Vijay Rakesh, an analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach, said Tuesday that Apple is currently manufacturing between 1 and 1.5 million iPads per month, and that the company could double that production in the September quarter to meet demand, if needed. He based his numbers on checks with memory-chip manufacturers overseas.
“We believe most of the manufacturing bottlenecks are now solved in the iPad supply chain even though memory continues to be a constraint,” the analyst said, according to the Associated Press.
Apple released the iPad on April 3rd, and delayed introduction into other markets until this Friday, May 28th, citing higher-than-expected demand. On Friday, the company will release the device in Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland, Germany, and the U.K.
AAPL traded lower Tuesday, closing at US$245.22, down $1.54 (-0.62%), on moderately strong volume of 37.2 million shares trading hands.
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.