Between Friday, April 3rd, and Friday, April 30th – the release dates of Apple’s WiFi iPad and the iPad 3G, respectively – the Cupertino-based tech giant successfully logged better than one million units sold of the revolutionary tablet computer.
Over the weekend, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that some 300,000 iPad 3G units had been sold since Friday’s nationwide release.
“Near-term, this may put downward pressure on launch day/weekend statistics, but long-term we see it as a positive, as consumers are definitely interested in the iPad as a new category,” wrote Munster. “In the first several quarters, we believe Apple will sell about 60% Wi-Fi only iPads and 40% 3G models.”
49 of the 50 Apple stores contacted to reach the 300K sales estimate revealed that they had already sold out of the iPad 3G.
The success of the iPad 3G further illustrates that executives at Apple may, in fact, have truly been “caught off guard” buy he initial – and stunning – sales success of the device.
On Monday morning, Apple CEO Steve Jobs removed any doubt as to whether the industry sales estimates were over- exaggerated.
“One million iPads in 28 days — that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Jobs in a public statement. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”
Munster estimates that 2010 iPad sales could reach 4.3 million units.
