Availability of the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad mini

available to ship from Apple for two weeks, according to its online store. The wait was much shorter at the site for the fourth-generation iPad, at only 3-5 business days, Apple said. It was also much easier to buy a fourth-gen iPad than an iPad mini at Best Buy’s website, where consumers couldn’t buy a mini for either shipment or in-store pickup Monday, but could get a fourth-gen iPad. Apple sold 3 million new iPads in the three days since the launch of the new models, it said in a news release Monday. That’s “double the previous first weekend milestone” of 1.5 million Wi-Fi only models sold for the third-generation iPad in March, it said. The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of the iPad mini and fourth-gen iPad will ship “in a few weeks” in the U.S. and in many more countries later this year, it said. Apple “practically sold out” of the iPad minis, said CEO Tim Cook. “We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand,” he said. It’s important for Apple to source more supply of new products like the iPad mini while demand is high in what appear to be increasingly compressed product cycles, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said in an email to subscribers. “As an example, we believe legacy iPhone sales have fallen more than 40% since the iPhone 4S launch quarter, something that has not occurred in prior years and which has contributed to disappointing quarterly reports,” he said. Sales of the iPad mini and iPad sales could increase into the holiday sales period if supplies improved, Piecyk said. “This might be necessary to reach street estimates that are as high as 25 million iPads sold this quarter."