Apple estimated to have sold over 300,000 3G iPads from launching

Apple may have sold as many as 300,000 iPads with 3G over the launch weekend, according to an estimate by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. The tally would include both 52 days of pre-orders and walk-in sales and has been accompanied by sellouts at many stores. Of 50 Apple stores called on Sunday, all but one had completely run out of the more advanced iPads.

The researcher added that Apple had likely sold over 1 million iPads so far and that a previous estimate of 1.3 million iPads for the entire spring quarter could be low. Multiple analysts, including Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley, have predicted 7 million iPads sold in the first year.

Munster has sometimes been optimistic with such estimates, as he overshot Wi-Fi iPad figures by roughly twice the actual 300,000. The new study, however, should encompass a wider range of stores and comes with a faster sellout rate than for the Wi-Fi model, which sold briskly but took some time to trigger shortages. The 3G versions are expected to ship in smaller numbers due to their higher price and the hesitations about paying for cellular Internet access.

Combined, both the 3G and Wi-Fi sales should make the iPad the quickest-selling tablet and e-reader to date. Amazon is thought to have sold 3 million Kindles to date but would have taken over 2 years to reach a goal that Apple may exceed in just 6 months. It's not known if any Windows-based tablets have reached similar numbers, as none of their manufacturers have been confident enough in their sales to break their figures out from total PC sales.