Consumers across the country lapped up Apple’s new tablet offering, the iPad2, available in stores across the country on Friday, just 50 days after its global launch in the US.
Most Apple stores reported sales much higher than what they had expected. Sources close to the company say the first-day sales exceeded their expectations.
Imagine Stores, a premium reseller of Apple products in posh south Delhi, says it has orders from consumers and corporate bookings to buy over 550 iPads. “Around 400 units have been pre-booked by three to four corporates. The kind of queries we are getting, we can sell at least another 500 units in the next two days, apart from what is pre-booked. As a result, we have already doubled our orders to the company for next week from 150 a day to 300 a day,” says Abhinav Bhalla, owner of the store.
In the geek city of Bangalore, there was a huge demand. “We offered a pre-booking facility yesterday. We opened our showroom on Friday and by 11 am, the entire product was sold out. We are getting more calls now from users; we are taking orders now and hope to deliver these next week,” said Thomas Paul, store manager at Imagine in the Forum Mall. “We have orders for 70 (more) units.”
In Chennai, retailers complained they did not have enough iPads to meet the high demand. One of the main distributors said whatever stocks had come to them were sold and there was a demand supply mismatch. “Supply has been restricted, stocks are sold in no time,” said the distributor, who did not want to be named.
Hyderabad, the other IT centre, saw a similar trend. “We have been getting inquiries from prospective buyers since a week. We received 20 units of the iPad2 Wi-Fi version (16GB, 32 GB and 64 GB) at 8.30 am on Friday. And, we were out of stock before noon,” says the iStore manager, who didn’t want to be named.
3G MODEL SELLS MORE
The iPad2 was introduced in two versions, one with only Wi-Fi, which is cheaper, and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G, in which you have a slot to put in a SIM card, not there in the earlier version. However, store managers say it was the more expensive 3G-cum-WiFi model which was selling the most. “The majority of the pre-bookings were for the 3G-cum-WiFi model,” said Bhalla in Delhi.
In Kolkata, on an average, stores had advanced bookings of 250-300 sets, making the iPad2 officially 50 per cent more popular than iPad, which had a comparatively muted response. “The timing of the launch is just right, given the fact that it was launched in the US just a month back. This has meant the interest from patrons and potential consumers has stayed,” said the manager of an Apple outlet. Most stores are stocked for the weekend, over which they expect sales to cross the 1,500-mark.
Also enhancing the interest is the fact that, priced between Rs 29,000 and Rs 33,000, the iPad2 is an affordable gadget for businessmen and techies alike, many of whom will buy the product over the next few days.
“I am really looking forward to it. I would love to own a piece,” said Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman, CESC. Even in Ahmedabad, it was the 3G version which picked up faster.Says Sanjeev Ghalpade of Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt, the franchise for Apple: “By noon, around 15 iPad2 were sold. With 3G services being launched in the city, it is the WiFi-enabled 3G versions of iPad that are selling like hot cakes. People are also preferring models with higher data storage capacities to get the most out of the gadget,” he said.
The new iPad is also 33 per cent thinner than the older version, has a dual core processor and works much faster than the earlier model. That apart, it has two cameras to make video calls a reality. The quick launch of Apple in India for the iPad2 even before that of China is a clear reflection of the growing importance of the country in Apple’s sales graph.
