Apple Delays International iPad Release Due to US Demand

Today Apple released a statement, detailing the delay for the international release of the highly anticipated iPad due to strong US demand.

In a statement from the Apple Media Advisory, Apple said, "Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

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."

This comes as a small surprise to me, Apple always seem to run out of stock for the first release of a new product. Although I'm disappointed like many other people, to see Apple delay the release to the international community, I'm also pleased to hear the pre-prders will start on the 10th of May.

For those of you that can't wait until May, you can read about buying an iPad at eBay, James also wrote about the iPad back in March detailing the original iPad release date.

Unfortunately the news Today means we'll need to wait at least until the 10th of May before we can buy the iPad online from Apple.

Verified Store Page: Apple Store Australia

Product Link: Apple iPad -- Due for Pre-Order 10th of May