Despite an analyst’s report that Apple is experiencing production delays on the iPad, which is supposed to hit stores at the end of March, Apple’s Taiwanese supplier insists production is on track to deliver 600,000 to 700,000 iPads and another million in April.
Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek said earlier this week that iPad production could be limited to 300,000 in March and 800,000 in April. He also suggested Apple could limit the initial launch to the United States and even delay the product launch a month because of the production delays.
Technology site DigiTimes, however, reported that Foxconn Electronics, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the iPad, and its component manufacturers are on schedule to meet the targets for March and April, and said the launch will not be delayed.
On the other hand, analyst Vijay Rakesh of ThinkEquity said in a research note that checks indicate production is running slower than expected. “The manufacturing of the iPads was supposed to pick up in February, but volumes in March are still low,” Rakesh wrote. “But checks are indicating iPad volumes will pick back up to the 800,000-1 million units/month [range] into April-May from the current 200-250K. We believe this is just a minor hiccup in a longer-term entirely new revenue stream and product road map for AAPL.”
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Those numbers align with Misek’s estimate of 300,000 in the late March time frame and 800,000 in April. Rakesh said the delays are not related to glass or manufacturing processes. Tim Bajarin, principal analyst for Creative Strategies, said the analysts’ numbers are “reasonable.”
Shortage or not, there is “already strong pent-up demand for this product from early adopters,” Bajarin said. “This will drive the first wave of sales. Our estimate is that Apple will sell at least two million iPads in 2010, with the…