Apple sells a record 3 million iPads in less than 4 days
Apple has sold more than 3 million units of its third-generation iPad in less than four days.
“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “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.”
The latest iPad went on sale in Australia, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands at 8 AM local time on March 16.
In 2010, Apple sold approximately 300,000 units of the original iPad on the first day of sale. It took close to 80 days to reach sales of 3 million. Reuters reported that Apple sold almost one million units of its second generation tablet, the iPad 2, on its launch weekend in 2011.
In December 2011, Amazon announced that consumers were buying its tablets at a rate of a "million Kindle devices per week." At the time Amazon said its 7”, $199 Android-based Kindle Fire tablet was its bestselling product but declined to provide sales figures for its individual devices. Apple, on the other hand, announced that iPad sales had reached a total of 55 million units worldwide in December 2011.
The third-generation iPad will be available in additional countries including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden on Friday, March 23.
