With the launch of the new iPad, sales of Apple’s tablet are ramping at an accelerated rate of 156% year over year. This puts them in a position to become “measurably larger” than the PC market as a whole.
Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray believes most expected Apple to sell between 1 million and 2 million of its new iPad over the launch weekend. But Apple easily exceeded those projections on Monday, when the company announced that it had sold 3 million of the new iPad in its first three days.
The sales suggest that Apple will sell 12 million iPads in the current March quarter, with year-over-year growth accelerating to 156 percent. In comparison, the iPad saw 111 percent year-over-year growth in the December 2011 quarter.
Munster predicts Apple will retain the majority share of the tablet market through at least the next three years. He sees Apple selling 66 million iPads in calendar year 2012, rising to 176 million in 2015.
“We believe the unprecedented ramp of the iPad over the past year is evidence that the tablet market will be measurably larger than the PC market,” Munster wrote in a note to investors.
Analyst Mark Moskowitz with J.P. Morgan called the new iPad launch “staggering,” and in position to see “break-out growth” following the record breaking weekend.
Moskowitz predicts Microsoft will release a version of its Office suite for the iPad, driving corporate adoption.
“Currently, the enterprise vertical represents less than 10% of tablet units, but once Office is available on the iPad, we think that enterprises will regard the tablet as a productivity device,” Moskowitz said.