Is Apple Selling 20K iPads an Hour?

Did you buy an iPad when Apple began pre-sales this morning? If so, you weren’t alone. Indeed, Apple may have sold 20,000 iPads per hour, leading one commentator to suggest the Cupertino, Calif. company was earning $10 million per hour on its new tablet device.

The estimate comes from Andrew Erlichson, CEO of Phanfare, a photo share site. Erlichson said he purchased two iPads and noted the order IDs.

“We just bought two iPads, about 30 minutes apart,” he writes on his blog. “Our order IDs are 10,000 apart. Assuming those order IDs are sequential, and they appear to be, then Apple is selling 20,000 iPads per hour,” he added.

Of course, one must keep in mind Apple sells more than iPads, but judging from the avalanche of hype surrounding the opening of pre-sales, we can safely guess many of those orders were for the tablet.

Erlichson advances his theory, postulating Apple could earn $10 million per hour from the iPad frenzy.

“Assuming most orders are for the $499 model, and that people are only buying one per order, that means Apple is selling $10/MM hour. Of course, that is not sustainable, but if they did it for a year, it would be $87.6B”

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The end result could also mean Apple’s initial iPad manufacturing run could expire this week, the blogger concludes.

[via Silicon Alley Insider and Erlichson's Blog]

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