Apple's iPad 2 sales for tablets

Apple's iPad 2 sales for tablets -  Apple's iPad 2  Turning lead into gold may be little more than a dream, but Apple seems to have mastered the alchemy of turning an iPad containing components reportedly worth a little more than $300 into gold. With the release of the iPad 2, consumers lined up outside of Apple Stores waiting to get their hands on the company's newest tablet.

Apple Inc sold close to 1 million units of its next-generation tablet computer during its debut weekend, analysts estimated. By comparison, the original version of the iPad, which launched in April of 2010, crossed the one-million mark 28 days after its launch. Apple shares rose 0.6 percent to $354.20 in morning trade on the Nasdaq, even as shares of many other technology companies slumped. The Nasdaq was down 0.7 percent. The iPad 2 went on sale in the United States on Friday evening at Apple stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless outlets, as well as Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy stores, greeted by thousands of eager customers.

Apple's continued ability to move iPads is nothing short of impressive. Although it's easy to forget, prior to the iPad being released, skeptics questioned whether there was a need for tablet computing devices altogether. Even many who are less skeptical wondered where tablets would fit in.

But the iPad 2 number worth looking at most may not be total sales. More important, perhaps, is the number of sales to new iPad owners. Global Equities Research sees 60% of the new iPads being sold to owners of the original device, yet a 236-person survey conducted by Piper Jaffray found that 70% of the buyers polled were new iPad owners.

Clearly, only one of these figures is accurate, and which one is incredibly important. Despite the phenomenal adoption of the iPad, which is currently 'the' tablet, the overall market for the devices is still relatively small in the overall scheme of things.

With billions of computers/laptops and mobile phones in circulation, one has to ask: just how big can and will the tablet market grow?

If the iPad 2 is being snapped up primarily by existing iPad owners, the pie of tablet owners may not be growing as rapidly as one might expect given the media hoopla. On the other hand, if Apple's breakneck sales of the newest version are driven by strong demand from first-time owners, it would appear that the tablet pie is growing nicely.