‘Demand continues to exceed supply’, an Apple spokeswoman said

May 10, 2010 07:22 GMT  ·  By

Apple has confirmed that the company is struggling to meet demand for its newest marvel, the iPad. Available for purchase in the United States, and for pre-order in several countries around the world, the tablet device seems to be most popular in the US, with multiple Apple retail stores running out of stock.

Earlier this month, the company headquartered in Cupertino, California announced that it had sold its one millionth just 28 days after its introduction on April 3. The Mac maker also acknowledged that iPad users had downloaded over 12 million apps from the iTunes App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore.

“One million iPads in 28 days - that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, on May 3rd. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

iPads are now selling out all across the US as Apple also has a commitment to other parts of the world.

9to5mac picked up on the news via Business Week, reporting that around 13 cities are seeing shortages at several Apple retail stores, while store managers have no idea when stock will be refilled. Four New York stores have already sold out, as did three in San Francisco, and two in Los Angeles. A number of outlets in Chicago, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Denver and five other cities are also out of stock, the report reveals, while others are signaling that they have very little availability of the device. It is believed that the sellouts are the result of international buyers acquiring large numbers of iPads and taking them back home.

“Demand continues to exceed supply,” stated Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple. According to the Business Week report, Kerris declined to comment on iPad supplies at the company’s stores. She did say Apple is “working hard” to fulfill demand in additional customers.

Apple also seems to have updated the shipping time frame for iPad orders in the US, following a routine pull of the company’s online store in the country. Apple now ships all iPad models in 5-7 business days, according to the listings at store.apple.com/us. iPad starts at $499 for the WiFi-only, 16GB model, and goes all the way up to $829 for the 3G-capable version with 64GB of storage capacity.