According to a new survey by Piper Jaffray, more than half the iPad mini buyers surveyed already have an iPad and three quarters of them plan to keep their full size model alongside their new smaller model. The small survey of 72 buyers conducted by Piper Jaffray, seeks to profile who is buying Apple’s devices and where those sales may be trending. According to the firm, it is being forecasted that Apple will sell 1.5 million iPad minis in its 3 day launch weekend, compared to the nearly one million small tablets per month that Google is now selling.
Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray reported in a note to clients that 72% of his small survey of iPad mini buyers cited its compact size as the primary reason for wanting to buy the device. He concluded that the statistics “reinforces our thesis that iPad mini may start slower than some other product launches, but gain momentum as consumers recognize the portability benefits of the smaller size.”
Analyst Walter Piecyk of BTIG stated that “we believe Apple’s first weekend sales of the iPad mini needs, at a minimum, to top the 3 million first weekend sales of the iPad 3 in order to demonstrate that the management team can execute on ramping supply of new products and to provide some of the new products and to provide some evidence that there is adequate demand for a smaller iPad at these price points.” According to Piecyk’s sales threshold, Apple’s iPad mini would need to sell over 30 times faster than Google’s mini tablet in order to prove that a market for small tablets exists.
Brian J. White of Topeka Capital Markets sent out a note stating “we are projecting Apple to sell 800,000 to 1 million 7.9-inch Wi-Fi iPad minis over the first three days,” adding that “demand will prove to be much greater than the sales that Apple will be able to recognize during this period,” citing supply constraints.” Apple is estimated to sell 7 million iPad minis by the end of the year.
We’ll see how accurate the numbers are in time.
Source: AppleInsider
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