Apple Pushes Back iPad International Launch

Rollout delayed due to “surprisingly strong U.S. demand”

Apple said that “surprisingly strong U.S. demand” for the iPad means that it will delay the international launch of the device by a month.

The company, which delivered more than 500,000 iPads in the U.S. during the first week it was available, said Wednesday that it’s pushing back the launch until the end of May.

Here’s Apple’s statement:

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.

More to read:

More Than 300,000 iPads Sold on Day One

iPad as Media Savior: What Apple Got Right and Wrong

Look Who’s Jumping on the iPad Bandwagon

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