• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 4, 2010

Google has tweaked a series of applications to increase compatibility between its applications and Apple's iPad tablet.

Google Mobile Product Manager Punit Soni Friday explained in a blog post that Gmail's HTML5 rendering now provides a clean two-column display. He points to several applications that ship with the iPad.

Similar to Mac computers and the iPhone, those with iPads will find Google Search located in the top right corner of Safari. Other applications that ship with the iPad include YouTube, Street View, and Maps.

Along with thousands of others who bought the iPad, Trip Chowdhry, managing director at equity research firm Global Equities Research, received his this weekend. He says consumers can choose their favorite search engine from the App Store.

For advertisers wanting to target consumers on the iPad, Google has added an option in AdWords to serve up ads formatted for those reading content on the iPad. During the past year, the AdWords team has been working to ensure its advertising platforms work well on a variety of devices -- such as mobile phones with full Internet browsers like those running Android operating system, and Apple's iPhone. Similar to the iPhone, now Google has made placing ads on iPad an option.

Advertisers will have lots of consumers to reach. Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster estimates that Apple sold between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads during the first day of sales, including online pre-orders that began in March. Munster writes in a research note published Saturday that it took Apple three days to sell a million iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3Gs, and 74 days to sell 1 million original iPhones.

As of 7:30 p.m. EST on April 3, 19 of 20 stores the analyst firm called still had availability of all models. For example, at the 5th Ave. Store in New York, Piper Jaffray counted 730 people in line at 9 a.m., as store doors opened and the iPad began selling. Compare that with 350 people for iPhone 3GS, and 540 people for iPhone 3G.

Aside from Google, Yahoo also brought an entertainment portal to the iPad. Yahoo on Friday released Yahoo Entertainment. It offers multi-touch interactive features and geographic functions that pinpoint a consumer's location to deliver targeted local television listings and content in both portrait and landscape displays.