The company, which had cited "record" sales earlier in the day, has now backed up that boast. “The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of wordwide marketing, said in a press release from the company. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”
Laying out opening weekend results is fairly unusual for Apple, which typically waits until its quarterly meeting with analysts to outline such numbers.
Apple didn't outline opening weekend sales for its previous iPad releases. However, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that Apple sold 400,000 to 500,000 iPad 2s the first weekend they went on sale last March. However, Munster said that Apple sold out of iPad 2s and would have sold more if there had been more on hand.
In 2010, Apple claimed that it sold 300,000 iPads on the first day they went on sale. Munster estimates that the company sold 600,000 to 700,000 iPads that weekend.
Unlike past iPad releases, the new iPad was available in 12 countries at launch. Apple is expanding the launch to 24 additional countries on March 23 at 8:00 a.m. local time.
BONUS: The New iPad