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The iPad is set to become the fastest ever selling electronic device, according to estimates by US investment analysts.

Retail analysts at Bernstein Research have apparently declared that iPad sales' rates - 4.5 million units per quarter - have surpassed that of the DVD, previously the fastest adopted non-phone technology, according to CNBC.

It quotes Bernstein's retail analyst, Colin McGranahan, writing: “The iPad did not seem destined to be a runaway product success straight out of the box... By any account, the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion."

If it was to continue this rate, apparently, the iPad would surpass gaming hardware and cellular phones to become the fourth biggest electronics category, after TVs, smart phones and notebook PCs.

The report is likely to restart the debate about whether or not the iPad is cannibalising notebook PC sales. McGranahan made his comments on a report about US mega retailer Best Buy, whose CEO was forced to clarify previous remarks about the iPad blasting notebooks out of the water.

Perhaps this is one reason to be a little bit cautious about how quickly the iPad will take over the entire world. We're talking about one segment of the US consumer market, which really consists of just one vendor.

It's also worth noting that DVDs came down in price reasonably rapidly - and Apple has never really embraced the pile em high, sell em cheap approach.

And, of course, the last thing Apple would want is for every every Tom, Dick or Harry to be walking around clutching its fondle slabs. And there were many vendors of the DVD format. There is, of course, only one vendor of the iPad, and its rivals are prepping their own tablets. Whether the world will take the new kids on the block to their hearts is another matter.

The Register has the details HERE!