Apple has made the new iPad available for pre-order on its online store. As Phil Schiller noted during today’s keynote, the tablet will become available in stores on Friday, March 16th, with international availability occurring the following week.
The new iPad starts at $499 and features many new features, including a Retina display and 4G LTE networking.
The pre-order process is basically the same as it has been for previous Apple products. You select your model, whether you want a 4G flavor, and buy.
Apple’s site is getting hammered right now, so it may be awhile before you can actually get through to make your purchase. We’ll keep you updated as the bottleneck loosens. In the meantime, let us know if you have any luck in the comments!
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
43 responses to “Online Pre-Orders For The New iPad Now Live”
no it is not up yet
Me thinks it crashed, cuz it was up, kinda.
It was up for about 30 seconds, then crashed. Is down again.
I had it in my cart then it crashed.
I got all the way through to the “Pick Your Accessories” screen. Then boom.
me too. got to the accessories screen and then it went down again
this is going to be a long second half to the day ;)
I’m still getting the yellow sticky…
On hold with sales. 20 min and counting.
The store is down, they are getting hammered by Chinese IP addresses they are trying to block them before they bring the store back up. These things will sell for 5x as much in China.
I got to accessories too…then back to the sticky.
I was halfway through my order (after having to wait 15 minutes to get that far) when it went down and booted me.
anyone have any luck calling the phone number to order?
I’m unable to get into the preorder website however it did appear soon after it launched but never got any further.
i called the phone number and they said they couldn’t do any orders until the maintenance was done and that it could be a few hours.
Can’t go wrong with apple, but you would think they would be prepared for an overwhelming event like online pre orders. I’m sure the site will go back up soon.
I clicked on “Check Out Now”, but i’m still waiting…
Edit: MY ORDER IS IN!!!!
Finally got my order number and everything. I can finally go to the gym now…
Edit 2:No email yet and no charge on my card, but it’s still showing as processing when i check in the order status. hopefully it goes through…
yeah i was thinking the exact same thing. You would think they would know “hey we’re are releasing a product that people have wanted for over a year now….we should probably make sure we can handle it….” oh well i can’t even update my phone to iOS 5.1 either =[[[ the day apple introduces something new is the day everything apple stops working
My order just went in 5 minutes ago finally. Takes a few minutes to get the email confirming. Check your credit card statement if you can to see if pending.
Just successfully got through the whole ordering process (using Chrome on a PC) and have an order #!
I was able to complete an order using Firefox for Mac. (Safari wouldn’t load the page.) Seconds after the “Thank You” page appeared with my order number, I received an email telling me my card had been charged for the iPad + Cupertino sales tax.
Got it! I hope. I think. I have a confirmation number, nonetheless.
JUST PREORDERED!
online nor the app store isn’t working for me still
12:55 PST…just got one!
Anyone able to do in store pickup yet though?
how is everyone getting them pre ordered? when i try on apple.com it just takes me straight to sticky and on my phone it says “can’t connect to apple store”….im jealous
Keep getting an error :(
now store is down again…grrrr
I don’t think you can do store pickup for a pre-order item like the iPads and iPhones. These are the ones that are scheduled to be delivered the day they go on sale in brick and mortar apple store where you would have to wait in an obscene line.
Hmm, but they did it for the iphone 4. there were two lines, 1 for people who reserved them and 1 for people who didn’t. I was hoping for the same thing this time but I guess not. Bummer.
I had the instore pickup option then it dissapeared, then it crashed, then it ccame back, then it said not available, crashed, and came back…so to answer your qiestion i dont even know
Can a pre-order be placed for pick up in-store (at the local Apple Store) on launch day? Or is it for delivery to your home or business only?
Persistence pays off!! After multiple crashes on my desktop, iPhone (using both Safari and Apple Store App) I finally got all the way through with an order number. About 15 minutes later I got the confirmation email. Delivery for the 16th!! Can’t wait!
TIP: order using Safari browser on your iPad. The process goes through really fast. I ordered a black 64GB ATT-LTE model. It took all of 2 minutes to complete the order. This after I tried for 20 minutes on my Windows PC with many browser windows open, all very slow and timing out. Try it now!!!
pre-ordered just before the website went down again. Got order number but no order confirmation email and do not see hold on CC
got mine!
Does anyone know if youll actually get the iPad on the 16th or do they ship then? I’ve never pre-ordered before..
Thanks for the tip! This is actually what worked for me when nothing else would. My new iPad order has been placed, I’ve received my confirmation email and it should arrive on the 16th! I’m actually excited and just know this is going to be the longest 9 days ever!
The iPad will actually be delivered (you’ll get it) on the 16th. There have been some instances of people pre-ordering an Apple device and actually getting it a day or two early. Of course, that is not the norm, but it *could* happen!
I kept getting knocked out and reconnecting and backing up but after sticking with it for an hour, I got my order through and already received the confirmation. Wahoo! Since I never did buy the IPad or Ipad 2, and only have the Iphone 4, this is really exciting to me.
I kept on getting the yelow sticky off theApple site but got inot the store from a link in a story on the ibtimes.com site. (got that via google search of iPad pre-order) several fits and starts, but the order is complete. Whew!
I got through after a 20 minute wait and was told to go to the Apple Store web site. The guy seemed oblivious to the fact that the web site was out of service