Apple, which recently unveiled its latest version of iPad – the iPad 3 is seeing a record pre-orders sales with wait times for shipping the tablet now reaching two to three weeks, resulting in expecting the company to sell a total of 65.6 million iPads this year. The analysts raised their price target on Apple stock to $710 from $665, and maintained their “buy” rating. Apple’s pricing of the new iPad will help the company to maintain dominant share of the growing tablet market.
Analysts T Michael Walkley and Matthew Ramsay said: “With our checks indicating record pre-orders and 2-3 week wait times for new iPads, we anticipate a record iPad launch this weekend.” They raised their iPad unit estimate to 65.6 million from 55.9 million for 2012, and to 90.6 million from 79.7 million for 2013. The company plan will likely to create a mess for the rival companies to introduce competitive products over the next couple quarters.
