On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to unnamed sources, pre-orders have totaled "hundreds of thousands of units," which could also indicate that the iPad will challenge the iPhone's phenomenal debut. However, it's not clear if these reported pre-orders are actual sales or simply non-sale reservations for later pickups.

Arranging Content for Launch

To help drive sales, Apple is reportedly working overtime to make as many arrangements as possible for media content . This includes deals with publishers of newspapers, magazines and textbooks, as well as with TV networks and Hollywood studios.

Apparently, though, Apple is running into resistance from the print publishers, some of whom are wary of cutting into their existing revenue. The Journal said Apple is "backburnering" its negotiations with print publishers and focusing more on such media content as TV shows.

Industry analysts are generally bullish on the iPad's prospects. For instance, Current Analysis' Avi Greengart said he expects the iPad's long-term sales prospects will be strong, because sales will increase as the initial price points inevitably drop.

"If these numbers from the Journal's sources are correct," he said, they could indicate that the market for early adopters of this new product could be "bigger than expected."

Clear Value Propositions

The iPad, Greengart said, "is the first tablet product that has a clear set of value propositions," so price is the main issue. He said these values include web surfing, media consumption such as movie watching, reading e-books, and access to the more than 100,000 applications available for the iPod touch, "without modification."

In addition, he expects we'll soon see "a huge number" of apps that have been modified specifically for the iPad.

Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said he wouldn't be surprised if the iPad's sales in the first few months after launch exceed those of the iPhone.

The Wi-Fi version of the iPad is less expensive than the iPhone initially was, he pointed out, and, more importantly, the iPad is not tied into a carrier deal the way the iPhone was with AT&T. "Even today," he said, "a lot of prospective iPhone customers don't want to switch" carriers to AT&T in order to buy the device.

Rubin said that, while the growing category of netbooks has an overlap in some functionalities with the iPad, and thus might be seen as a direct competitor, the iPad is tilted more toward content consumption, like web surfing and movie watching, while the netbooks lean toward light productivity.

Will the iPad be a long-term win for Apple? Rubin said "it's still too early to tell."