iPad 2 marked as discontinued at Target?
iPad 2 have been marked as discontinued at Target according to a source who sent TiPb the above screens. Though these only show the 16GB iPad 2 3G on both Verizon and AT&T as being discontinued, our source maintains none of the current SKUs are long for Target's shelves.
That implies that we will not be ordering more, which implies a new iPad is forthcoming rather soon (October-ish, say). Either that or Target's exiting the iPad business, which seems unlikely. A lot of the cases have gone clearance too.
TiPb previously heard that while Apple was considering moving it up to a fall release, iPad 3 had been pushed back again to spring, perhaps because the 2048x1536 Retina Displays couldn't yet be made cheaply enough at sufficient yield rates.
If that's accurate, and the discontinued status isn't a glitch in the system, what this portends for current iPad 2 SKUs, or Target's iPad business is uncertain.
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Looks like to me they're just going to (smartly) discontinue selling the 3G models and carry the Wi-Fi models only. Makes sense as it would be a lot less SKUs to keep track of and most of their sales are for Wi-Fi only models anyway.
I agree with Rob. I doubt Apple would drop new hardware this fall. My hunch is that Target may be exiting the 3G models due to slow inventory turn.
I mean Target that is (dropping sales of 3G models), not Apple as a whole.
It's entirely likely that Apple is going to take advantage of the spacious chassis for the iPad and simply have a single-SKU iPad that is multi-carrier capable. Makes tons of sense, especially from an economies of scale standpoint.
It ain't half bad for the consumer/retailer, either.
I just checked their site and I don't see any marked as discontinued.
You wouldn't. It means they don't intend to order more (either because Apple isn't making more or because they don't want more). It's an internal thing and not something they'd display to consumers since they want to sell remaining stock and people tend not to buy discontinued products.
Microcenter sent out an ad which shows the iPad 2 discounted by $50. The only time they ever discounted the iPad 1 was just before iPad 2 launch...
Could be going 'world mode' with a broadcom chipset like the iPhone 5 and 4S so shifting to one sku# for GSM + CMDA
Maybe Target is just discontinuing selling the iPad 2..
Just as well! We don't shop any more at Target given its corporate donations to anti-gay politicians, and its anti-union, anti-labor practices. Better to buy your iPads directly from Apple on line.
And yes, Apple needs to do an even better job of ensuring its Chinese manufacturing partners treat their workers properly!
Who cares where you shop or don't? This is about whether the iPad 2 is being discontinued. Oh yeah, who cares what your views are on gays, unions, and labor.
Go push your values somewhere else.
even better idea apple makes its product in the good US of A
Unions would be involved and nobody could afford it.
If you are in SF Bay Area you can buy a 64gb iPad 2 3g sealed for $730 only compare to $900+ on apple store:http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/sys/2602082934.html
Agreed. It makes no sense to roll out an IPad 3 when the IPad 2 is still way ahead of the rest and with a new version of IOS on the way, the IPad 2 still has plenty of life. Better to wait until after the holiday cycle and roll a new model out next fall or later next summer. Only thing I could see that would drive them to release now would be to hold to a strict release schedule.... Which is totally possible.
They won't wait that long. If they don't release a new iPad in October(and a new OS version plus the chance to unify all iOS release dates is good timing), they'll release in March or April as usual.