Production is currently thought to be over 1 million units per month; a number that could increase to over 2 million a month by September.
Faster, faster
According to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, if this rate of production and sales keeps up, iPad could be the fastest selling mobile device (phones excluded).
Of course, that total - 16 million sold 12 months from launch - would taken some doing, and likely a price cut too.
Even what Huberty calls the base case scenario (as opposed to the 16 million bull case), would see 13 million iPad sold within 12 months.
According to a graph from Business Week's Silicon Alley Insider, this would make iPad the second fastest selling mobile device ever.
Ironically Sony's PSP sold more - 14.5 million in year one - before its sales tailed off.
Count the dollars
A number that Apple shareholders will be more interested in however will be how those iPad sales will impact the company's quarterly revenues and profits.
An assumed average sale price of $650 per iPad would generate $2 billion in gross sales for example, although how this would filter though to profits is harder to calculate. Apple is currently heavily subsising iPad to gain first mover advantage in the sector.
Still, in comparison, Apple generated $5.3 billion from iPhone sales during Q2 2010, making around $600 in sales per iPhone sold, so if it can hook up that sort of unit price to high sales volume, iPad certainly has great medium term potential to boost the company's fortunes even higher.
[source: Apple and Silicon Alley Insider]
