Believe it or not, Apple has sold 2 million iPads, but that benchmark would have been reached earlier had the company been able to keep up with the market's demand.
On Monday the technology consumer products company announced it has sold more than 2 million units of its iPad less than 60 days since its launch on Apr. 3. The announcement comes just after Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) began shipping the iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. It will also be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later in 2010.
"Considering the significant supply constraints, they probably would have hit [2 million sold] earlier," says Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. "But given the supply and pace of sales, this is about what we would have expected."
That wasn't always the case, as Hargreaves, along with many others, was skeptical about demand before the iPad's release. But that was then, and now he sees a very strong future for the product. "I think the momentum being seen in the iPad can certainly continue through the rest of the year," Hargreaves says. "As you get into 2011 and the market becomes more competitive and people have a broader concept of what the product is, we'll have to see."
In Apple's announcement Chief Executive Steve Jobs said he appreciates customer patience and that Apple is working hard to build enough iPads for everyone. Investors should expect to see iPad sales impact the company's bottom-line immediately. "It's a profitable product out of the gate, though it's not up to the corporate average of about 40% gross margins and around 29% operating profit," Hargreaves says.
Shares of Apple rose 2.4%, or $6.22, to $263.10, in morning trading. The rest of the technology sector also saw gains: Hewlett-Packard ( HPQ - news - people ) increased 0.2%, Microsoft ( MSFT - news - people ) 0.6%, Dell ( DELL - news - people ) 0.2% and Google ( GOOG - news - people ) 0.3%. Since the beginning of the year Apple has seen its stock rise 24.7%.
After Apple sold 1 million iPads, Hargreaves noted that much of the consumer base included an older crowd, whose lifestyles are more conducive to the larger device rather than its pocket-size counterparts, the iPhone and iPod touch. (See "For Apple, A Million iPads Is Just The Start.") He adds, though, that there has been a greater amount of business demand than he would have expected.
"Businesses have the standard desktop and notebook for all travel services, but people are augmenting those with the iPad for short trips and day trips, and finding value in carrying them around to all kinds of meetings," Hargreaves says.
The Apple iPad is capable of reading, sending, and receiving .
Apple announced Monday that it has sold over two million , just two months after the device began shipping in the US and only days after its international launch.

Apple shares rose 2.9 percent (US$7.41) to US$264.29 Tuesday afternoon. Market analysts also upped price targets and sales estimates in response to the announcement. Shares for , who provides data plans for the iPad, also rose yesterday.

Prior to the iPad's April 3 launch, many analysts had speculated about the viability and marketability of the device. However, iPad sales have been faster than anticipated. Although it was only expected to sell one million iPads for the whole quarter, Apple announced in early May that it had surpassed the one-million mark in just 28 days. It again surprised industry watchers, who were expecting about 1.6–1.7 million iPads to have been sold when Apple announced that it had passed the two-million mark. iPad sales may make up over ten percent of Apple's revenue this quarter, a feat that took the  twice as long to achieve. The iPad has been so popular and supplies of the tablet so low that Apple tried to place limits on the number of iPads a person can purchase earlier.

Apple had postponed sales of the iPad to Europe and Asia until last weekend due to strong demand for the tablet in the US. In addition to the US, it now sells the devices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.K., and will begin shipping iPads to Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Singapore in July.