MacRumors posted the announcement that Apple has started shipping the iPads to customers. A few weeks ago, on Friday March 12th, Apple started the pre-order program. As far as we can tell around 500.000 iPads have been sold. If you are one of the first customers to have ordered an iPad, it’s very likely you have received a shipping confirmation by now.
However, it will not be until April 3rd until you’ll receive the iPad. Apple has coordinated with UPS to hold early deliveries until launch day, in the past. The Wi-Fi-models will be available on April 3rd with the 3G version of the iPad showing up in Apple Stores late April.
Want to get an impression of the looks of the iPad App Store? Want to find out what kind of applications you will see at the launch of the iPad? The video below is from MacStories and shows applications like Yahoo Entertainment, Twitterific, Real Racing and others.
From the specially designed accessories for the iPad, the iPad Camera Connection Kit was missing from the list. The two adapters to allow users to transfer digital photos directly to their iPad, is now available for purchase and will ship late April.
The iPad Camera Connection Kit had been announced by Apple as part of the iPad launch, but was not available for purchase when the iPad pre-order program started on March 12th. Apple didn’t explain the absence of the Kit.
Most iPad accessories like the iPad Case and iPad Keyboard Dock will ship in April, but the power adapters is not shipping until May. The previously set launch dates for these accessories were later even changed to a later time frame.
Planning to pre-order the iPad? You can no longer do that, since Apple stopped the pre-order program. But if you life in Europe you might want to think about another way to get the iPad. Late April a handful of countries will get the iPad as well, but if you life in Belgium or Spain for instance, you will have to wait even longer.
Germany has three Apple Stores: in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich. But there’s a fourth place to get your iPad from: 3Gstore.de. This only store is a reseller who’s also going to sell the iPad late April. The store is actually a shop selling the iPhone without a monthly subscription.
The store has shops in Berlin and Bochum, but is also capable of delivering via online orders. The downside however, is the fact that the prices are pretty high. This is probably just a wild guess of the company but for these prices you might want to think twice before you buy. Below are the prices:
The title might be a bit misleading, so to make sure there’s no further confusion: the iPad launch date is still on April 3rd. But Apple stopped the pre-order program and changed the shipping date of the iPads to April 12th. This new shipping date is only for the new shipment of iPads. All previously made pre-orders will still be fulfilled and the iPad still arrives on April 3rd.
So you can no longer pre-order the iPads, but you can order them. The iPads can then be delivered on April 12th, says 9to5mac. That’s still only for the Wi-Fi-models, the 3G models will be available late April. It’s unclear how many iPads have been sold, but the latest signs indicate a possible half millions pre-orders.
The title might be a bit misleading, so to make sure there’s no further confusion: the iPad launch date is still on April 3rd. But Apple stopped the pre-order program and changed the shipping date of the iPads to April 12th. This new shipping date is only for the new shipment of iPads. All previously made pre-orders will still be fulfilled and the iPad still arrives on April 3rd.
