If early sales estimates are any indicator, Apple appears to have another hit on its hands with the iPad.

Including presales, Apple sold 600,000 to 700,000 of the new tablet on Saturday, according to estimates released by Piper Jaffray Gene Munster, more than twice the senior analyst's earlier prediction of 200,000 to 300,000 first-day sales. More than 730 people in line at Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue store--more than the numbers that showed up for the iPhoneor iPhone 3GS launches, he said.

By comparison, Apple sold around a half million iPhones the first weekend it was available for sale in 2007, according to Munster estimates at the time.

Munster's team polled 20 Apple stores around the nation Saturday night and found that 19 still had stock on hand of the tablet, which went on sale Saturday morning. Twitter users reported mixed availability at many Best Buy stores as well.

Presales went so well that the company updated its Web site earlier this week to indicate that new iPad orders will ship by April 12. Some sources say Apple sold hundreds of thousands iPads since it began taking preorders on March 12.

Apple is expected to sell 7.1 million iPads worldwide this year, according to a preliminary forecast released Friday by iSuppli. Sales will double to 14.4 million units next year and triple to 20.1 million in 2012, the research firm predicts.

新闻来源：http://news.cnet.com/