Apple heading for $1 billion iPad revenue in its next quarter

Having already sold 1 million units according to Apple's official statistics, the question as to whether iPad's launch has been a successful one is no longer valid.

Hence attention is now turning to just how much revenue the device is generating.

The suggestion is, with iPad shipments likely to hit 2 million units before the end of June, first quarter revenue generated by the format could surpass $1 billion.

That's according to some fairly simply sums calculated by Business Insider.

The site summarises that, assuming the average sale price of an iPad and accessories is around $650 (not entirely true as this doesn't take into account retail and distribution costs), Apple has already generated $650 million in revenue.

Revenue race

Take that formula forward, and first quarter revenue will break through the $1 billion mark.

To put that into some kind of context, the website points out that Apple only generated $1.8 billion in revenue during the June quarter of 2000.

Its revenue in Q1 2010 was $15.7 billion however.

Things really have stepped up since those days, with iPad sales likely making it the market leading PFC tablet manufacturer.

The iPad also currently outselling the other iDevice launches, taking just 28 days to hit 1 million units sold.

In comparison, it took 74 days to shift 1 million iPhones and almost 2 years to hit the same figure with the iPod.

[source: Business Insider]