Apple has sold one million iPads in 28 days and users have already downloaded 12 million apps from the App store.

Good news for book publishers as well as Apple revealed more than 1.5 million ebooks had been bought from the new Apple iBookstore. To put that one million/28 day figure into perspective for you when Apple launched the iPhone back in ye olde 2007 it took a whopping 74 days to hit the same target.

Clearly this time around Apple was helped by the fact that it had sold 300,000 iPads that were pre-ordered in a frenzy of media driven hype on the first day (April 3).

In addition to the the one million shipped, Apple said that developers have now created over 5,000 new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface adding to the 200,000 apps that are already available to iPad owners at the App Store, including apps already purchased for iPhone or iPod touch models.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said:  “One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone. Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

The UK release date for the iPad is still pegged for later this month, but Apple has not firmed this up although customers can pre-order from next week.  Count me in I really want one.

That said what do you wait? Is the Wi-Fi version going to suffice or do you go for the 3G model because Apple announced its one million milestone as news came that Apple’s 3G-equipped iPad model was released.

It is almost identical to first Wi-Fi-only model, but it has a slot for a SIM card slot on the left hand side and weighs a little more (a tenth of a pound), but what it does mean is that owners will be able to logon wherever they are (as long as they are covered by AT&T 3G network. In the UK the iPad will be on Vodafone, Orange and O2.

The 3G version also costs between $100 and $130 more across the 16GB, 32GB or 64GB models beginning at $629 (Wi-Fi model $499), $729 ($599) and $829 ($699).

I love the 28-days thing — is there some zombie motif going on here? Are we all merrily trooping to the Apple store buying stuff we don’t want or need? Maybe, but I still want one so will be doing the zombie walk.