Apple Inc. said it sold more than 300,000 iPads in the U.S., including preorders, on the first day the device was available, hitting all but the highest estimates for the product.
Media attention and early crowds across the country at Apple retail stores had some expecting a bigger figure, with one analyst predicting as many as 700,000 iPad sales the first day. Compared with other Apple product launches, however, analysts said the results were still impressive.
"It looks like initial sales are starting solid," ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh said.
Apple also said users downloaded more than one million applications and 250,000 e-books from its iBookstore during the first day.
Apple hadn't offered iPad sales forecasts, but over the weekend, swarms of buyers flocked to stores after weeks of publicity about the tablet-style computer. Despite long early lines, crowds thinned throughout the day, and few stores sold out of the device.
With the iPad, Apple is attempting to turn a niche product category—tablet-style computers—into a mainstream device used to watch movies, read books and newspapers, and do some simple computing. Its success will depend on whether less-technology-savvy consumers embrace the device even as Apple fans clamor for it.
Sales estimates varied widely. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster more than doubled his initial first-day sales estimate to between 600,000 and 700,000 units, including preorders, based on longer-than-expected lines at stores and high expectations for online preorders. He had also lifted his 2010 forecast to 5.5 million units from 2.8 million.
Meanwhile, Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu predicted sales between 250,000 and 300,000 units for the opening weekend.
Preorders made guessing sales based on turnout tricky.
IPads on sale Saturday started at $499. They connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi, with a third-generation wireless iPad available in the next few weeks.
When Apple launched its first iPhone in June 2007, the company sold roughly 270,000 in the first weekend, Mr. Munster estimated. Apple sold one million 3G versions of the iPhone in the first weekend when that device launched in 2008, though the tally included sales abroad.
Overall, analysts expect iPad sales to reach into the millions this year. On Friday, research firm iSuppli Corp. predicted that 7.1 million iPads will sell world-wide this year, with sales nearly tripling to 20.1 million by 2012. But others were less bullish. Forrester Research, for example, predicted first-year sales of three million.
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