It’s official now. Apple has sold over 1 million iPads since launch, that’s 28 days. Apple already sold over 300,000 during the first launch weekend and the sales momentum has continued. On average each iPad user has purchased 1.5 books from the iBookstore and 12 apps from the App Store. This totals to 1.5 million books and 12 millions apps sold.

The iPad has actually outsold the iPhone in the first month!

This weekend’s launch of the iPad 3G is expected to add another 300,000 units to that number.

CUPERTINO, California—May 3, 2010—Apple® today announced that it sold its one millionth iPad™ on Friday, just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. iPad users have already downloaded over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

“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.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple just announced over 300,000 iPads were sold during its launch weekend. These sales include pre-orders, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple stores.

This is a very high number if you take into account the iPhone’s launch sales which were 270,000.The iPad outsold the iPhone during launch. And this is magnificent, if you think about it. The iPad is a much more difficult product to market as mainstream consumers are not used to tablet devices at all. The iPhone was refreshing but it was a smartphone and most people had already used smartphones ( e.g. BlackBerry or HTC devices).

iPad users downloaded over one million iPad apps: that is more than 3 apps downloaded per sold device, and over 250,000 ebooks were sold from the Apple iBookstore, close to one book per sold device.

Our predictions were pretty darn close! We predicted 275,000 iPads to be sold in the launch weekend and we missed out by about 25,000 units. Our predictions for iPad sales in the launch weekend were found by averaging prediction figures from four industry analysts: Gene Munster from PiperJaffray, Mike Abramsky from RBC Capital Markets, Brian Marshall from Broadpoint-Amtech and research firm iSupply.

So let’s look at our previously made predictions, cause we seem to be getting quite close to real numbers. We estimated some 2.65 million units in the current quarter (that is from March 2010 to the end of May 2010, or Q2). In the whole of 2010 we expect Apple will sell 8 million iPads. If we extrapolate that number from the rest of 2010 to the whole of 2011, we can expect over 10 million units to be sold next year. Again these are just averages but do give us an indication of what to expect.

Update: Read more on iPad’s launch weekend sales

It’s day two now of the iPad mania and like everyone we are very curious to know what the sales figures were of yesterday and what they will be for this year. Most iPad coverage by the press and voices from the public (just look ath the hashtag #ipad on Twitter) have been fairly positive. The backlash electronics manufacturers usually see after a hyped product is released, seems to be non-existant with the iPad. There are some bugs to be worked out as usual but overall the device seems to be what people expected it to be.

Now let’s look at those sales predictions for this week, this year and onward. There is many industry analysts who have an opinion about this flaky subject. Four analysts stick out from the crowd: Gene Munster from PiperJaffray, Mike Abramsky from RBC Capital Markets, Brian Marshall from Broadpoint-Amtech and research firm iSupply.

As all analysts have a different idea, we have averaged up their numbers to come to a rough idea of what we can expect. At the launch weekend (yes that is this weekend) we can expect an estimated 275,000 units to go over the counter and some 2.65 million units in the current quarter (that is from March 2010 to the end of May 2010, or Q2). In the whole of 2010 it is expected Apple will sell 8 million iPads. If we extrapolate that number from the rest of 2010 to the whole of 2011, we can expect over 10 million units to be sold next year. Again these are just averages but do give us an indication of what to expect.

The analysts are conclusive and what are the constraining factors for the iPad’s sales: a lack of supply and the missing of Adobe Flash on the device.

The lack of supply is why the iPad was previously delayed a few days in the U.S. and why it will be released later than planned in the rest of the world.

In addition, many mainstream users who want to use the device to consume content on the web choose to wait out to buy the device since it does not have Flash support. It’s a fair judgement and it will be challenging to see how Apple deals with this issue, which Steve Jobs himself created.

The highly-anticipated iPad tablet computer by Apple has hit US retail stores today! A worldwide release in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. is scheduled for late April.

You will have to wait to catch the 3G-enabled iPads, they will become available in late April with an AT&T data subscription included. The WiFi-enabled iPads will already be sold in from April 3 on.

On the iPad….

To learn more about what all the fuss is about and what is inside the machine, check out the Apple iPad specifications or watch some videos.  The iPad has the potential change the way we consume content and for more on that check out our content revolution articles.

Pricing in US and Europe

Pricing will be $499, $599 or $699 for the WiFi-enabled iPads with respectively 16Gb, 32Gb or 64Gb of storage. For the 3G-enabled iPads the prices are $629, $729 or $829 with respectively 16Gb, 32Gb or 64Gb of storage. Based on previous pricing of the iPhone, iPod and MacBooks in Europe, the iPad is estimated to be priced at € 460, € 560, € 650. The US dollar to Euro exchange rate does not really apply here; Apple usually sets its prices different from exchange rates due to the differences in markets.

Current predictions estimate Apple will sell 1.2 million iPads until the end of 2010. Next year, sales are estimated at 3.5 million. These amounts are significantly lower than iPhone sales, and they are for a reason. Apple expects consumers needs to adapt and get used to the concept of a tablet device just like they did with the iPhone. This process will take a few years.

Will the sales predictions become true? Will the Apple iPad be a success or not? And why? Can we expect queues like we did with the iPhone in front of the Apple stores? I want to know what you think! Tell me in the comments!