Analysts buzz about iPad 2 launch success, pan Android rivals

As sales of Apple’s recently announced iPad 2 kicked off on Friday, industry analysts buzzed about the product’s potential to outsell the first generation of the device while slamming the performance of Google’s rival Android tablets.

Although Apple offered no presales for the iPad 2, sales kicked off online at 1 AM PST Friday and in retail stores at 5PM PST, with customers lining up outside.

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By 9:30 AM PST, Apple’s website indicated that all configurations of the iPad 2 were backordered, and that customers would have to wait 2-3 weeks for their shipments.

"They've timed it perfectly," Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheil said about Apple’s supplies of the device. "They've built up some stock, but not too much. Not too little, either, that they'll be out long enough for buyers to lose patience waiting. And so the hysteria continues."

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But even though it seems that the newest-generation iPad needs no boost to triumph over the competition, some analysts couldn’t help but pan Google’s latest Android offerings this week.

"Compare the experience of walking into an Apple Store, where the iPad is front and center, to walking into a Verizon store where the Samsung Galaxy Tab is collecting dust at the back of the store and the sales reps don't quite know what to make of it," wrote Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps on the company blog, stating that Amazon would likely have the best chance of fighting Apple with a competing tablet in 2011.

Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research also slammed Android this week, writing that Honeycomb, Google’s first attempt at a true tablet OS, is “by the geeks, for the geeks, and of the geeks,” and does not have what it takes for wide consumer adoption.

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Some Android bloggers rushed to the defense of Honeycomb tablets.

”Is our populous so dumbed down that this is considered "for geeks?" Must we pronounce something dead because it doesn’t go to extremes to cater to the least common denominator?” asked Will Shanklin of AndroidPolice.com.

It certainly looks that way. While sales of the high-end Honeycomb-equipped Motorola Xoom have been “underwhelming,” Apple could be poised to sell over 1 million iPad 2 units this weekend alone. The first generation of the device did not reach the 1 million mark until 28 days after its release.

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