iPad mini wait times fall to 1 to 3 days in U.S.

(Credit: Apple)

Delivery estimates for iPad mini from the U.S. Apple store have improved from 3 to 5 days in January to 1 to 3 days.

Either demand for the iPad mini is slowing or Apple has been able to ramp up production faster than expected. During the quarterly earnings call last month, Cook acknowledged that Apple fell short on fulfilling demand for the iPad Mini. "Customers love the mini and we wish that we could have made more and we ended the quarter with significant backlog," he said. Apple sold 22.86 million iPads last quarter, up from 15.4 million in the same quarter of 2011. The company did not break out the number of iPad Minis sold.

Cook said that Apple will be able to "achieve supply-demand balance" for the iPad mini next month. "As we indicated last quarter, the iPad mini gross margin is significantly below the corporate average, and we expect to be able to meet demand for this product in the March quarter, which again we could not in the December quarter.

Cook has described the iPad as the "mother of all opportunities."

"On iPad in particular, we have the mother of all opportunities here, because the Windows market is much, much larger than the Mac market is," Cook said. "And I think it is clear that it's already cannibalizing some, and I think there'... [Read more]





by Dan Farber via CNET