Suppliers Expect to Ship 8-10 Million iPads in 2010

Apple announced that it sold more than 300,000 iPads in the U.S. on the first day of sales, including “deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores.”


Furthermore, iPad users downloaded more than one million apps from the App Store and 250,000 e-books from the iBookstore on the first day.

Now, there’s even more reasons to believe iPad sales will continue to be phenomenal. According to Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, Asian suppliers have revised their shipping forecasts for the iPad, and they now expect to ship 8-10 million devices by the end of 2010.

Furthermore, they expect to ship 2.5 million in the first three months of sales (March to May); however Huberty still predicts that Apple will sell (as opposed to ship) 6+ million iPads in 2010. Other analysts expect the number to be even lower, around 3-4 million.

These are all just estimates, but from what we can see now, it has exceeded almost all expectations.