Apple delays worldwide release of iPad

"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," Apple said.

"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," the California company said.

"We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10," Apple said.

"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."

The new tablet computer from Apple went on sale in the United States on 3 April.

Source: AFP