400,000 iPads pre-ordered in first week?

“After an initial flood of pent-up demand and some ups and downs over the first weekend, pre-orders for the iPad tablet computer are now averaging 10,000 per day, according to Daniel Tello, a Venezuelan blogger-analyst who writes about Apple using the pseudonym Deagol,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “‘I think sometime during Friday, perhaps before noon, the counter should roll to 200,000 units pre-ordered,’ he told Fortune.

“Tello’s tally does not include iPads reserved for pick-up at Apple retail stores on April 3, the day the device goes on sale,” Elmer-DeWitt reports. “But according to the Boy Genius Report — citing its ‘Apple connects’ — Apple’s 222 U.S. stores took an average of 700 reservations that first weekend, which would suggest that reservations and online orders are coming at roughly the same rate.”

Elmer-DeWitt reports, “If true, the total number of iPads reserved or pre-ordered in the first week may be close to 400,000.”

Full article here.