Love Apple or hate it, it's impossible to deny that Apple knows how to make a hit product.  The company currently has the largest market cap of any tech company in the world.  After returning from medical leave Apple CEO Steve Jobs returned swinging for the fences, announcing the iPad tablet computer in January.  The iPad launched in Wi-Fi form on April 3 (U.S.), in 3G form on April 30 (U.S.), and finally in nine more countries on May 28.

Apple quickly blazed through sales of 1 million and 2 million units, leading some analysts to predict it could sell as many as 8 million units this year.

It certainly looks like that's a strong possibility, considering that Apple just sold its 3 millionth iPad on Monday, only 80 days after the device's launch.  Steve Jobs cheered the news, stating, "People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives.  We're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month."

With the iPad, the tablet has become a hot new field of computing, which many say could rival netbooks or even traditional PCs.  After Apple's success many companies have scrambled to release tablets, but none of them have made it to market in the U.S. yet.

What makes the sales of the iPad particularly impressive is that they were generated during the traditionally weak summer months.  Between back-to-school shopping and the holiday season, Apple can anticipate sales to possibly rise in the near term.

Given this, we would raise the previous analyst estimates and actually estimate that Apple will sell between 9 million and 11 million iPads this year.