In this new report from Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech blog, Apple has asked their iPad suppliers to increase their build rates.

“Build rates have increased, according to a report by Morgan Stanley’s chief Apple watcher

In a report to clients issued Monday — six days before the iPad goes on sale — Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty says Apple’s (AAPL) Asian suppliers have revised their shipping forecasts for the tablet computer, suggesting strong initial demand.”

Katy’s report continues with:

• “iPad suppliers now forecast shipments of 8-10 million iPads in calendar 2010, up from their previous estimate of 5+ million.
• Suppliers now expect to ship 2.5 million in the first three months alone (March to May), considerably ahead of Huberty’s estimate of 750,000 by the end of June.
• Shipments are not sales, however, and Huberty is sticking with her sales estimate of 6+ million iPads in 2010. The Street’s consensus, she says, is closer to 3-4 million”

So if indeed Apple sold out of their initial build for the iPad (see our worldwide first report from Saturday), and if they’re increasing build rates, then Apple is anticipating a higher demand than even they initially forecast. And that’s good news for those of us believing the iPad will do some amazing things because if there’s a lot of demand, then the developers will write more software and we’ll have a lot of cool things to try out!

planetMitch
photo credit: Apple Inc.