As is now customary at Apple press events, before the official unveiling of iPad 2, CEO Steve Jobs took time to inform onlookers just where the company stands today.

In other words, he trawled out a load of stats designed to illustrate the strength of Apple's iOS business, despite increasing levels of competition from all sides.

Given Apple has now shipped 100 million iPhones to retail to date, its leadership is hard to dispute.

Millions and billions

Jobs also stated that 15 million iPads hit stores between April and December last year – either a rounding up of the 14.8 million figure Apple pegged shipments at in January, or a slight revision.

In all, iPad was a $9.5 billion business for Apple in 2010, with more than 65,000 apps now on board.

As you might expect, the device has also mopped up 90 percent share of the tablet market – the vast majority of the remaining 10 percent most likely in Samsung's hands, following the launch of Galaxy Tab towards the end of 2010.

In terms of the App Store in general, Jobs said $2 billion worth of revenue had now been paid out to developers since the platform's inception in 2008.