Apple iPad 3G Shipments DelayedApple iPad 3G Shipments Delayed

Apple has pushed back the shipping date for pre-orders of the iPad 3G to May 7.

The change appears to apply to pre-orders made on Monday or thereafter. Existing orders are expected to ship in late April, as previously stated by the company.

Apple says the Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad has been selling at a "far higher" rate than predicted. The company started selling the slate computer April 3 and sold more than a half million units in the first week.

The unexpected demand forced Apple to postpone the international launch of the iPad by one month to the end of May. The device is currently only available in the United States. Apple plans to set international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders May 10.

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U.S. orders are expected to continue to exceed supply over the next several weeks. Apple has said that besides ordering Wi-Fi-only iPads, large numbers of people were pre-ordering iPad 3G models.

Wireless service for the iPad 3G will be provided by AT&T. However, the service will be available through a month-by-month subscription, as opposed to requiring a long-term contract. The carrier is the exclusive network provider for the iPhone in the United States. The latest version of the smartphone is available for $200, with a two-year service contract.

Apple's entry into the tablet computer market is expected to re-energize the category, which has traditionally been used by field workers and in the medical industry. With interest running high among consumers, other companies, such as Google and Microsoft, are reportedly working on their own slate computers.

Hewlett-Packard is scheduled to release a tablet-style computer this year. According to technical specifications published on tech blogs, the unnamed device would be priced between $549 and $599 and run Windows Home 7 Premium. The device will have an 8.9-inch touchscreen and a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch touchscreen and has a starting price of $499 for the Wi-Fi-only model. The 3G version starts at $629.