Report: Apple Stores Sold 8.8 iPads Per Hour On Black Friday

On Black Friday, U.S. Apple Stores sold an average of 8.8 iPads per hour per store. That translates into 25,000 iPads sold nationwide. It might not seem like a lot, but for an eight month old product, the iPad is proving its staying power. According to Fortune, which relied on data from analyst Piper Jaffray:

iPads were walking out of the stores at an even faster rate -- 8.8 units per hour. There are no other Black Friday iPad sales to compare with, of course, but Munster believes these numbers are in line with his (relatively modest) prediction that Apple will sell 5.5 million iPads this quarter.

"Most notable in our observations," he writes, "we noticed that the iPad is gaining traction (driven by lower price vs. the Mac) among demographics in which the Mac has historically not been successful. The bottom line is that Apple's addressable market is expanding with the iPad.

The iPad is expanding Apple's market and that is significant, even though the per-hour number cited looks small by comparison to those when the iPad debuted in April. At the time, Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated that 1412 units were being sold per hour. The first generation iPad is expected to be replaced with a newer version sometime in 2011. Most likely around April, if Apple keeps to the same schedule for the iPad (as they have done with the iPhone and iPod touch).

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