iPad Mini Sells Out in Two Hours at Apple's Flagship Fifth Avenue Retail Store

ipad mini handWhile reports have indicated that launch-day lines for the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad have been shorter than seen for many previous Apple product launches, some Apple retail stores are still seeing long lines. Fortune notes that despite the impact of Hurricane Sandy in the northeastern United States, Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan saw over 800 people in line as the store opened at 10:00 AM, two hours later than originally planned.

According to the records Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has been keeping since 2008 (see below), that's more customers than turned out for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S.

And by 9:56 a.m. -- four minutes before the doors finally opened -- I counted 801 men, women and children. Only the iPhone 4 (1,300) and iPad 2 (1,190) drew bigger crowds.

Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White is also at the Fifth Avenue store and has been monitoring availability of the various models. According to White, all three models of the white Wi-Fi iPad mini sold out in a little over an hour, with the black models following suit after about two hours. No additional shipments are expected at the store today.

We are at Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City and our checks now indicate that all of the White & Silver iPad mini models sold out at around 11:15 AM. We estimate that the 16GB and 64GB were sold out by 10:30 AM ET and the 32GB sold out at around 11:15 AM ET. [...]

As of 11:40 AM ET, both the 16GB and 32GB Black & Slate iPad mini models were sold out at the Fifth Avenue NYC store; while we estimate the 64GB iPad mini sold out at around 12:10 PM ET.

A similar pattern was seen in online pre-orders, with the white models selling out in just 17 minutes and the black models taking a few days to run out of availability.

Related Roundup: iPad mini
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Don't Buy)
Related Forum: iPad

Top Rated Comments

klover Avatar
149 months ago
Won't sell well.
Overpriced.
Crappy screen.
No market niche.
Nexus 7 is better.
No Retina.
CPU is old.
RAM is weak.
Tim Cook's major failure.
Apple's greed is unrelenting.


:rolleyes:
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleInMyBlood Avatar
149 months ago
They're pulling corpses out of the water and these people are lining up to buy the latest gadget. I don't know what's more disgusting, the fact people in this area are buying or that Apple is selling.
You're not seriously suggesting retail stores should all shut down, are you? That would do wonders for the economy. :rolleyes:

But since you're so fond of being judgmental, how's this:

How dare you be spending your time reading MacRumours on a day when people are struggling against Superstorm Sandy?! Disgusting! You should be busy making donations, or on a flight to the East Coast to help out, or at the very least reading about the storm on a general news site! :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klover Avatar
149 months ago
They're pulling corpses out of the water and these people are lining up to buy the latest gadget. I don't know what's more disgusting, the fact people in this area are buying or that Apple is selling.

You're right. In the wake of something terrible, nobody should do anything for themselves that makes them feel better or brightens their day.

They have dances during wars you know.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bbeagle Avatar
149 months ago
It's disgusting....I'm an Apple guy and to even care about this now with all that is happening in the Tri-State is gluttony.
OMG! Something is ALWAYS happening in the world. Get over yourself.

I have family living in New Jersey, even a cousin living in hard-hit Hoboken, NJ. They're fine. I can't go out there right now, I have to continue living my life. I'm not buying an iPad mini, but have no issue at all with people buying them.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NIKKG Avatar
149 months ago
How many in line were Asians buying them all up for resell?
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nungster Avatar
149 months ago
They're pulling corpses out of the water and these people are lining up to buy the latest gadget. I don't know what's more disgusting, the fact people in this area are buying or that Apple is selling.

I live here in Florida, and storms/hurricanes are no stranger to these parts. Storms come and go, people heed and people ignore warnings. Thus people end up dying. Death is a fact of life, and world moves on.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...