Apple "Thrilled" About "Record Weekend" Of iPad Sales

Apple's conference call this morning saw CEO Tim Cook detail exactly what the company is planning to do with the mountain of cash it's sitting on. But what about the influx of new revenue Apple will have seen over the weekend with the release of the new iPad in ten countries simultaneously?

Speaking about the new iPad, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple had seen a "record weekend" and that the company was "thrilled" with the result. The company refused to give specific sales numbers for the new iPad, similar to the iPad 2 last year.

In Q2 2011, Apple shifted a total of 4.69 million iPads, including the original and iPad 2. Analysts speculated that over a million iPad 2's were sold in the first weekend alone. The original iPad took 28 days to hit the same target.

Today's conference call was to announce that Apple plan to issue a dividend to stockholders as well as buying back stock. The dividend will amount to $2.65 per share, while Apple plans to spend $10 billion buying back shares in 2013. The company will spend around $45 billion on the programs over the next three years.