iPad First-Day Sales Top 300,000
April 6, 2010
Apple Inc. (APPL) reported that it sold more than 300,000 iPads on Saturday as it debuted across the U.S. The sales numbers were considered by some analysts to be fairly modest given the hype surrounding Apple's new touch-screen tablet device, but considered by others to be robust, given that many consumers are expected to wait a couple of more months when new features such as 3G become available.
The Canadian debut of the iPad could reportedly happen by the end of the month, but its sales north of the U.S. border could be constrained if content for the device is not made available. According to David Friend of the Canadian Press, "Part of the uphill battle comes down to content–because what many American users might find appealing about the iPad may be exactly what Canadian users won't be able to see."
Reporting on iPad sales, Friend noted that the iPad faces the same Canadian challenges as Amazon's Kindle device, which "made its Canadian debut with hardly any Canadian content available. Even iconic [Canadian] authors like Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro had only a handful of titles available in the early days." In the ensuing weeks and months more titles began to appear for Canadian shoppers, said Friend, but some titles available in the U.S. are still not available in Canada."
