Apple: We Just Sold Three Million iPads

When Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company’s new iPad had a record launch weekend, he wasn’t kidding.

In an announcement published moments ago, the company said that it has sold 3 million new iPads since the device’s launch last Friday.

That’s triple the number of iPads it sold during the same period last year, assuming analyst estimates at that time were accurate. Though Apple never released an official first weekend sales number for the iPad 2, a number of analysts said their checks suggest the company sold close to 1 million units.

So, a threefold increase. Impressive. Sidenote: If you thought Apple made its dividend announcement today to cover up for slower than expected iPad sales, you’re waaaaay off.

And with a number of international launches in the offing, sales are still ramping up. Apple said today that it will debut the new iPad in 24 more countries on Friday, March 23, among them 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.