Apple sells 3 million iPads in 80 days

Technology giant Apple's iPad, multi-media touch screen tablet, device that other companies had introduced earlier but flopped, saw its sales touch three million in 80 days since the device went on the sale in the US market.

Apple said yesterday that it sold its three millionth iPad on Monday, just 80 days after its introduction in the US, which should make the device that Microsoft's chief Steve Ballmer identified derisively as "a scaled down version of the PC," into a $5-billion product by the end of the year.

''People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives,'' said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. ''We're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month.''

In addition to these new sales figures released yesterday, Apple said that developers have created over 11,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics.

iPad will run almost all of the more than 225,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for the iPhone or iPod touch, added the Cupertino, California-based Apple in a statement.

Following its 3 April debut, Apple had sold upward of 300,000 iPads on the first day and a million iPads in 28 days, (See: Apple sells one million iPads in 28 days), which exceeded the wildest pre-launch estimates and demand was so heavy the company had to delay the international launch.