So, I’ve heard this new iPad thing isn’t generating much hype. You really think anyone is going to buy it?

That was sarcasm. The new iPad has been touted as the greatest consumer tech product of the year by bloggers, Twitter tweeters and Apple fanciers since January. They are travelling in droves to pick up the HD iPad.

Initial reviews have been favorable, but lets face it, if you are going to get up extra early on a weekday to spend $500 dollars on a tech gadget, you would probably already have assumptions about how awesome it is too.

But how well is it actually doing. We need some real numbers here.

If you are curious how the iPad is selling on the market right now, you need look no further than ad-network Chitika, who has created a new iPad tracker. The app is using tracking of websites that display their advertising to determine how many are viewed from a New iPad.

“But,” you say, “what if people aren’t going to websites with Chiticka advertising? What if they aren’t using the web at all? What if my head explodes trying contemplate all the possible things that can go wrong with this kind of tracking system?”

I agree, there are many holes in this methodology, but right now, until Apple gives us some hard numbers, it’s all we’ve got.

This is what Chitika’s stats look like. They are currently comparing the percentage of new iPads vs. iPad 1 and 2.

“What if I want to know the total number of New iPads being sold, compared to the number of iPads that are already out there?”

I don’t know, deal with it.

The percentage reported in the pie chart represents the most recent recorded hour of iPad traffic. The percentages are simply the count of each particular group (iPad 1&2, “The new iPad”) divided by a total count of all iPad traffic observed.

The line chart highlights adoption rate by hour. For each hour, the methodology is the same as in the pie chart, except shown in a time series. For example, if “The new iPad” impressions made up 5% of all iPad impressions on March 17th at midnight, and 6% at March 18th at midnight, the chart would highlight this growth (and show all of the hours in between).

Note: These figures are from a screen cap. They are continually changing as more iPads are being sold and used. Check Chitika’s website for current data.