Apple sells 3 million new iPads in 3 days

— -- Apple said it sold 3 million of the new iPad tablet computers over the weekend, setting a company record.

It was "the strongest iPad launch yet," says Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

The first iPad in 2010 sold 300,000 on its first day, and it took 28 days to get to 1 million. Apple didn't announce initial iPad 2 sales in 2011, but estimates ranged from 400,000 to about 1 million during its first weekend on sale.

By contrast, Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S smartphones in the first weekend last October.

Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee, calls the 3 million haul for the new iPad "bigger than I expected, a big number."

Wireless carrier AT&T also said Monday that the company set a "single-day record" for iPad sales and activations on March 16, the day it went on sale.

The new iPad — which starts at $499 for a Wi-Fi-only model with 16 gigabytes of storage — has received a mixed reaction online, where consumers have questioned just how big an improvement the new sharper screen is and the speed of the faster 4G cellular network. There are scattered reports that the new iPad is prone to overheating after about 30 minutes of use. Apple declined to comment.

But those concerns didn't stop consumers from snapping them up.

Wu says the new features are "huge upgrades, enough to drive incremental buyers."

Shipments for online sales are backed up two to three weeks, and in-store stock is hit and miss. A clerk at an Apple Store in Seattle said iPads that connect to the AT&T network were sold out, while a store in downtown New York City also had run out of AT&T iPads in black.

Details about iPad sales for Verizon Wireless were not immediately available.

In its release, Apple said it would expand iPad sales Friday to 24 new countries, including Italy, Greece and New Zealand. The iPad went on sale last Friday in 11 countries, including the United States, Canada and Australia.

As happens with most new Apple releases, lines formed outside Apple Stores the night before it went on sale as consumers looked to be the first on their block with the new device.

In Los Angeles, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, who regularly joins the line for new products, was part of the consumer rush — spending the night outside an Apple Store.