After much speculation about whether 3G iPads pre-ordered in the U.S. might be delayed until early May, Apple cleared up the questions, announcing customers who ordered the devices early will receive them on April 30.
“The Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad will be delivered to US customers who’ve pre-ordered on Friday, April 30 and will be available in Apple retail stores the same day starting at 5p.m.,” the Cupertino, Calif. company announced early Tuesday.
The Wi-Fi + 3G iPads will cost $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the $32GB version and $829 for a 64GB option. International pricing will be announced May 10.
The statement follows much speculation and parsing of previous Apple shipping statements. Monday, reports suggested Apple would delay shipping the 3G iPad until May 7 for U.S. customers, as well as international consumers. An email answer from Apple CEO Steve Jobs only muddied the waters when he gave a one-word response – “Yes” – to the question “will the iPad 3G models still ship on time as planned (end of April) in the US, if you order one today? Or will the 3G US orders be postponed as well?”
Tuesday, Apple announced it will begin accepting international iPad pre-orders on May 10 and ship the units “at the end of May.” Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK were named as countries outside the U.S. that will receive the Apple tablet.
[via All Things Digital, AppleInsider]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
