International iPad Orders Arriving Early in Droves

While the iPad's first batch of international launches in nine new countries is not scheduled until tomorrow, a significant number of customers are reporting that their pre-orders are arriving today. The United Kingdom in particular has seen a lot of activity, with customers' delivery progress being tracked in this extensive thread. Both UPS and TNT are handling iPad deliveries in the UK today.

Today's shipments represent those orders placed very soon after Apple began taking pre-orders, as shipping estimates quickly slipped from the May 28th launch to dates in early June. Customers looking to order an iPad online in the new international launch countries are currently faced with a vague shipping estimate of "June". Consequently, those not wishing to wait for online orders to ship at this point should probably try to snag one from the undoubtedly scarce supplies headed for Apple retail stores and other third-party retailers tomorrow.