Analyst: iPad Competition Will 'Gradually Eat Into Apple's Product Supremacy'

ABG Sundal Collier analyst Per Lindberg is not convinced that the iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display will sustain their success. "I think there will be initial excitement, as always with Apple products," Lindberg told Benzinga. "But I think the competition will gradually eat into Apple's previous product supremacy." Lindberg said that the sales figures are helped by the "fan club of people" that buys nothing but devices. "Their purchase of Apple devices will influence initial sales," he said. "But that is not indicative for the medium-term trajectory. We always have these absolutely exceptional spikes when Apple is launching products. Thereafter they are tapering off." Thus far, there has been no indication that sales of the iPad Air or iPad Mini with Retina Display will slow down in 2013. The Mini Retina was on

at Verizon and AT&T when it arrived last month. Weeks later, Apple was thought to have

for both the iPad Air and the iPad Mini with Retina Display. According to

, the 32GB Wi-Fi-only Mini Retina is the easiest to find at an Apple Store.

On

, all versions of the Mini Retina are still on a five to seven shipping delay for new orders. The iPad Air will ship in three to five business days. Regardless of how the new iPads perform next year, Lindberg does not believe that the Mini Retina's high price tag ($399 and up) will have an impact. "I think it's a bigger mistake on the iPhone 5C because that's where we have the enormous price premium," said Lindberg. "The iPad [Mini with Retina Display] by contrast is not outrageously more expensive than comparable products from competitors. I'm more puzzled that Apple wanted to price the iPhone 5C at the level it did even though it's more or less a replica of the year-old iPhone 5. That is probably the primary reason why that device is selling so poorly." Apple has not released any specific sales figures for the iPhone 5C, but

claim that it has not performed well at retail. Disclosure: