Apple Sells Its Millionth iPad

With the introduction of the iPad 3G over the weekend, Apple surpassed the "million-sold" metric. The company didn't specify how many Apple iPad 3G's it sold, but estimates place the number at about 300,000"One million iPads in 28 days-that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers."

According to Apple, iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. Of the nearly 200,000 apps in the iTunes Apps Store, fully 5,000 of them have been customize for the iPad. That's a good thing, because the iPhone apps may work, but they look like garbage and are no fun at all compared to the native iPad apps. Most of them don't perform on the iPad the way they do on the iPhone.

It tooks Apple two and a half months to sell one million iPhones when it first launched in 2007. Apple was able to sell one million iPhone 3G's the first weekend it was for sale in 2008. Same goes for the iPhone 3GS in 2009.

The bigger question is whether or not Apple can keep the momentum of iPad sales going. Now that there are effectively six models to choose from (Wi-Fi 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB; and Wi-Fi+3G 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB), users have plenty of choice. Prices range from $499 to $829 depending on storage size and whether or not users go with 3G.

Frankly, I don't see the real benefit of adding 3G to the iPad, especially since tools that do the same thing are already available. I have no regrets with my 32GB Wi-Fi model. I am so rarely in a place that doesn't have access to Wi-Fi, that I have barely succumbed to using my Verizon Wireless Mi-Fi mobile hot spot generator to fill the gap. Not everyone agrees, though, and the range of models should help Apple sell iPad's galore.

It will be interesting to see how quickly Apple sells one million fourth-generation iPhones, especially given the odd nature of the iPhone leak and subsequent fall-out surrounding the circumstances of the device's purchase by tech blog Gizmodo.

Apple's next quarterly report will shed some light on the demand for iPads, as will the 2010 holiday season.