It was no mistake that the wait times for shipping an iPad dropped off from 3 weeks to 24 hours in fairly short order. Apple has just about doubled their production capability for their popular tablet.
It is hard to tell whether Apple is just girding its loins for the inevitable tablet wars or if they are simply making an adjustment in iPad production capacity after having been caught with their pants down by the early order rate. Whatever the reason, Apple’s manufacturing partners are now building 2 million iPads per month, up from 1 million capacity on their initial single line. And, according to an AppleInsider article, they have plans to increase their manufacturing capabilities to 3 million in the near future. It is clear that the folks at Apple think that there is a big future in iPads.
This news comes through analyst Katy Huberty at Morgan Stanley. Apple admitted that they were caught off guard by the tremendous sales of the iPad right out of the gate. Apple fell behind on shipments of the iPad, sliding to three weeks from the date of order, and even delaying the introduction of the tablet into foreign markets by a full month in order to try to catch up with shipments to waiting customers in the U.S. It was therefore very noticeable when Apple’s website indicated earlier this week that new iPad orders would ship within 24 hours of receipt.
There is some feeling in the industry that as more tablets from other companies become available, it will validate the concept of the tablet computer, and that demand for tablets will really take off. Apple obviously wants to be ready when this happens. So far, they are pretty much the only player in the tablet marketplace, but that is slowly beginning to change as other manufacturers scramble to catch up.
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