In a press release issued Monday morning, Apple (AAPL) announced what several analysts had already surmised: that it has sold more than 1 million iPads.

It passed the seven-figure milestone on Friday, 28 days after the device’s introduction on April 3 and the same day the iPad 3G went on sale. It’s not clear from Apple’s release whether any 3G models are included in that number.

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

Jobs didn’t mention that customers snapped up the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS — which were released both in the U.S. and overseas — even more quickly. Apple sold a million units of each in the space of three days.

Apple also announced Monday that developers have already created more than 5,000 apps for the iPad, and that iPad owners have downloaded more than 12 millions apps and more than 1.5 million books.

The iPad counter run by the Chitika ad agency, which had been spectacularly off target in the past (see Did Apple just sell its 1 millionth iPad?), seems to have been closer to the mark this time. Last Friday at about 5:30 p.m., it showed 1.18 million iPads sold, which now seems plausible.

By Monday, when Apple issued its press release — and after a weekend of iPad 3G sales — Chitika’s counter had passed 1.8 million.

See also:

• iPad 3G sold out in 49 of 50 stores
• iPad 3G draws hundreds in New York
• Predicting iPad sales: How close were the analysts?
• How many iPads will Apple sell?

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]