To sexy for the world
Apple has announced that the rest of the world outside the US is now going to have to wait until the end of May to get hold of an iPad because Apple has run out of them.
"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," said the statement. "We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April."
Moving beyond the implausible stance that Apple didn't think its new best-thing-since-sliced-bread would be very popular, it would seem that either Apple simply didn't order enough or its manufacturer - Hon Hai - failed to deliver as many as ordered. Either explanation would be perfectly acceptable, but why deliver the cold facts when there's an opportunity for self-promotion?
"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," added the statement. "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."
Vodafone has also issued a statement confirming it will be selling the iPad and echoing the delay, but more tactfully not asking its customers to be happy about it.
"Vodafone today announced that it will offer dedicated iPad price plans for all models from the end of May in Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad's revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface."
UPDATE - 15:20 14 April 2010 - Now O2 has has now also confirmed it will be offering the iPad at the end of May, but we've seen nothing from Orange and Tesco - who also sell the iPhone - yet.
UPDATE 2 - 16:00, 14 April 2010 - Orange has now joined the party.
