There was a lot of speculation if Apple would be able to sell enough iPads to warrant the hype. Apple even went so far as to hint that if sales were not up to expectations that they may lower the price of the device; much like they did with the iPhone.
Apple has officially said that they sold over 300K units on the first day. These sales included pre-orders, delivery to channel partners and sales at Apple retail stores. Unknown is how many of the iPads shipped to channel partners were actually sold but considering the hype, its safe to say that a fair majority of the units were sold.
"Apple also announced that iPad users downloaded over one million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day."
The tablet craze was ignited when Apple first showed off its iPad in January. Many other competitors are also trying to tackle the craze, most notably HP with its Slate and JooJoo with its tablet competitor.