Apple said on Wednesday that they will be delaying the international launch of the iPad by one month. Apple now states that the launch will occur at the end of May and on May 10 pre-orders will begin.
Apple cites strong demand in the US as the reason for the delay as they shipped more than 500K units in the first week; Apple also says that there has been strong demand for the 3G version that will be shipping later this month in the US.
“Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.”
While this may upset many international users who are waiting to get their hands on the iPad, the good news is that the launch will not be plagued with a severe shortage of products. Apple said in early April that the company had sold 300,000 iPads on U.S. launch day.
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