We are getting down to the wire when it comes to the official announcement of the iPad 2, and with speculation and rumors about the device still going strong, DigiTimes decided to predict how many tablet devices Apple will sell in 2011. Their second-look over the numbers suggest that the Cupertino-based company will sell between 6 and 6.5-million units in the first quarter alone. That's including the original iPad, and the second generation model.

It's expected that Apple will need to pick up production of the iPad 2, especially if they want to make these numbers. It's believed that about 350,000 iPad 2 models will be ready by the launch of the new tablet device. And with a projected two million iPads and iPad 2s in stock for March, it will be interesting to see if Apple can push out that many tablets by the end of the year. Especially if that iPad 3 rumor is true. As a side note, it's believed that Apple's still got about 1.5 million iPads out there in stock, ready for purchase. So if the iPad 2 isn't your thing, we can probably expect a pretty good price cut on the original models soon after today.

Via PhoneArena