No doubt consumer electronics companies around the world are trying to find a way to tap into the reasons behind the iPad’s incredible success, and leverage them to their own advantage. Even when sales in the last quarter weren’t quite up to industry expectations, Apple simply stated it was the result of the “mother of all backlogs,” and that they were doing everything they could to catch up with demand.

Had there been more product out there, the sales figures would likely have reflected it, they said. Sure, I suppose it doesn’t take much cynicism to conclude that Apple COO Tim Cook was in high spin control mode when he made that telling pronouncement about the iPad 2?s inventory situation. But it’s also true that the product is really backordered. Go into any store featuring the iPad 2 — as I have done in recent days — and you will see precious few units available. If you want to order one from Apple’s online store, which ought to have the best inventory outside of one of their retail outlets, expect to wait one to two weeks.

Clearly the channels aren’t flooded with the iPad 2. And it doesn’t matter what the cause might be, although Apple denies that the catastrophe in Japan is having any material effect. The fact of the matter is that the demand still can’t be satisfied.

Would that Apple’s competitors would confront such a “problem.” More to the point, it doesn’t appear as if people who can’t get instant gratification from Apple are going to competitors to pick up a Motorola Xoom, a BlackBerry PlayBook, or any of the other iPad wannabes. The situation isn’t playing out that way.

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This article was posted on Monday, April 25th, 2011 at 12:00 AM and is filed under News and tagged with: Apple, Apple Inc., Apple Store, BlackBerry PlayBook, COO Tim Cook, iPad, iPad 2, Japan, Motorola, Motorola Xoom, Retail Outlets, Tim Cook.