iPad Sales Top One Million

Apple said it sold one million iPads as of Friday, just 28 days after the touch-screen tablet computers went on sale in the U.S. Demand is such that consumers looking to purchase one of the devices face wait times of up to a week or more.

"One million iPads in 28 days—that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement released by the company Monday.

"Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers," said Jobs. The wait time for those who order an iPad from the online Apple Store is five to seven days, according to a note on the store's Web site.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, meanwhile, estimated that Apple sold about 300,000 iPad 3Gs over the weekend. The iPad 3G, which features cellular connectivity through AT&T as well as built-in WiFi support, hit stores on Friday.

Apple is positioning the iPad—essentially an oversized iPod touch--as an all-purpose handheld that's optimized for e-reading, viewing videos and images, and gaming.

The company released other impressive, iPad-related numbers on Monday. iPad customers have downloaded more than 12 million apps from the App Store, and more than 1.5 million e-books from Apple's new iBookstore.

Pricing for the Wi-Fi only version, which features 802.11 connectivity, starts at $499 for the 16GB model, $599 for the 32GB model, and $699 for the 64GB version. The Wi-Fi + 3G versions are priced higher. The 16GB model is $629, the 32GB model is $729, and the 64GB version is priced at $829.

Apple shares were up 2.03%, to $266.40, in late morning trading Monday as investors reacted to the strong demand for iPad and related Apple products.