Apple sells 3 million new iPads in launch weekend

Apple announced today that it has sold three million new iPads since its launch on Friday, March 16 — the most iPads sold in a launch weekend yet.

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The figure comes after earlier reports of “record” sales from both Apple and AT&T. It’s particularly impressive given the remaining iPad stock that many stores had on Friday. For example, I was able to snap up a new iPad around 11 a.m. on Friday by just strolling into my local Radio Shack.

It’s not at all shocking that the new iPad has sold so well. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and the only reason why you wouldn’t want to buy one is if you’re a satisfied iPad 2 owner, don’t have $500 (minimum) to shell out, or if you just don’t care for tablets. If you’ve been holding out for a tablet, however, this is definitely the one to get — especially as the Android competition continues to look slim.

Apple never revealed launch sales for the iPad 2, though analysts placed it somewhere near 1 million units. The company also notably sold over 4 million iPhone 4S units when it launched last October.

The big upgrade in the new iPad is its high-resolution Retina display, which blows away the screen of its predecessors, and pretty much every other computer display for that matter.

As I wrote in my initial hands-on with the tablet, the Retina display finally gives the iPad a feature that you can’t find anywhere else. Few consumer computer monitors reach near the new iPad’s 2048 by 1536 resolution (Apple’s 27-inch Thunderbolt display is one of the few, but it’s still not as dense as the iPad). The screen is also far beyond the 1920 by 1080 resolution of HDTVs.