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"Unit sales estimates for the quarter that ended Saturday range from 5 million to 7.54 million\n\n  \nClick to enlarge. Source: Company reports, Apple 2.0\nThe chatter on Investor Village&amp;#8217;s AAPL Sanity board Christmas Day was mostly about who found iPads under the tree.\n&amp;#8220;My kids bought me one. Completely unexpected,&amp;#8221; wrote one investor under the heading It is going to be an AMAZING 1st qtr iPad number. &amp;#8220;Bought my parents one. They are amazed by it. My brother-in-law bought my sister one (totally unexpected). My son&amp;#8217;s GF got one (hoped for but not expected). Brace yourselves, folks. Gonna be big. Real big.&amp;#8221;\nHow big is a matter of considerable disagreement among analysts who track Apple \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAAPL\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t. Having overshot Apple&amp;#8217;s fourth quarter sales by as much as 2.3 million units, many are approaching the first fiscal quarter of 2011 with caution.\nWe polled 27 analysts &amp;#8212; both professional and amateur &amp;#8212; for their Q1 iPad unit sales estimates and got an unusually large range, from a low of 5 million units from Hudson Square&amp;#8217;s Daniel Ernst to a high of 7.54 million from Goldman Sachs&amp;#8217; Bill Shope.\nWe&amp;#8217;ve used the average of all the estimates &amp;#8212; 6.35 million &amp;#8212; in the chart above.\nBelow: The analysts, their estimates and the date they made them.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnalyst,   affiliation\niPads (millions)\nDate of est.\n\n\nBill Shope, Goldman Sachs\n7.54\n12/12/10\n\n\nAlexis Cabot,   Apple Finance Board\n7.46\n12/23/10\n\n\nNicolae Mihalache, Traderhood\n7.28\n12/30/10\n\n\nDennis   Hildebrand, Apple&amp;#8217;s Gold\n7.25\n12/28/10\n\n\nRichard   Gardner, Citigroup\n7.00\n12/2/10\n\n\nDoug Reid,   Stifel Nicholaus\n6.85\n12/30/10\n\n\nTurley Muller,   Financial Alchemist\n6.80\n12/29/10\n\n\nRobert Paul   Leitao, Apple Finance Board\n6.75\n12/30/10\n\n\nMark   Moskowitz, J.P. Morgan\n6.71\n12/16/10\n\n\nDaniel Tello,   Deagol&amp;#8217;s AAPL Model\n6.54\n12/23/10\n\n\nJeff Fosberg,   Apple Finance Board\n6.50\n12/29/10\n\n\nHendi Susanto,   Gabelli &amp;amp; Co.\n6.50\n12/17/10\n\n\nScott Craig, Merrill Lynch\n6.50\n12/9/10\n\n\nRajesh Ghai,   Think Equity\n6.50\n11/29/10\n\n\nTavis McCourt,   Morgan Keegan\n6.50\n12/30/10\n\n\nT. Michael   Walkley, Canaccord Genuity\n6.30\n12/30/10\n\n\nShaw Wu,   Kaufman Bros.\n6.10\n12/16/10\n\n\nHorace Dediu,   Asymco\n6.00\n10/21/10\n\n\nBrian   Marshall, Gleacher &amp;amp; Co.\n6.00\n12/29/10\n\n\nChris   Whitmore, Deutsche Bank\n6.00\n12/28/10\n\n\nMatthew   Hoffman, Cowen &amp;amp; Co.\n5.90\n12/16/10\n\n\nMaynard Um,   UBS\n5.50\n12/28/10\n\n\nKathryn   Huberty, Morgan Stanley\n5.50\n12/29/10\n\n\nWilliam Power,   Baird\n5.50\n11/4/10\n\n\nGene Munster,   Piper Jaffray\n5.50\n11/29/10\n\n\nJeff Fidacaro,   Susquehanna\n5.40\n11/29/10\n\n\nDaniel Ernst,   Hudson Square\n5.00\n12/29/10\n\n\n\n. . .\n[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2010/12/30/how-big-was-apples-ipad-christmas/>