As expected, Apple Inc., has sold more new iPads in three days since its launch than speculated by various analysts. The company has announced it has sold a whopping 3 million units. Analysts had anticipated that the third-generation iPad would be a strong seller — Apple had described the pre-order experience as “off the charts”– but the general consensus was that Apple would sell between 2 million and 3 million units by the end of March, 2012.
“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 new iPad will be available in 24 more countries starting at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, March 23 through the Apple Online Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers, 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. “We can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world Friday,” Schiller said in a statement released by Apple.
Apple has announced on Monday a USD 2.65 per share quarterly dividend and a USD 10 billion share buyback plan as part of its broad plans on how it intends to use nearly USD 100 billion reserves. The world’s most valuable company had last offered a dividend in 1995. Apple said it will initiate a quarterly dividend of USD 2.65 per share in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012 which begins on July 1, 2012.
With Tim Cook in charge, Apple is now ready to herald a new era and dole out about $10 billion in dividends each year. It’s an amount that Apple can easily afford, given the size of its current bank account and the billions more pouring in amid feverish demand for its iPhones, iPads and iPods.
Analysts and investors viewed the dividend as a sign of Cook’s willingness to listen to shareholders, who were expecting dividend. “The new management is very shareholder friendly, and it has been very nice to see,” says Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Apple is doing so well now that analyst Wu expects Apple to add another $70 billion to $85 billion to its cash hoard this year. That works out to an average of $1.3 billion to $1.6 billion in cash per week.
Good and prosperous future for investors and employees of Apple Inc.!
