New Apple iPad 3G Orders to Ship by May 7

Apple will ship the 3G-enabled version of its iPad tablet PC by May 7 to U.S. customers who preorder now, according to the company’s Website. Apple claims that higher-than-expected demand led to a delay in international shipments; pricing and preordering for customers outside the United States is expected to become available May 10. U.S. customers who purchased the iPad 3G soon after the mobile device’s initial preorder availability can still expect to receive their iPads in late April, according to Apple.

Apple has updated their online store to reveal that the 3G version of the iPad will begin shipping by May 7th. Apple launched the Wi-Fi version of the iPad on April 3th in the U.S. The company has reported that they have sold over 500,000 iPads since that time and have subsequently delayed the international iPad launch until the end of May.

Those who preordered a 3G-enabled iPad soon after it initially became available, however, will still receive the device in its scheduled late-April timeframe.

Apple’s iPad will be available at the end of May in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, Apple added. Apple will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders for iPad on May 10.

Apple left the prices of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models unchanged: $629 for 16GB of storage, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB.

As far as international availability goes, there’s nothing new in the Apple Store (Apple Store) about that. In an interesting turn of events, Israel has apparently confiscated at least 10 iPads at this point and reportedly plans to hold them until the owners either leave the country or ship the devices home.

Apple will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on May 10, three days after iPad 3G starts shipping in the U.S. Let’s hope Apple doesn’t sell out its stock again by then.

Update! Apple has also sent out emails to those who pre-ordered 3G models, reassuring them that their orders will ship in late April.

“Thank you for your recent order of the magical and revolutionary iPad 3G. We would like to confirm that your order will be shipped in late April as communicated at the time you placed your order. You will receive a confirmation notice when your order has shipped. You can get up-to-date information about your order, including shipping status and tracking number, at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.”