Once again, Apple’s quarterly fiscal results broke any record: $20.43 million revenue, 14.1 million iPhone sold (despite the whole Antennagate “thing”), 3.89 million Macs and 4.19 million iPads.
Looking at the numbers reported above, it appears that analysts this time almost got the whole situation right: they predicted 4 million Macs, 13 million iPhones and…6 million iPads. So is Apple low on iPad sales, with “just” 4.19 million units out from the shelves in Q4? Not really: of all the analysts Fortune contacted, only one placed his expectations above 5.95 million units sold. Nine of them went for a 4.00 - 5.00 million range. Not exactly “low sales”, but perhaps many expected record sales as the iPhone 4.
We have to look at the big picture, and not just the raw numbers. In two quarters, the iPad is already outselling the Mac. 7.46 million iPads are out in the wild, 5 months after its release date.
I think those are the numbers worth to be considered.