Edible Apple

The tablet market may be heating up, but with the iPad 2 generating enormous lines around the country, Apple doesn’t seem to have anything to worry about.

In a ChangeWave survey of 3,091 consumers conducted in February, 27% of respondents indicated plans to purchase a tablet in the future. Of that pool, 82% of them plan on purchasing an Apple iPad.

So despite an onslaught of competing tablets slated to hit the market in the coming weeks and months, none of them can really slow down the iPad roll Apple is on.

This past Friday, the iPad 2 went on sale and much like its predecessor, was quick to establish itself as a hit product. Numerous stores, from Apple retail to Best Buy, reported iPad 2 shortages and some analysts are predicting weekend sales to reach as high as 1 million units.

If true, such a swift march to 1 million would really drive home the impact the iPad has had on the boarder tech market. By way of contrast, it took the original iPad 28 days to reach the 1-million sales mark. With a compelling second-generation model now available, 65,000 dedicated iPad apps housed on iTunes, and the plain fact that consumers are more familiar with the concept of a tablet than they were a year-ago, the iPad 2 is bound to hit the 1 million milestone in far less time than 28 days. Whether it hit the mark this weekend remains to be seen, but if it did, you can bet Apple will issue a press release to that effect first thing on Monday morning.

via InvestorPlace