Forrester, Piper Jaffray and iSuppli bang out the big numbers.
The official numbers are in: iPad sold 300,000 units on its first day of availability this Saturday. That's according to Apple itself.
However, analysts have also been making their predictions for iPad's performance in 2010 as a whole, with varying estimates.
Forrester has come in lowest of the latest crop of forecasts, predicting that Apple will sell three million iPads this year.
"iPad is the right device for the wrong consumer," writes Forrester's Sarah Rotman Epps in an opinion piece for MocoNews.
"We think there’s a fundamental disconnect between the design of the device and the profile of the customer who would most benefit from using it."
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Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray has lowered its forecasts for iPad sales in 2010 to 4.3 million units, having suffered the embarrassment of claiming iPad sold between 600,000 and 700,000 units on its first day, before Apple confirmed the 300,000 figure.
"The bottom line is that we missed the launch day sales, but we remain confident in the iPad as an investable theme," writes Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster in a research note.
At the high end, iSuppli claimed on Friday that iPad is set to sell seven million units in 2010, then 14.4 million in 2011, and 20.1 million in 2012.
"The iPad represents an intriguing mix of two devices that have struggled to gain traction for years: Internet appliances and tablet PCs," says iSuppli's director of monitor research Rhoda Alexander.
Other analysts to make their predictions earlier this year include Barclays Capital (five million units in 2010), Canaccord Adams (1.2 million in Apple's fiscal 2010), and Needham & Company (two million in Apple's fiscal 2010).
