Apple Delays International iPad Launch by 1 Month

8:20 PM - April 14, 2010 - By Marcus Yam - Source : Tom's Guide US

iPad not crossing any borders or oceans anytime this month.

Do you want an iPad this month but you live outside the United States? Well, too bad!

Originally, Apple promised that you could buy yours at the end of this month, but that isn't going to happen. Today the company announced that it will be holding back the release of the iPad outside the U.S. by a full month (yes, that means Canada too, despite the convenient geographical proximity).

We'll find out on May 10 when the rest of will get Apple's tablet, but hopefully the batch that the rest of the world gets will have some of the early issues sorted out, such as the blinky Wi-Fi and overheating. Apple said in its press release:

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.

While Apple says that the demand is a problem, there's the belief that it might be a supply chain issue.

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Comments

djcoolmasterx 04/15/2010 2:29 AM

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Lets hope it give decent tablets time to gain traction in the market.

Marco925 04/15/2010 3:29 AM

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Quote :iPad not crossing any borders or oceans anytime this month.

Unless you're like 90% of canadians who live within 600km of a US international crossing

vant 04/15/2010 3:43 AM

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babybeluga 04/15/2010 3:49 AM

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The hype will have significantly died down by then. Bad call, Apple.

Abrahm 04/15/2010 5:19 AM

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This sounds like the yellow screened Macs that were delayed due to "overwhelming demand". I wouldn't be surprised if Apple was trying to fix the iPad problems and blaming the delay on high demand...

radguy 04/15/2010 5:28 AM

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I had an unplanned trip into my local bestbuy where I found out they don't have any instock. I overheard the sales associate talking about driving an hour and 20 min to another bb to get one. Said something about getting a freind to buy it for him as there was a 60day limit for employees. (I was trying to see how long it took to load some of my more frequent websites cause personally I still think even with the A4 its pretty slow)

As an iphone user I really like the device but can clearly see the high stakes robbery associated with it. With tax its 540 plus a case which is a must I would want a screen protector excel and word Your at 600 before any other useful $10 books or apps.
With the cost and the economy why would there be a shortage?
I mean not even 3 years ago people paid 499 for an original iphone and its loosing its support with os4.0. Will people ever learn. I paid 199 for my phone and just like this its slow and will only be slower with os4.0. Not paying more than 349 for this.

rsud 04/15/2010 5:50 AM

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djcoolmasterx 04/15/2010 6:19 AM

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rsud :
A runaway success it is.iPad = the internet from your couch.windoze zealots faced again. boo hoo...

But not all the internet.

anamaniac 04/15/2010 8:51 AM

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Marco925 :
Unless you're like 90% of canadians who live within 600km of a US international crossing

Unless you have ever crossed the US/Canada border before, either by plane or car.
You'll have to pay me $500 to ever talk to a American customs agent again.

ulysses35 04/15/2010 12:31 PM

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Delayed to iron out a few bugs or problems with the hardware ? like crap Wi-fi.... overheating ?

mavanhel 04/15/2010 1:49 PM

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Meh. That's fine. Now we get to let the 'mericans beta test the product for us .

Anonymous 04/15/2010 3:35 PM

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It's already well reported that every damn store in the USA has plenty these things in stock.

This is an obvious marketing ploy to try and create a "must buy before they run out of stock again" rush for a product which actually isn't achieving anywhere near the unit sales they expected it to.

Badly played, Apple.

Hilarion 04/15/2010 3:38 PM

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There was an article on CNET saying that Israel is seizing iPads at the border and won't allow them into the country at all since it hasn't received approval to be sold there yet. Could this be part of the delay?

nicklasd87 04/15/2010 4:19 PM

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Anyone with a brain can see through the obvious hype interlaced with Apples statement regarding the delay. I can imagine the brainstorming session behind that statement: "how can we tell the international market that they will have to wait a month and at the same time put a positive spin on it, resulting in even more products sold..." Here's how: "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." and..."Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand" They launched a product and didn't think demand would be strong? what a bunch of crap

sliem 04/15/2010 9:03 PM

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"Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand,..."

Indeed.

aspireonelover 04/16/2010 1:11 AM

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*sarcastic* The people who buy iPads are very smart and made the right move..