ago
        You're of course right and that's why I said "A sizable portion" ;)
rauljara 15y ago
For contrast, they sold 5.2 million macs last quarter. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-First-Quarter-Results.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-Firs... Also, the iPhone 4s sold 4 million in its opening weekend. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Four-Million.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-We... I couldn't find an apple press release for the iPad 2, but a lot of news outlets reported that analysts had sales pegged around 1 million units. http://blackfridaymagazine.com/apple-claims-record-weekend-for-ipad-sales/03036 http://blackfridaymagazine.com/apple-claims-record-weekend-f...
- alexbell 15y ago
  It's pretty impressive that an unsubsidized mobile device in the $500+ price range is putting up these numbers. Does anybody besides me think this indicates consumers are replacing their old "real" computers with iPads?
  - smackfu 15y ago
    Maybe supplementing? Since "old" computers aren't really old anymore as far as functionality.
    - ugh 15y ago
      Look at this graph: http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm More than one third of US households have more than one PC. It’s probably a good assumption that most US households with iPads will keep at least one PC, but it’s very possible that many households are replacing their second or third PCs with iPads. After getting an iPad many households might not replace their kitchen or living room PC once it breaks. Maybe kids will get an iPad instead of a cheap laptop. It would actually be very interesting to look at that question more closely. I’m not sure whether there is already data out there. I think it’s important to emphasize that for the iPad to supplant PCs, people don’t have to ditch every PC they own. Many own more than one.
  - 15y ago
m0nastic 15y ago
When I picked mine up from the package room of my apartment on Friday, the guy there said that 15 had been delivered that morning. That seemed like a pretty high number for a single apartment building in Washington D.C. For what it's worth, I'm incredibly happy with it so far.
- glimcat 15y ago
  Residents tend to be reasonably well clustered in terms of socioeconomic factors, and we know that at least one resident exists for whom this is a reasonable purchase. If we assume the 3x10^6 sales are all US (false, but good to some order) and estimate the US population at 300x10^6, then the expectation is roughly 1:100 that a random person will order a unit. Conditioning that on socioeconomic factors should yield a reasonably high probability that if you ordered one, so did several of your neighbors.
  - m0nastic 15y ago
    That's probably true. I wish I had better data ;) As a contrast, I was the only resident who had an iPad 2 delivered during the launch weekend. There are 300 apartments in my building, and I'm actually in the minority demographically (my building is ~ 1/3 diplomats, 1/3 graduate students, and 1/3 "other"). I suspect for the "other" though, that we're all at least in a moderately similar socioeconomic bracket.
samstave 15y ago
Assuming an average price of 600 - that is 1.8B in revenue, in ~3 days. Or, $25 MILLION PER HOUR. EDIT: assuming that is in 48 hours, that equals 37.5 MM per hour in revenue. What company has produced such revenue in some other space. Any? I am sure the revenue for the Oil Industry is higher, globally, but for one company? That is insane. I sold my apple stock at $200 :(
- hyperbovine 15y ago
  Don't feel bad, I sold mine at $38 :)
  - joering2 15y ago
    friend sold for $450, I bought for $480, he said: it needs to go down, and now hes angry at me :)
  - sixothree 15y ago
    I have only a few that I got at $21 before the split.
  - nikcub 15y ago
    sold at $16-18, on margin, to start a startup
- nikcub 15y ago
  Exxon revenue is almost $490B p.a. Wal-Mart is $420B p.a. They both reach crazy peaks late in the year.
flyosity 15y ago
From people I've talked to in my family and others (non-technical folks) the idea of purchasing an iPad when it first launched wasn't incredibly alluring for anyone who's not an early adopter. Regular buyers like to wait until 1) reviews are available, 2) updates are out to fix bugs, and 3) the vague "quirks" are worked out in a device before pulling the trigger. $500-800 is a big investment for people buying a device to use on their couch, casually. But now that the third generation is out, and it has an amazing new screen, great battery and extremely fast wireless (and, presumably, no "quirks" that people might think had been present in the earlier models) it's thought to be a safer buy. It's not the first model, it's been out a few years, Apple knows what they're doing by now, they've seen commercials and know people that have one, etc. So what were they waiting for? The new one to come out. And it has. I think the buyers this weekend weren't merely Apple fans with iPad 1s and 2s who wanted to upgrade, but lots and lots of new owners who have been waiting patiently for a good reason to whip out their credit cards. For this reason I think overall sales of the new iPad are going to be totally insane.
- robertp 15y ago
  This is good logic but its impossible to know who is buying all the ipads. Whenever I see real customers behind an online store of any sort, they are almost always completely different from what myself and the store owner would imagine.
- justjimmy 15y ago
  I'm a new owner myself. I've been following Apple since I bought the first generation iPod (paid way too much for it) when it first came out. I noticed how fast and often Apple releases their upgrades, and I taught myself to wait (hard to do) whenever I decide to buy a new Apple product. I didn't get an iTouch till it's 3rd generation, didn't own a smartphone till iPhone 4, and didn't get a MB till the Unibody design came out. And now I will own my first iPad in an hour once I get home from work. The delay due to getting the engrave option. So yeah, count me as one of those that's finally getting an iPad :D
  - sixothree 15y ago
goronbjorn 15y ago
I wonder how much revenue AT&T/Verizon are booking because of data plans for the iPhone and iPad. The total combined revenue from iOS hardware, data plans, and apps from the App Store must be frighteningly large.
54mf 15y ago
But the processor isn't quad-core! But it weighs more than the iPad 2! But it's thicker than the iPad 2! But they didn't say how much RAM it has!
- gnaffle 15y ago
  Just another part of the Apple Product Cycle (http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/ http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/): "The haters offer their assessment. The forums are ablaze with vitriolic rage. Haters pan the device for being less powerful than a Cray X1 while zealots counter that it is both smaller and lighter than a Buick Regal. The virtual slap-fight goes on and on, until obscure technical nuances like, “Will it play multiplexed Ogg Vorbis streams?” become matters of life and death."
  - 54mf 15y ago
    Ha! Exactly.
badclient 15y ago
It will be hard to find a press release that has more feature-related buzz words than this: CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA. Then again, it's Apple so it doesn't matter :)
avar 15y ago
How usable is it if you don't own any computer running either Mac OS X or Windows? Doesn't it still need iTunes to upgrade itself etc, or can you buy it as a stand-alone computer for casual browsing and games?
- gtCameron 15y ago
  Upgrades can all happen over the air now, and you don't need a PC to sync with for start up either. I haven't plugged my iPad 2 into my mac since iOS 5 came out, you should be fine.
- arn 15y ago
  It still needs to be activated on a computer, but I believe the Apple Store will do that for you. Otherwise, it's very usable without a computer, now with over the air updates. edit: oops, I guess I'm wrong.
  - betterth 15y ago
    I'm under the impression that iOS5 introduced no-sync-required activation.
  - gnaffle 15y ago
    As of iOS 5 you can activate it over the air (WiFi or 3G) and optionally use iCloud for syncing your stuff instead of iTunes.
  - gjritter 15y ago
    It actually doesn't need to be activated on a computer anymore. iOS 5+ allows the user to activate and start using their device without ever connecting it to a computer, and updates are also over the air.
- bbgm 15y ago
  Not required any more. I haven't plugged my iPad into a computer in months. Everything has been over the air, including OS updates.
- CCs 15y ago
AJ007 15y ago
Does anyone else find high resolution text alongside up-scaled graphics (both in app and on the web) obnoxious?
vibrunazo 15y ago
There's been plenty of reports lately, that average people cannot tell the difference between an iPad 2 and 3. What do HN users who have both think about this? Are these true or exaggerated? If it's true, then what does the new iPad breaking sales records means? That apple can pretty much sell anything with the right marketing at this point, no matter how innovative its technology may or may not be? [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox5Q2nWi-Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox5Q2nWi-Q [2] http://gizmodo.com/5894094/we-people-an-ipad-2-told-them-it-was-the-new-ipad-and-they-loved-it http://gizmodo.com/5894094/we-people-an-ipad-2-told-them-it-... [3] http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-difference-between-ipads-20120319,0,5898212.story http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-differen...

78 points by yoda_sl 15y ago

zackzackzack 15y ago

Today would be a good day to own stock in AAPL, methinks.

ebaysucks 15y ago
A great business does not necessarily imply a great investment.
- enoptix 15y ago
  I think in this case, it does.

solsenNet 15y ago

what's the asp on ipad2s? $750 per? $2.25B in revenue in a weekend. not bad.

2arrs2ells 15y ago
ASP for iPads has been ~$600 in the past. It might drop a bit, now that Apple has lowered the entry price point (or could rise, as LTE pulls more people away from WiFi only). $1.8B in revenue in a weekend, still not bad :P
- kenrikm 15y ago
  It costs them around $300 (Can't say exactly, however the LTE version was pegged at $330, could be less depending on volume deals) they are making a sizable portion of that 1.8bil in net profit.
  - thehigherlife 15y ago
    cost of parts for the device != cost to manufacture/design device
    - kenrikm 15y ago
      You're of course right and that's why I said "A sizable portion" ;)

rauljara 15y ago

For contrast, they sold 5.2 million macs last quarter. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-First-Quarter-Results.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-Firs... Also, the iPhone 4s sold 4 million in its opening weekend. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-Weekend-Sales-Top-Four-Million.html http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/17iPhone-4S-First-We... I couldn't find an apple press release for the iPad 2, but a lot of news outlets reported that analysts had sales pegged around 1 million units. http://blackfridaymagazine.com/apple-claims-record-weekend-for-ipad-sales/03036 http://blackfridaymagazine.com/apple-claims-record-weekend-f...

alexbell 15y ago
It's pretty impressive that an unsubsidized mobile device in the $500+ price range is putting up these numbers. Does anybody besides me think this indicates consumers are replacing their old "real" computers with iPads?
- smackfu 15y ago
  Maybe supplementing? Since "old" computers aren't really old anymore as far as functionality.
  - ugh 15y ago
    Look at this graph: http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/index.cfm More than one third of US households have more than one PC. It’s probably a good assumption that most US households with iPads will keep at least one PC, but it’s very possible that many households are replacing their second or third PCs with iPads. After getting an iPad many households might not replace their kitchen or living room PC once it breaks. Maybe kids will get an iPad instead of a cheap laptop. It would actually be very interesting to look at that question more closely. I’m not sure whether there is already data out there. I think it’s important to emphasize that for the iPad to supplant PCs, people don’t have to ditch every PC they own. Many own more than one.
- 15y ago

m0nastic 15y ago

When I picked mine up from the package room of my apartment on Friday, the guy there said that 15 had been delivered that morning. That seemed like a pretty high number for a single apartment building in Washington D.C. For what it's worth, I'm incredibly happy with it so far.

glimcat 15y ago
Residents tend to be reasonably well clustered in terms of socioeconomic factors, and we know that at least one resident exists for whom this is a reasonable purchase. If we assume the 3x10^6 sales are all US (false, but good to some order) and estimate the US population at 300x10^6, then the expectation is roughly 1:100 that a random person will order a unit. Conditioning that on socioeconomic factors should yield a reasonably high probability that if you ordered one, so did several of your neighbors.
- m0nastic 15y ago
  That's probably true. I wish I had better data ;) As a contrast, I was the only resident who had an iPad 2 delivered during the launch weekend. There are 300 apartments in my building, and I'm actually in the minority demographically (my building is ~ 1/3 diplomats, 1/3 graduate students, and 1/3 "other"). I suspect for the "other" though, that we're all at least in a moderately similar socioeconomic bracket.

samstave 15y ago

Assuming an average price of 600 - that is 1.8B in revenue, in ~3 days. Or, $25 MILLION PER HOUR. EDIT: assuming that is in 48 hours, that equals 37.5 MM per hour in revenue. What company has produced such revenue in some other space. Any? I am sure the revenue for the Oil Industry is higher, globally, but for one company? That is insane. I sold my apple stock at $200 :(

hyperbovine 15y ago
Don't feel bad, I sold mine at $38 :)
- joering2 15y ago
  friend sold for $450, I bought for $480, he said: it needs to go down, and now hes angry at me :)
- sixothree 15y ago
  I have only a few that I got at $21 before the split.
- nikcub 15y ago
  sold at $16-18, on margin, to start a startup
nikcub 15y ago
Exxon revenue is almost $490B p.a. Wal-Mart is $420B p.a. They both reach crazy peaks late in the year.

flyosity 15y ago

From people I've talked to in my family and others (non-technical folks) the idea of purchasing an iPad when it first launched wasn't incredibly alluring for anyone who's not an early adopter. Regular buyers like to wait until 1) reviews are available, 2) updates are out to fix bugs, and 3) the vague "quirks" are worked out in a device before pulling the trigger. $500-800 is a big investment for people buying a device to use on their couch, casually. But now that the third generation is out, and it has an amazing new screen, great battery and extremely fast wireless (and, presumably, no "quirks" that people might think had been present in the earlier models) it's thought to be a safer buy. It's not the first model, it's been out a few years, Apple knows what they're doing by now, they've seen commercials and know people that have one, etc. So what were they waiting for? The new one to come out. And it has. I think the buyers this weekend weren't merely Apple fans with iPad 1s and 2s who wanted to upgrade, but lots and lots of new owners who have been waiting patiently for a good reason to whip out their credit cards. For this reason I think overall sales of the new iPad are going to be totally insane.

robertp 15y ago
This is good logic but its impossible to know who is buying all the ipads. Whenever I see real customers behind an online store of any sort, they are almost always completely different from what myself and the store owner would imagine.
justjimmy 15y ago
I'm a new owner myself. I've been following Apple since I bought the first generation iPod (paid way too much for it) when it first came out. I noticed how fast and often Apple releases their upgrades, and I taught myself to wait (hard to do) whenever I decide to buy a new Apple product. I didn't get an iTouch till it's 3rd generation, didn't own a smartphone till iPhone 4, and didn't get a MB till the Unibody design came out. And now I will own my first iPad in an hour once I get home from work. The delay due to getting the engrave option. So yeah, count me as one of those that's finally getting an iPad :D
- sixothree 15y ago

goronbjorn 15y ago

I wonder how much revenue AT&T/Verizon are booking because of data plans for the iPhone and iPad. The total combined revenue from iOS hardware, data plans, and apps from the App Store must be frighteningly large.

54mf 15y ago

But the processor isn't quad-core! But it weighs more than the iPad 2! But it's thicker than the iPad 2! But they didn't say how much RAM it has!

gnaffle 15y ago
Just another part of the Apple Product Cycle (http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/ http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/): "The haters offer their assessment. The forums are ablaze with vitriolic rage. Haters pan the device for being less powerful than a Cray X1 while zealots counter that it is both smaller and lighter than a Buick Regal. The virtual slap-fight goes on and on, until obscure technical nuances like, “Will it play multiplexed Ogg Vorbis streams?” become matters of life and death."
- 54mf 15y ago
  Ha! Exactly.

badclient 15y ago

It will be hard to find a press release that has more feature-related buzz words than this: CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA. Then again, it's Apple so it doesn't matter :)

avar 15y ago

How usable is it if you don't own any computer running either Mac OS X or Windows? Doesn't it still need iTunes to upgrade itself etc, or can you buy it as a stand-alone computer for casual browsing and games?

gtCameron 15y ago
Upgrades can all happen over the air now, and you don't need a PC to sync with for start up either. I haven't plugged my iPad 2 into my mac since iOS 5 came out, you should be fine.
arn 15y ago
It still needs to be activated on a computer, but I believe the Apple Store will do that for you. Otherwise, it's very usable without a computer, now with over the air updates. edit: oops, I guess I'm wrong.
- betterth 15y ago
  I'm under the impression that iOS5 introduced no-sync-required activation.
- gnaffle 15y ago
  As of iOS 5 you can activate it over the air (WiFi or 3G) and optionally use iCloud for syncing your stuff instead of iTunes.
- gjritter 15y ago
  It actually doesn't need to be activated on a computer anymore. iOS 5+ allows the user to activate and start using their device without ever connecting it to a computer, and updates are also over the air.
bbgm 15y ago
Not required any more. I haven't plugged my iPad into a computer in months. Everything has been over the air, including OS updates.
CCs 15y ago

AJ007 15y ago

Does anyone else find high resolution text alongside up-scaled graphics (both in app and on the web) obnoxious?

vibrunazo 15y ago

There's been plenty of reports lately, that average people cannot tell the difference between an iPad 2 and 3. What do HN users who have both think about this? Are these true or exaggerated? If it's true, then what does the new iPad breaking sales records means? That apple can pretty much sell anything with the right marketing at this point, no matter how innovative its technology may or may not be? [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox5Q2nWi-Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iox5Q2nWi-Q [2] http://gizmodo.com/5894094/we-people-an-ipad-2-told-them-it-was-the-new-ipad-and-they-loved-it http://gizmodo.com/5894094/we-people-an-ipad-2-told-them-it-... [3] http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-difference-between-ipads-20120319,0,5898212.story http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-differen...