Apple today proved the naysayers wrong, announcing that it had sold 2 million iPads in less than 2 months.

In fact, Apple is still struggling to keep up for demand.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

The iPad’s success is especially amazing considering that most tech analysts were were unenthused by the device when it was announced, dismissing it as a “big iPod touch”.

Why did analysts get the Apple iPad so wrong?

Here are a few reasons:

• Apple didn’t design the iPad for tech geeks. Tech analysts wanted Apple to check off everything on the geek’s checklist when designing the iPad – giving it more power, more connectivity, more openness. Apple took the opposite approach, refining the iPad’s capabilities and focusing on the things that it had to do well. When it was released, tech analysts didn’t get this, but customers did.
• Apple carefully optimized the iPad’s operating system – tech analysts got tripped up by the iPad’s relatively modest hardware specs and missed the fact that the iPad feels really fast.
• Time moves on – tech analysts were disappointed by the iPad’s lack of a USB connection, lack of memory expansion slot, the missing parallel port and floppy drive. Buyers just understood that the iPad connects to the Internet.
• Flash is actually sort of dead – tech analysts can’t get over Apple’s decision to skip Flash on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. They keep thinking that Adobe is finally going to optimize Flash and get it working on mobile devices.  They keep thinking that people are going to figure out how much they need Flash. Meanwhile, Apple is selling 10+ million Flash-free mobile Internet devices a quarter. It’s time to get over Flash.
• Those “iPad” jokes really weren’t very funny – some people got hung up on the “iPad” name. Because – get this – it had the word “pad” in it. Like those sanitary napkins. Get it?
• Normal people do want freedom from spam, viruses and even porn. Analysts have mocked Apple’s app review process and it’s refusal to allow adult applications into the App store. Normal people, though, are sick of spam, sick of pop-ups and sick of getting viruses on their PCs. And they don’t need porn apps, because the Internet is an all-you-can-eat buffet of porn.
• Buyers think that the iPad really is “magical and revolutionary”. Go into the mall Apple store on a Tuesday afternoon, and you’ll find the place is packed with people checking out the iPhones and iPads. Why? Because holding the Internet in your hand is magical and revolutionary. Because getting your pick of 200,000 apps and never having to figure out how to install them is magical and revolutionary. Because having your iPad automatically backed up is magical and revolutionary. And because paying $500 for a computer that doesn’t suck is magical and revolutionary.

With the iPad, Apple has prove tech analysts wrong, establishing a new computing platform in the process.

What do you think of Apple’s milestone? And why do you think it’s succeeding when so many thought it would fail?