News: Three million new iPads sold in opening weekend

It has emerged that Apple’s new iPad is setting a record for its sales, having already sold three million since its launch last Friday.

This is a solid smashing of previous records set by its predecessors, most notably the iPad 1, which took almost three months (80 days) to sell that same amount. In its debut weekend, one million iPad 2 tablets were sold.

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold?the strongest iPad launch yet,” enthused Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

This also seems to indicate that each successive iPad gains greater momentum in its sales year on year, perhaps aided by its traction amongst users leading up to the new iteration.

Global domination

However, these sales figures represent only a portion of the world’s markets, as the new iPad was launched in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands.

This Friday, the tablet will go on sale in twenty four more 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.

Unfortunately, South Africa is not on that list; as yet we do not know when the new iPad will find its way to our shores.

Selling – and feeling – like hotcakes

However, the sales aren’t the only hot thing about the new iPad. Reports have emerged that some people are experiencing heating issues with the device, and even more recently, the new iPad was shown to run ten degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than its predecessor in infared tests, according to AppleInsider.com

However, the site also pointed out that temperatures are nonetheless “well within Apple's specified operating temperature of 32 to 95° Fahrenheit (0 to 35° Celsius).”

Additionally, the culprit of the extra heat appears to be (at least in part) the new quad-core graphics chip.

To the point

With the iPad, it appears as if Apple can do no wrong; each successive model, whether picked up by a first time tablet buyer or by a user upgrading from the previous version, sells wildly, while each tablet appears metaphorically bulletproof to problems that may arise.

At this point, we have to wonder whether the iPad juggernaught has simply become invincible as well as imminently desireable.

Three million new iPads sold in opening weekend

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