iPad Immigration Begins

Like kids tracking Santa’s route from the North Pole, anxious consumers are following shipments of iPads from the factory in Shenzhen, China to their front doors and store shelves this weekend.

Email notices went out yesterday informing customers who had pre-ordered a wifi-only iPad that their product was shipping.  Also on Monday, a report from Morgan Stanley suggested Apple’s  suppliers forecast  2.5 million units will be sold in the first three months.  iPads will go on sale at Apple retail stores on Saturday, with some additional inventory made available to select Best Buy Stores.

Twitter lit up with messages as users tracked their personal shipments online.

In some cases, messages on the UPS tracking site seemed to intentionally obfuscate the status of the package within the system, sparking rumors of customs delays or delivery problems. Given how hard it is to orchestrate a simultaneous availability for this Saturday’s launch,  it is a good bet that Apple is leaving nothing to chance.

Because Apple does not want anyone to get their iPad early, some users’ devices may be held in UPS transit stations, because the shipper will have blocked delivery of the package until the launch day. On the other end of the spectrum, customers who do not normally have Saturday package delivery service in their location may have to wait until Monday to get their new iPad.  Pre-orders that were made after March 27 are not expected to ship until April 12th.
Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/article/ipad-immigration-begins/#ixzz0jpiaF6nb