Apple May Be The Big Winner This Holiday Season In Sales
Apple might just be the big winner when it comes to holiday sales this year. According to studies by InfoScout, an analytics company, and the Consumer Electronics Association, the interest in iPad and the iPhone is still topping the charts.
The study shows that the iPad Air 16GB model was the number one device that was purchased at Walmart and Target on Black Friday. Interestingly enough, two other iPad models took second and third place at Target. Another survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association, shows that tablets ranked at the top of the list in the number of devices purchased. This is definitely a big plus for Apple.
Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray, says that between Black Friday and Cyber Monday the iPad and iPhone “Appear to be among the top gifts for 2013.” He draws this conclusion from an analysis of tweets posted on those two days. His report details that 1 percent of the tweets sent out with the #BlackFriday attached to them mentioned the iPad, while 0.31 percent of the tweets tagged with #CyberMonday mentioned the iPhone. This makes these two Apple products the most mentioned devices on those two days.
Munster said, “Given the positive read on iPad, our December iPad expectations of 24.5 million (7 percent year over year growth) appears to be slightly conservative.” He noted that supply might be an issue, as it is “generally tight at retail in the U.S.”
Munster isn’t the only one excited about Apple’s Christmas potential. Brian White at Cantor Fitzgerald also thinks that Apple has a very good chance to top purchasers’ lists this year. He referenced the report from the Consumer Electronics Association, saying, “This increased tablet appetite is a clear positive for Apple with the recently introduced iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display, combined with the discounted first generation iPad Mini.”
Apple should post big numbers this year for the holidays. It will be interesting to see what the stock does in response to this.
Disclosure: Author represents that he holds no position in any stock mentioned at the time this article was submitted.