Apple delays UK iPad launch

Apple has delayed the UK release of the iPad to allow more Americans to buy the "magical" gadget.

Eager buyers in Blighty will now have to wait until the end of May - or take a trip to the States.

"Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week [on sale], demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks," the company said today.

"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."

However, Apple did say it will reveal UK pricing on Monday, 10 May, so there's no need for you to keep checking the company's websites for updates until then.

Today's announcement would seem to confirm Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek's claim, made in March, that "unspecified production problem" was preventing Apple from ramping up iPad production. Apple hasn't confirmed this, but it's believed the iPad is being manufactured by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision, aka Foxconn.

Apple has always been cautious about overplaying the iPad's launch outside the US, which was originally scheduled for late March before being put back to late April. ®