Strong Demand Causes iPad Shortages, Delays International Release
Apple has released a statement saying that the unexpectedly strong demand for the iPad in the United States (over 500,000 units sold in the first week) and the large number of preorders for the iPad 3G will result in product shortages for a few more weeks. In addition, Apple is delaying the international launch of the iPad one month, to late May; pre-orders will be accepted starting 10 May 2010. It's a good news/bad news situation: the iPad is wildly popular, but so much so that it will be hard to get in the near term.
I'm disappointed about this, but not as much as my wife (the UNgeek).
I'm curious to know from your web stats, how many iPad connections are being made from outside of the US. There are plenty of people this way flying to the US and buying handfuls of iPads and flogging them off locally.
I can't seem to make Google Analytics show me the iPad browser stats by country, but I suspect the raw numbers are still pretty low. :-)
A UK colleague noted that without a U.S. bank account, none of his associates would import iPads before release because they cannot use the iTunes Store!