“Apple fans lined up in several Asian cities to get their hands on the iPad mini on Friday, but the device, priced above rival gadgets from Google and Amazon.com, attracted smaller crowds than at the company’s previous global rollouts,” Thuy Ong reports for Reuters.
MacDailyNews Note: Only the Wi-Fi-Only iPad mini models are available today. The iPad mini with 4G LTE cellular connectivity goes on sale later this month.
“At the head of Friday’s line was Patrick Li, who had been waiting since 4:30 am and was keen to get his hands on the 7.9-inch slate,” Ong reports. “‘It’s light, easy to handle, and I’ll use it to read books. It’s better than the original iPad,’ Li said… There were queues of 100 or more outside Apple stores in Tokyo and Seoul when the device went on sale.”
Ong reports, “Apple will likely sell between 1 million and 1.5 million iPad minis in the first weekend, far short of the 3 million third-generation iPads sold last March in their first weekend, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve edited this piece in order to reflect reality.
Reuters and/or their “reporter” seem so very desperate for an Apple flop. Read the full article and see if you don’t agree. It looks like they’ve even resorted to misquoting Gene Munster, replacing “cellular” with “wireless.” Egregiously bad form, Reuters.
Related articles:
Attention yellow journalists: Wi-Fi-only iPad minis launch today, 4G LTE models later this month, that is why lines are ‘shorter’ today – November 2, 2012
The Independent reviews Apple’s iPad mini: High-end gadget is worth the price – October 31, 2012
CNET reviews Apple’s iPad mini: The new standard for little-tablet design – October 31, 2012
NYT’s Pogue reviews Apple’s iPad mini: ‘All the iPad goodness in a more manageable size; it’s awesome’ – October 31, 2012
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s iPad mini: ‘A splendid choice; terrific for reading, watching movies and playing games’ – October 31, 2012
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPad mini: ‘An impressive feat; the perfect solution’ – October 31, 2012
Rooters (Reuters), closing the gap with Hooters.
( They’ll catch ’em some day)
Roto rooters more likely.
I’m a line of one in my family room, with my coffee, impatiently waiting for my iPad mini.
Due to low yields on the cutting-edge display Apple had fewer, costlier units, hence a relatively high price. Yet still crowds line up. Within some months the price will come down.
Actaully in Asia in comparison to the IPad and IPhone , iPad mini is a flop … That Microsoft wish it had !!
But that said , IPad mini is a bad move by Apple . First step towards fragmentation
Ummm… the design is specifically made to PREVENT fragmentation. It has exactly the pixels if iPad 2 and the same proportions as the new iPad. This means a brand new device in a brand new form factor is being released that requires developers to tweak their apps exactly ZERO hours for it to work.
Nice logic. Way to lay it out very clearly. Why do some people insist on trying to create controversy via FUD? What a waste of time, particularly when you are dealing with more informed people.
Talking about Asia, Apple definitely needs a 6″ iPad nano, there are lot of people that use very little of the phone function, but like to keep a small computer in their handbag for studying, games, news etc.
The 10″ iPad is good for home use, 8″ for traveling and 6″ for commuting. That’s how simple it is, I see it everyday in packed busses and the metro.
C’mon MDM, they intentionally substituted wireless or cellular? I see this every day in articles about everything. Mistakes are rampant in journalism these days. You reprint articles for a living. The articles you reprint are full of typos and simply incorrect information. Just because the lines are not long doesn’t mean that the whole world of journalism is against Apple. Was the whole world of journalism against Apple when every single article out there raved about the long, long, lines previously at Apple stores? Even if it had typos? Just calm down. Don’t succumb to being a fanboy. It’s not your place and it’s not becoming. Remember the iPad mini, it isn’t for real because Derek Currie said “Apple will not make the iPad mini”! And remember what I said, “they’ll sell like hotcakes”! Just give it a little time.
AS far as I am concerned, one million units or more sold in the first weekend is a *huge* success for a $329 unit. Countless other companies would love to face that “flop.”
Yup. I agree.
Yep. 1/3 $Billion in sales won’t be too shabby for opening weekend.
Apple only sold 5 million iPhone 5s on that “lost weekend” and it was deemed a huge sales failure by analysts everywhere, so I hate to think of what the sales of only a few million iPad Minis will amount to. Wall Street is going to positively freak out and Apple shares are going to plunge to depths only seen by Jacques Cousteau’s diving bell.
Would someone tell me of any product Apple has recently introduced to consumers that have been considered a sales success by Wall Street or tech critics. I’d have to say none. The iPad Mini had been predicted to become a failed product as far as sales are concerned long before product launch and that opinion still hasn’t changed. Apple’s share price is already showing mass disappointment and should be down another $10 by the end of the day to continue its steady trend.
/s