Report: Apple could realize $1B of iPad revenue in its 1st quarter

There are some smoking hot numbers coming out of Cupertino CA this week and they're all about iPad sales. Just yesterday, Apple announced that they had sold 1 million iPads in the first 28 days of availability. As Business Insider (BI) notes, selling 1 million units of anything in a month is impressive, much less during April in the USA when most people are fretting over taxes.

BI goes on to speculate that Apple could ship 2 million units by the end of the June quarter. Figuring an average retail price of US$650, Apple has already realized $650 million in revenue and, if they do indeed hit the 2 million milestone in time, the iPad could bring in $1 billion in revenue in its first quarter of availability.

As a little perspective, note that Apple as a whole generated $1.8 billion in revenue during the June quarter of 2000. Plus, it took 74 days to sell 1 million iPhones in 2007 and nearly 2 years to sell 1 million iPods.

As for whether or not the iPad "...means business," I think the answer is clear.