Now that Apple's iPad sales figures have slipped, iSuppli has adjusted its forecast for the number of iPads Apple will sell in 2011.
Apple sold 4.69 million iPads in the last quarter, the company reported in an earnings call Wednesday. That's a sharp decline from the 7.33 million iPads sold during the fourth quarter, though that included the peak holiday sales season.
Because of the decline, iSuppli has reduced its original 2011 projection from 43.7 million units to 39.7 million, according to AppleInsider. Prior to the earnings call, various iPad sales forecasts for 2011 ranged from about 45 million to 60 million.
Why have iPad sales slipped below expectations? It appears Apple hasn't been able to keep up with demand for the device. Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said the company faces "the mother of all backlogs" with the iPad 2.
"I wish that we could have made a lot more iPad 2s, because there were a lot of people waiting for them," Cook said.
The device, which went on sale in the U.S. on March 11, has been wildly popular. Apple reportedly sold nearly a half a million iPad 2s in its first weekend in stores, at which point wait times for the device went up to five weeks. The iPad 2 also reportedly sold out just as quickly overseas.
ISuppli blamed the shortage partly on concerns about the quality of touch screen LCD panels and production shortages of the iPad 2's new speaker. It's also possible that Apple ran into a manufacturing glitch.
"When we looked at the manufacturing numbers, they must have run into some manufacturing issues, some quality issues in terms of turning those products around, because we didn't see the volume manufactured that we expected to see in the first quarter," said iSuppli director of monitor research, Rhoda Alexander.
However, Apple said supply wasn't affected by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on March 11. Cook said the catastrophic event did not hurt supply or impact cost in Apple's supply chain, although it was previously rumored that Apple had committed to paying extra to ensure smooth shipping of iPad 2 components from Japanese suppliers.
However, iSuppli has increased its prediction for 2012 iPad shipments slightly, from 61.6 million units to 62.6 million.
In spite of the decline in iPad sales, Apple reported record earnings. The company reported profits of $5.99 billion, an increase of 95 percent from the same time last year.
