The Aftermath of Apple’s iPad 2 Release

The Apple iPad 2, successor to the original game-changing tablet device, has officially sold out. Or, at the very least, they have become very, very hard to come by – as multiple calls to Apple, Best Buy and Target have revealed.

Since the product’s release on March 11, over 500,000 iPad 2s have sold – that’s 200,000 more than the previous incarnation managed to garnish.

Gene Munster, an analyst over at Piper Jaffray, conducted a study to capture data on these intrepid iPad 2 buyers – and the results he found were interesting. Apple seems to inspire tremendous brand loyalty, with 74 percent of the purchasers being current Mac users.

66 percent of surveyors already owned an iPhone, which further enforces our stance that Apple’s early dominance in the MP3/smartphone markets has only helped it to transition its advantage.

The Apple iPad 2’s price point didn’t hurt it, with the more affordable $499 16GB version outperforming the other options.

And just what do these iPad 2 buyers intend to do with their shiny new gadgets? According to Munster’s survey, most intended to surf the web, but a significant portion intended to read books, peruse email, watch videos, play games or listen to music.

Munster’s verdict was obvious: "We believe that Apple has successfully carved out a new category of mobile devices between the smartphone and the laptop. Apparently without cannibalizing its own iPhone and Mac sales."

Munster can make the latter part of his statement with confidence – over 96 percent of those surveyed still intend to use their normal desktop or laptop computers.

While the Apple iPad 2 has more enterprise-geared features than its predecessor, experts issue some caution for new adaptors of this technology. For users out to utilize video calling features or use mobile multimedia creation tools (programmers, designers, audio/video editors, etc.) – the iPad 2 is perfect.

But for those looking for an eReader or a techie tool, Jason Hiner of ZDNEt urges buyers to pass on the iPad in favor of a competitor’s tablet that runs on an open-source friendly OS, like Google’s Android.

That sort of freedom will allow users to harness the power of the platform of their choice, such as Windows, Linux, Android, Xbox 360.