Confirming the recent study that had 91% of iPad customers indicating that they are “somewhat” or “highly” satisfied with the Apple tablet, Apple stores around the country are reportedly struggling to keep pace with the incredible demand for iPads. In many of Apple’s retail stores, the iPad is either in very low supply or completely sold out altogether. The data is based on inventory checks performed by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster on 50 Apple stores in the US.
In fact, most of the stores in the report were sold out of iPad stock. “74 percent of the stores we checked were completely sold out of all iPad models. 26 percent had some WiFi models in stock, and no stores had any 3G models available,” said Munster.
It seems not even Apple was able to correctly predict US demand for the big-screened tablet. Checking Apple’s online store shows that orders for iPads are now pushed back with ship dates between 7-10 days, up from the previous ship targets of 5-7 days. One Apple store rep even mentioned that the in-store reservation system was backlogged by 4-7 days at this point.
With the international iPad launch looming, we can’t see Apple’s tablet supply issues getting fixed any time soon. That’s great for Apple, but not so great for anyone gunning to put the latest iPhone OS-powered hotness in their pockets bags.
[Via: AllThingsD]