Apple says the the Wi-Fi version of the iPad will now arrive at the end of next month instead of its previously promised “late March” timeframe (oh, and we have leaked pricing).
The good news? Apple has confirmed that the 3G edition of the iPad will go on sale in Australia “in late April”, at around the same time as the device makes its debut in the US.
The not-so-good news? We won’t see the cheaper Wi-Fi version of the iPad until that same not-yet-announced date, despite a previous promise that the Wi-Fi iPad would “ship late March”.
Apple’s official statement, released today, confirms that both the “iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in Australia in late April”, which means up to a three week lag for the Wi-Fi iPad following its US debut on April 3rd.
The gap between US and Aussie release of the Wi-Fi iPad seems to make good rumours of slightly delays in the iPad’s production schedule, although these swing from being a
manufacturing-related ‘bottleneck’ to being a matter of
software.
Oh, and Apple
still hasn’t announced the prices for what its press release persists in vomit-inducingly calling the “magical and revolutionary iPad”. Indeed, now we’re being told that “pricing will be announced at the time of availability” – surely that doesn’t mean the RRP won’t be revealed until the day of release?
Until then, the
best guess remains in the range of $649 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model all the way up to $1,099 for the 64GB 3G build.
UPDATE: This just in from an anonymous tipster. We have no idea if it's genuine or not, but the tipster claims to have industry sources that have passed this on from an Apple document issued to retail execs.
