Analyst Report: iPads outsell Macs on Black Friday

Apple’s iPad outsold its Macs on Black Friday, according to a report by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.  Per store, Apple sold about 8.8 iPads per hour on Black Friday vs. 8.2 Macs per hour.

Munster and team spent 7 hours in Apple Stores on Black Friday, the biggest retail shopping day of the year.  The Mac sales are flat, but Munster believes its too early to make a judgment on Mac sales. On the iPad, he said,

“We noticed that the iPad his gaining traction (driven by lower price vs. the Mac) among demographics in which the Mac has historically not been successful. The bottom line is that Apple’s addressable market is expanding with the iPad, and as a result, we believe the potential for upside from the iPad increases over the next 12 months.”

Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore surveyed more than 150 stores over the Black Friday weekend. Two-thirds of those were Apple retail stores, with the rest consisting of more than 50 AT&T, Verizon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target stores. Whitmore stated that employees at Apple stores were saying that the 11-inch MacBook Air has been popular, a “customer favorite.” They added that the 11-inch MBA has been “flying off the shelves.”

In either case, both reports lead to one conclusion: Apple is going to have a heck of a quarter.