Apple has just announced a delay to the international launch of the company's popular iPad, originally planned for a late April release in the UK.
The company has sent out the following press release blaming unprecedented demand for the delay.
"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."
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"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, 10 May. 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."
Asked last week if the huge popularity of the iPad in the US would delay the international launch, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said no, claiming the end of April was still the release date outside the US for the iPad. Apple has updated the UK online website to reflect the delay. 'Coming late May,' Apple now say.
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Dragonfly said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
I thought Apple may have delayed it until after the election as a hung parliament, many believe, could cause the £ to drop in value. I don't think it's just about demand, because if it was then surely they'd announce the prices prior to the previously planned April launch.
Mark Hattersley said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
It's the international launch that's been delayed not just the UK.
agrashion said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
While not surprised by this I am saddened by it. As one of thousands of unpaid evangelists for Apple here in the UK we see exactly how much value is placed in the international market.
Che said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
I wonder if the wi-fi problem will be magically fixed when it is released?
ratkat said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Probably a lost sale in my case. Can I warrant spending £400+ on an iPad in May with a new iPhone due in June? iPad will always be a secondary device, wheras the iPhone is with me all the time, so I'll wait for the new iPhone now.
By the time the iPad eventually hits the UK it will only be ten months until the 2nd Gen iPad is released.
Dragonfly said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
@Mark Hattersley
I bet we're quite a large important market though, in the scheme of things along with France and Germany. However their currency can't be thrown into turmoil by the election results of one member of the EU.
It would be a bad idea to say £499 and then after the election £1=$1 (not that I think that will happen).
Chetroll said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
It probably won't have Flash either. What a complete and utter disaster.
ditzy1978 said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
@Dragonfly We're not that big, we're not that important. You don't delay the international launch of a product, because a country of only 60 million is having an election.
XArt said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Jan 27 2010, we have to wait end of May 2010, is the iPad running Vista? by May it will be too late, I was thinking of getting one, now no way I am getting one now, iPhone HD yes, iPad you can stickit. All talk no show is what is being felt in the UK, nothink but broken promises
Insoft said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Recomend uses wait for new iPad with built in cam and OS 4.
The SDK has APIs for iPad Cam so stay away from iPad BETA, remember iPhone BETA
podgy dad said on Thu, 15 Apr 2010
Yeah, because the lack of Flash has obviously stopped it selling so far hasn't it. If selling 500,000 in the first week is a disaster, I'll be interested to hear your comments after HP announce how many HP slates they sell (when they eventually ship it)
What a stupid comment.
industry guy said on Thu, 15 Apr 2010
I'm not usually keen to be the earliest adopter, happy to let others finish the testing and debugging, but iPad's an exception and I just want one. And I want it NOW!
How could Apple say "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.". Yeah, sure, now I feel so much better knowing that all the units are allocated to US customers and will continue to be. How's that supposed to make me feel pleased?
Anaxagoras said on Thu, 15 Apr 2010
"Chetroll said on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 - It probably won't have Flash either. What a complete and utter disaster."
For goodness sake, the iPad won't have Flash -GET OVER IT. It won't have wheels and it won't wash your dishes either. Think yourself lucky, there are plenty of Flash devices on sale RIGHT NOW, no delay. What a complete and utter stupid comment.
To those now not buying one - thank you. It'll mean the queues are shorter for the rest of us. And since Apple cannot keep up with demand, I suspect they won't care one jot.
Insoft said on Fri, 16 Apr 2010
Why do people go on about flash, it is just a plugin for browsers to view flash content, Flash is like many other browser plugins resource hogs it is not part of the internet it is just an add on for browsers and at a time flash came in usefull due to IE preventing progress to be made on the net and then Apple came to the rescue and got every one moving again except Microsoft, to move browsers forward by coming forward with WebKit the engine that drives many browsers today, Palm .. Chrome... Nokia...
With WebKit + CSS3 + HTML5 we no longer need Flash to fill up the hole as the hole has now been filled and Flash can go back to what it was intended for, leaving our browsers for good.
grumpygiraffe said on Fri, 16 Apr 2010
I have to say that, on a day to day basis, the only thing I really see Flash being used for is annoying animated advertising banners (blissfully absent when pages are viewed on my iPod Touch) and those crappy little games on Facebook (which I refuse to use because there isn't much point in us all sitting in our houses telling each other that we're sitting in our houses, when we could all be going out and meeting each other in person).
Flash is an old, unreliable and now utterly redundant technology. The only thing Flash has ever been REALY good at is crashing computers.
Dragonfly said on Sat, 17 Apr 2010
@ditzy1978
"We're not that big, we're not that important."
The UK is the world's 2nd biggest individual market for the iPhone representing 8% of sales. That's not insignificant. It may not actually be the reason they are holding back price details globally, but it would make sense to do so for the UK. I'm not sure if then releasing details everywhere else, except the UK, wouldn't alienate their 2nd biggest market. Who knows.
www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/iphone-ownership-breakdown-by-country-4734/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MobileMarketingWatch+%28Mobile+Marketing+Watch%29
ari-boy said on Mon, 19 Apr 2010
If Apple see themselves as a truly worldwide company, then there's really no excuse for treating everyone outside the US as second-class citizens. This "lets keep our own market happy" attitude isn't a good one for a global company like Apple.
I still maintain that Apple were extremely nervous about the success of the iPad so decided to under-manufacture in case sales were weak while at the same time creating a demand for the fewer products available. As it's turned out, they're now struggling with the orders.
I'm not bothered though, I agree with "Insoft" and will wait for the second version that will have all the bells and whistles. A new iPhone will be out before then to keep me happy....
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