iPad Pre-Order numbers

According to Forbes, Apple was selling pre-orders for the iPad at a rate of about 25,000 an hour yesterday morning. The numbers aren’t exact at this point and very unscientific. It’s based on differences between the order numbers assigned to early buyers. Not official Apple numbers.
But if it is accurate, here’s how it compares to some initial figures during the debut of the iPhone and iPhone 3G S. There were no pre-orders for the first iPhone, but roughly 200,000 phones were sold in stores on the first day that the phone was available. With the iPhone 3GS there were reportedly “hundreds of thousands” of pre-orders.

So, when you take into account that there are three weeks left to pre-order before the iPad hits stores, it is possible that pre-release demand may be greater than it was for the iPhone as some have predicted.