Apple (AAPL) Analysts Widely Miss Mark on iPad in 2010

Less than one year ago Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs stood on stage and said that the iPad was going to revolutionize the way people use computers, but not even the expert knew just how much.

In 2010 Apple sold 14.8 million iPads, which according to data from TMO Finance Board, was a level not even the most bullish analyst saw coming.

Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co. was the closest to the mark, but predicted just 7 million units sold.

Some other misreads by Wall Street analysts included:

• David Bailey, Goldman Sachs 6.2M
• Kathryn Huberty, Morgan Stanley 6.0M
• Shaw Wu, Kauffman Bros. 5.0M
• Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital Markets 5.0M
• Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray 3.5M
• Ben Reitzes, Barclays Capital 2.9M
• Keith Bachman, BMO Capital 2.5M
• Jeff Fidacaro, Susquehanna 2.1M
• Chris Whitmore, Deutsche Bank 2.0M
• Scott Craig, Merrill Lynch 1.2M
• Peter Misek, Canaccord Adams 1.2M
• Doug Reid, Thomas Weisel 1.1M
• Yair Reiner, Oppenheimer 1.1M

On average, these analysts predicted 3.34 million units of the iPad sold in 2010, less than a quarter of the actually output.

It is safe to say that Apple analyst will be slightly more bullish in their forecasts in 2011 as the company looks to wow again with the iPad 2.

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