Online iPad Air Orders Begin In The U.S., Canada And Europe
This Friday, at midnight Pacific Time in the U.S., Canada and Europe, Apple began taking online orders for the recently unveiled iPad Air, the company’s fifth generation main iPad. At the same time, a new report was released on the Internet and it claims that due to supply constraints for the second generation iPad mini’s display (which is a Retina display) Apple had to ask Samsung to supply LCDs for the second generation iPad mini.
Recent rumors suggest there is no supply shortage for the recently released fifth generation iPad; many stores across the world are still showing shipping times of 24 hours. The iPad Air was released in two color variants: white with silver and space grey with black, Apple deciding not to include a gold color option. It is also worth mentioning that for the first time ever, users can reserve the fifth generation iPad online and get it at their local retail store later.
The delivery date on Apple’s online store in the United States is 11/4, but initial orders from Apple’s Canadian and European online stores will be shipped in 24 hours for all color variants, carriers and capacities. This is the list of retailers in the United States that have the iPad Air available: Apple Online Store, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and RadioShack (In-Store purchase). And these are the U.S. carriers that are offering the iPad Air: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile.
As we said in the beginning of the article, Apple turned to Samsung to supply Retina displays to the second generation iPad mini due to LG Display and Sharp not being able to provide Apple with enough supply of high definition Retina displays for the newly unveiled iPad mini. The report also claims that supply constraints for the second generation iPad mini’s display worries NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s larger wireless provider, as it was eager to start offering the device.
Earlier this week, during the company’s 4th quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned investors and analysts that Apple may not be in a position to meet demand for the Retina equipped second generation iPad mini this holiday season. Tim Cook said he was “unclear whether we will have enough for the quarter or not [...]” and attributed the shortage to Sharp’s low output of displays.
