A line of people waiting to purchase the new Apple iPad mini make their way into an Apple store after it opened Friday, Nov. 2, 2012 in San Francisco. Apple’s new 7.9 inch tablet went on sale Friday. Photo: Eric Risberg/AP
The Friday launch of the iPad mini was met with the usual lines and sold out pre-orders. But compared to launches of past iPads and iPhones, the excitement surrounding the new product debut was a bit more lackluster than expected.
iPad mini buyer Inna Treyger visited the downtown San Francisco store around 8:45 AM Pacific time and was surprised by the lack of line — there wasn’t a single person outside at the store that is generally the scene of massive launch-day crowds. “I’ve never personally waited in line at a launch before,” Treyger said. “But I’ve walked by iPhone launch lines in the past, so I know how crazy the process can get. I was in and out in seven minutes.”
But that’s not to say there weren’t lines anywhere, as many photos will show. New York, in particular, saw a large turnout at its flagship 5th Avenue store. According to Piper Jaffray, 580 people lined up for iPad mini launch day. That’s 150 people less than the next-lowest turnout for an iPad launch at that location, which was for the first-generation iPad in 2010.
Why the lower numbers? Many people I’ve talked to just don’t understand what the mini is for or why they would need one, especially if they already own both an iPhone and an iPad. ”It’ll take some time for consumers to become aware of the product and really consider what it is that they want to purchase,” Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps told Wired. “Even though press and industry knew about it, the iPad mini was more secretive. Mainstream consumers weren’t talking about it.”
Still, sales of other 7-inch tablets indicate that people do want that sub 10-inch size, and expectations are that the mini will be a healthy product line for Apple, regardless of turnout on Friday morning. According to Forrester’s estimates, some of the leading 7-inch, like the Kindle Fire and Nook Color are selling, in the single-digit millions. Amazon sold nearly 5 million of in Q4 of last year when it went on sale. Rotman Epps expects about 8 million iPad mini units to be sold in its first quarter of availability, and that number is actually limited by supply constraints (particularly with display production), rather than demand.
For the informed consumer looking for a small tablet, there are definite benefits to some of the non-iOS competitors out there, like the Nook Color, which is cheaper. However, the iPad mini’s size is a plus. “It’s significant that the iPad mini is lighter and thinner than competitors even though it has a bigger screen,” Rotman Epps said.
Whether or not the retail store excitement and line levels matched up with previous launch events, the iPad mini looks like it’s on track to rack up record sales numbers (even at the expense of the larger Retina display iPad in an effect known as cannibalization).
“I do think there’s a market for the iPad mini,” Rotman Epps said, “and it’s going to be phenomenally successful.”
Part of the line from the 3rd generation iPad launch in San Francisco in March of this year. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ipad-mini-launch-day/
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