As the fourth generation iPad sells out, Microsoft's CEO admits that there's nothing "interesting" to report in terms of Surface RT sales.
Not to be outdone by its little brother, Apple's fourth-generation full-size iPad has sold out after four days on the market. Customers who have already ordered their devices should receive them on Friday, November 2, but as of Tuesday, October 30 there is a one-week shipping delay. According to the Apple site, all variations of the tablet have sold out in both black and white.
The news comes as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that Apple was a "low-volume player" in every category in which it competes with the exception of tablets and stressed that Microsoft's new direction was not simply an attempt to ape Apple.Microsoft has high hopes and much riding on its latest operating system and on the Surface RT, its first tablet computer, but when asked about early performance he said: "Numerically there's not really much that's interesting to report. If you were to call the retailers, they would say, 'Hey, off to a very good start.' We're out of stock a lot of places on touch [screen] machines. I was at a dinner in San Francisco last week, and I brought out this beautiful, very thin [touch-screen] laptop, and they said, 'Wow, I never thought touch could be valuable and important in a laptop."
The interview follows forecasts from investment bank Canaccord Genuity that Apple will sell 101.6 million iPads in 2013 thanks in part to the launch of the iPad Mini. Amazon is predicted to sell 10.7 million tablets over the same period, while Samsung will sell 8.4 million.