Apple sells three million iPads over weekend

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple announced on Monday that it has sold three million iPads in the first weekend that iPad mini and the fourth generation iPad went on sale.

Apple didn't disclose how many of the three-million sales were for the iPad mini and how many were for the fourth-generation iPad. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said the smaller iPad were almost sold out.

Koudai Taguchi bites an apple as he shows off his newly purchased iPad mini in front of the Apple Store Ginza in Tokyo November 2, 2012.[Photo/Agencies]

"Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth generation iPad," said Cook in a statement. "We set a new launch weekend record and practically sold out of iPad minis. We're working hard to build more quickly to meet the incredible demand."

Demand for iPad mini exceeded the initial supply and while many of the pre-orders have been shipped to customers, some are scheduled to be shipped later this month, said the company in a press release.

The iPad mini and fourth generation iPad went on sale on Friday. Some analysts expected iPad mini to eat into the sales of full- sized iPad, and estimated at least two-thirds of the three-million iPads Apple sold are iPad minis.

Market research company IDC said in a report on Monday that Apple's tablet market share slip notably in the third quarter as consumers were in anticipation of the announcement of iPad mini.

IDC said Apple is expected to have a good holiday quarter, but iPad mini's relatively high starting price of $329 will leave plenty of room for its competitors, namely the Android tablet vendors led by Samsung and Amazon and Microsoft's Surface.