Three million iPad3s sold in three days – Apple's strongest ever launch, according to marketing VP Peter Schiller. “We can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday,” he added. Romania is one of the 24 countries where Apple will launch the new iPad this Friday ( March 23 ).

Users have given the new iPad a thumbs up overall. It is widely seen as a refinement rather than a revolution, and the operating temperature of the device is said to be higher than the previous model, but “not uncomfortable.”

In other news, Apple has announced the initiation of quarterly dividend payments and a share repurchase for sometime after July 1. This will be a return to regular dividend payments after stopping in 1995. “Combining dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately USD 45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs,” said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer.

USD 10 billion is penciled in for the share repurchase program, scheduled to start on September 30 and to run for three years. Apple plans to pay quarterly dividends of USD 2.65 per share.

Apple’s value passed the USD 500 billion mark for the first time end- February 29, after earlier the month, the price of its shares soar above the USD 500 a share mark for the first time.

At the end of January, Apple reported net profits of USD 13.06 billion for the last three months of 2011, a 118 percent rise compared to the same period in 2010.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com