Apple wasn’t willing to go on record with the new iPad’s initial launch figures just yet, but when quizzed about it during the Q&A session of today’s announcement of an official dividend and stock repurchase plan, Tim Cook did let slip a bit about how well the new iPad had done.
Although Cook said that he couldn’t announce exact figures yet, he did say that the new iPad had a “record weekend” and that everyone at Apple was completely thrilled with how well it had done.
What’s a record weekend in this context? It’s hard to tell. Apple never released launch weekend numbers for the iPad 2. However, it has been estimated that these numbers hover around 1 million units sold, and this was despite widescale shortages.
The new iPad launch was a much better prepared event than that of the iPad 2. Supplies for launch day preorders lasted for three days, despite the fact that the new iPad was released in ten countries simultaneously. Tim Cook always said he thought Apple could have sold more iPads if they could have just made enough of them, and with the new iPad, it seems like they finally succeeded.
As for what the future holds, again, Cook wouldn’t be pinned down, but he did say that Apple was “extremely confident” in its future pipleline. “It’s just full of cool stuff, and our customers are going to love what we’ve got in store for them!”
