Summary: Apple delivered some modest price cuts to the iPad and drove sales on Black Friday. The move should keep worrywart analysts at bay for a bit. Remember all those recent worries about how many iPads Apple would sell in the December quarter? Black Friday, free shipping and small price cuts may have allayed the worrywarts.
Worries about iPad sales were beginning to pile up as Amazon launched its Kindle Fire. The biggest concern was that Apple was overdue for an iPad price cut. However, some field work from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster may silence those fretting about iPad sales. Munster, who estimates Apple will sell 13.5 million units in the December quarter, concluded that the company’s flagship stores were selling 68 percent more iPads per hour than a year ago. Specifically, Apple sold 14.8 iPads per hour at its retail stores. A year ago, Apple sold 8.8 iPads per hour on Black Friday.