Apple Delays International iPad Until The End of May

Anyone outside the U.S that was hoping for an iPad to call their own before the month's end will be sorely disappointed. Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) just announced that all international sales will be delayed until the end of May due to strong demand in the U.S.

Here's Apple's statement -

Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad™. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

Faced with this surprisingly strong US demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May. We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10. We know that many international customers waiting to buy an iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the US thus far.

Seems like international buyers don't have a chance unless they wait or come to the U.S. to get an iPad of their own. Even that will have it's own flaws though as 3G will not be available most likely until carriers in the region open up 3G access for it.