iPad mini sales break records as Apple’s competition heightens
APPLE sold 3m iPads in the first three days that the new iPad mini and fourth-generation model went on sale, the technology giant revealed yesterday.
This figure was double the sales of the previous iPad launch in March, and chief executive Tim Cook said the company was already “practically sold out of iPad minis”.
“We’re working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand,” Cook said.
Apple’s sales figures boosted the company yesterday just hours after the latest research from IDC showed that its share of the tablet market had slipped to just over 50 per cent in the third quarter of the year.
Although Apple shifted 14m iPads – a 26 per cent increase year-on-year – this counted for 50.7 per cent of all tablet sales compared with 59.7 per cent last year and 65.5 per cent in the previous quarter.
Smaller-sized tablets from Amazon, Google and Samsung gained on Apple, highlighting the need for the company to introduce the iPad mini.
Meanwhile, Google said yesterday that a US court has thrown out a lawsuit by Apple alleging that Google-owned Motorola’s patent licensing was unfair.