Apple share price up 1.7%, sells 3 million iPads since Friday
Analysts estimate that about 2.3 million of the new iPads sold over the weekend were the mini-tablets, surpassing expectations of 1 million to 1.5 million.
Wall Street, which was disappointed with Apple's latest quarterly earnings, had been looking to the iPad mini to boost demand during the crucial year-end holiday shopping season as competition reaches a fever pitch. Microsoft Corp became the latest major entrant to the market last month with the Windows-driven Surface.
Apple had never before introduced two different iPad models in one quarter. Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt said that while the sales number looked good, the company would need to sell another 20 million iPads this quarter to meet his estimate.
"There's still a lot of wood to chop in the quarter," McCourt said.
The company said it had shipped many of the new iPads ordered before the release date, but would not send some out until later this month.
HOLIDAY SALES CRUCIAL
Apple shares were up 1.7 percent at $586.50 in morning trading on Nasdaq, still down more than 16 percent from a record high set in September.
Versions of iPads with both Wi-Fi and cellular connections will not ship in the United States for another few weeks. And both will hit more countries later this year.
Apple heads into the current quarter after refreshing almost all of its product lines, from Macintosh computers to tablets.
"We believe the iPad mini has the opportunity to surpass the sales of the regular-sized iPads over the next several years," said Topeka Capital analyst Brian White.