Apple will ship the 3G-enabled version of its iPad tablet PC by May 7 to U.S. customers who preorder now, according to the company's Website. Apple claims that higher-than-expected demand led to a delay in international shipments; pricing and preordering for customers outside the United States is expected to become available May 10. TU.S. customers who purchased the iPad 3G soon after the mobile device's initial preorder availability can still expect to receive their iPads in late April, according to Apple.
Apple's 3G-enabled iPad will ship by May 7 for U.S.
customers who purchase now, according to the company's Website. That's three
days before Apple unveils pricing and opens preorders for the international
version of the iPad, which the company says has been delayed due to high
demand.
Those who preordered a 3G-enabled iPad soon after it initially became
available, however, will still receive the device in its scheduled late-April
timeframe.
Apple
recently e-mailed iPad 3G customers confirming that "your order will
be shipped in late April as communicated at the time you placed your
order."
Apple's WiFi-only iPad has been available in Apple Stores and Best Buy
outlets since April 3.
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here for a close look at the Apple iPad.
Apple
claimed in an April 14 statement that
demand for the iPad is "far
higher" than expected, exceeding its supply for "the next several
weeks." The company also reported deliveries of 500,000 iPads during the
device's first week of general release, surpassing the company's internal
predictions. That followed an April 8 news conference at Apple's Cupertino,
Calif., headquarters in which CEO
Steve Jobs said about 600,000 iBooks and 3.5 million applications had been
downloaded by iPad owners since the WiFi-only version's first day of release.
Apple could ship as many as 10 million iPads in 2010, according to a March 29
research note from Morgan Stanley, and sell around 2 million of those.
"Near-term, we believe the iPad will target the sizable sub-$800 consumer
notebook market, which equates to 30 million units in the United States and 120
million units globally," analyst Katy Huberty wrote.
Other analysis companies have suggested more optimistic sales numbers, with
iSuppli predicting that Apple could sell as many as 7.1 million iPads in 2010.
That U.S.
demand is likely shaping how Apple will proceed with the international launch.
"It's a matter of getting that perfect launch," Ian Blanton, a
director at Tech Superpowers, an Apple care specialist and reseller with
offices in Boston and London, told eWEEK on April 14. "You don't want to
look like a fool-you want to hold off until you can fulfill a certain number of
orders. After having the U.S.
launch under their belt, everyone's going to expect them to have known [about
potential demand] at this point."
The international version of the iPad could need some alterations from the U.S.
version in order to meet some nations' regulations. By April 15, news had
leaked that Israel
was confiscating iPads at its customs points, with the country's Communications
Ministry citing the device's supposed noncompliance with European wireless
standards, which Israel
follows. Those standards dictate that the power of the device's wireless signal
be weaker than is customarily allowed by the Federal Communications Commission
in the United States.
"If you operate equipment in a frequency band which is different from
the others that operate on that frequency band, then there will be
interference," Nati Schubert, senior deputy director for the
Communications Ministry,
told
the Associated Press on April 15. "Without regulation, you would have
chaos."
Israel has
apparently confiscated at least 10 iPads at this point and reportedly plans to
hold them until the owners either leave the country or ship the devices home.
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