The new iPad hit the market just four days ago and already it has managed to move three million units. But that's peanuts compared to the twelve million units some analysts are projecting for the entire first quarter of 2012, which ends in less than two weeks. Mind you, this estimate excludes sales of iPad 2, now discounted to $399 for the entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi model, and is based on 156 percent year-over-year growth versus the 111 percent iPad growth in the holiday quarter.
As noted by John Paczkowski over at the AllThingsD blog, UBS analyst Maynard Um is projecting "massive" iPad quarter based on an average of 750,000 daily units since last Friday's launch. Of course, launch demand will eventually cool off, but with the device launching in 23 more countries this coming Friday (fastest iPad roll-out yet) and impressive rates of production ramp-up, Apple looks poised to take iPad sales to the next level...