Apple has apparently exhausted its supply of iPads for the U.S. market per the company’s online store.
According to Macworld UK, Apple’s store noted that pre-ordered iPads might not ship until April 12th, more than a week after the tablet goes on sale. People who placed orders before the March 27th cut-off will still receive their iPads for Saturday, April 3rd, an Apple sales representative said on Sunday.
Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad on March 12th, when it also allowed customers to reserve the tablet for pickup at Apple US retail stores. At the time, it promised to ship pre-ordered iPads so that they would arrive 3 April.
US retails stores contacted by Computerworld said that they had also exhausted their supplies of iPads available for pick-up next Saturday. However, a salesperson at a Portland, Ore. store said that reserved iPads that are unclaimed by 3 p.m. local time would be put up for sale to walk-in customers.
iPad sales have been the target of substantial speculation since Apple started taking pre-orders three weeks ago. Investment blogger Daniel Tello has been using iPad order numbers submitted by volunteers at Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity message board to estimate pre-sales. Last Friday, Tello upped his estimate to 240,000 units , a number that did not account for in-store reservations or bulk orders by businesses, schools and other organizations.
Apple will release the WiFi-only models on April 3rd in the US. The more expensive tablets that support both WiFi and 3G connectivity can be pre-ordered, but are not scheduled to ship until later, according to Apple’s online store.
If there have been any changes in your iPad order, please let us know.