Shipping delays hit iPad accessories

Shipping delays hit iPad accessoriesEarlier this month, Apple had already come clean that many of the iPad’s accessories would not actually be available for purchase simultaneous with the April 3rd release of the tablet itself. At that time, the ship date for accessories like the iPad keyboard dock and spare iPad power adapter was placed in mid-April. Now they’ve been pushed back even further, to sometime in May.

Those aren’t the only accessories to slip. The official iPad Case has also slipped: instead of being available along with the iPad on April 3rd, it’s now slated to a mid-April shipping date.

These aren’t huge delays, but it does show pretty clearly that Apple is having some supply chain problems. It also bodes poorly for Europeans like me who were looking to pick up an iPad keyboard dock at launch: it looks like these accessories might be in scant supply for awhile, with all the spare units going to supply the American market.

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About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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Posted in iPad, News |

  • Bob Severns

    It appears that the standard Bluetooth mini keyboard will work with the iPad as it is listed in the available accessories. Since a dock is included in the box, what are you gaining from this version? A little bit larger keys? It does not appear so from the pictures, although I have not looked into the specs on the key sizes. Get the BT version and start typing from day 1.

  • Jake

    Are you sure their is a dock in the box? i was told you have to buy that seperatley..

  • Scott

    There’s definitely not a dock in the box. Check http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/.

  • Josh

    Yeah…there’s no dock in the box. However, there seems to be the 10W Power Adapter in the box. At least that’s what I’ve seen.

    So…is it safe to assume that if you’re picking up the iPad in the store, that the accessories won’t be available? I’m looking at the regular dock and the Apple iPad Case. I guess I may just have to go with a neoprene sleeve for the time being if that’s the case.

  • Chris

    I just checked my status on the Apple website (I pre-ordered at about 8:30am 3/12) and there are no delays or anything on any of my accessories etc.

    Below is a copy paste from the Apple Order Status page for my order:

    Product / Part No.
    Qty

    IPAD WI-FI + 3G 64GB-USA
    MC497LL/A

    1

    Ships: Late April

    IPAD KEYBOARD DOCK-USA
    MC533LL/A

    1

    Ships: Apr 15
    Delivers: Apr 19

    IPAD CASE-ZML
    MC361ZM/A

    1

    Ships: BY APRIL 3RD

    IPAD DOCK CONNECTOR TO VGA ADAPTER-ZML
    MC552ZM/A

    1

    Ships: BY APRIL 3RD

    APP FOR IPAD – COL/AE-USA
    S3791LL/A

    1

    Ships: within 24 hours
    Delivers: Mar 15 – Mar 17