iPad Sales May Reach 2 Million Per MonthiPad Sales May Reach 2 Million Per Month

On May 3, Apple announced that it had sold more than 1 million iPads, approximately one month after launch. That was followed on May 31 with the announcement that it had sold 2 million, and again on June 22 that it had sold 3 million. Three million iPads in 80 days is respectable, for sure. Can Apple maintain that kind of momentum?

Digitimes Research says yes. According to Mingchi Kuo, senior analyst for Digitimes Research, "Apple's monthly iPad orders to Taiwan makers surpassed two million units for July and the volume are expected to maintain above [that] level in the future."

Kuo comes by this forecast due to the number of iPads Apple has outsourced to Taiwanese manufacturers. He says between 2.3 and 2.35 million iPads were ordered by Apple. About 58% - 60% of the iPad's ordered are the Wi-Fi + 3G model, which Kuo thinks will eventually outsell the Wi-Fi only model.

In the June 22 announcement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, "People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives. We're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month."

That's key to remember here. Apple is planning to launch the iPad in nine new countries in July. Perhaps those additional markets are the reason for the large iPad order to Taiwanese makers and not sustained sales of 2 million iPads per month. Just something to think about.

Either way, Apple is selling a lot of iPads.

As a point of comparison, Apple commenced iPhone 4 sales on June 24. The first three days the device was available for sale, Apple sold 1.7 million of them. Apple hasn't offered any more information about how many it has sold, but my guess is we'll see a press release once the numbers hits the 2 million mark. As Apple had to sell only another 300,000 to reach that number, it shouldn't be too long before it does. That is, if people aren't put off by the iPhone 4 antenna reception issue.