August 31st, 1999

[4:20 PM]
Apple Averages Three Thousand iBooks Per Day In Pre-orders!
In an amazing development, Apple has announced they have received more than 140,000 pre-orders for the iBook. This is a stunning number for the as yet unreleased portable, and represents an average of more than three thousand per day since the product was announced. Last year, Apple received some 240,000 pre-orders of the iMac before it was released, but this was over a much longer period. According to Apple:

Apple® today announced it has received advance orders for over 140,000 of its new iBook™ consumer and education portable computer. iBook, the "iMac to Go", was introduced at Macworld Expo on July 21 and is scheduled to ship to stores nationwide in mid-September.

"We are thrilled by the customer response to iBook, and we're working hard to ensure that we can meet the demand," said Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO.

Pre-orders of iBooks are being taken through The Apple Store™ (www.apple.com), and through many of Apple's resellers including CDW, ClubMac, ComputerTown, ComputerWare, CompUSA, Cyberian Outpost, Datavision, J&R Computerworld, MacConnection, MacMall, MacWarehouse, MacZone, Micro Center, RCS Computer Experience and Sears plus hundreds of Apple Specialist stores.

The Mac Observer Spin: As exciting as the G4 and the Apple Cinema Display, we think this particular announcement from Apple could be the most amazing announcement of the day. 140,000 iBooks is astounding. Apple had originally forecast about 250,000 units before the end of 1999, and it looks like they could surpass this much more quickly. Congratulations to Apple!

Apple