13.5 Million Apple iPad Units Sold in December Quarter, According to Wall Street

Wall Street analysts recently published an expectation list for the Apple iPad sales in the December quarter, with the number totaling out to 13.5 million units. Independent analysts believe that the number is actually 14.8 million, an impressive performance nonetheless.

The previous record on Apple’s side is the 11.2 million units sold in the period ending September 2011. William Power at Baird was last quarter’s top ranked analyst for the iPad sales and he estimated that 14 million units would be sold in the December period. The previous period’s top analyst, Nicolae Mihalache (Traderhood) had expectations for around 16.4 million Apple tablets purchased in the first quarter. Those 14 million units that we expect now are a 90% increase in sales year over year.

Many experts are claiming that the Amazon Kindle Fire took a bite out of Apple’s market during the holiday season, through that affordable $200 price tag. Morgan Keegan calculated that Apple lost 2 million sales because of the Kindle Fire during the holiday quarter. Will they bleed even more market share in favour of Win 8 slates this year?