Everything iPad

We’ve been following it. You’ve been following it. We’ve all been following it. As we rode the roller-coaster that was the expected launch date of the Apple tablet. Sure, everything was heresy and rumors, but more often than not a rumor turns out to be true in some fashion or another. Not this time. What we have instead is somewhat of a let down, but at least it’s better than nothing.

If you’ll recall, within the last week we’ve had not one, but two different analysts telling us that some kind of hold-up was forcing Apple to face some serious issues in the coming weeks. Analysts have been wrong in the past, and considering the fact that no one could tell us what exactly the issue was, there was no reason to take them seriously. Especially not when not only is Apple telling us that everything is fine, but so is their overseas manufacturer. Well, as we “found out today”, that’s just not the case. The iPad has slid just past that “30 days” launch date, and will finally see store shelves on April 3. Here in the States, anyway.

So, what’s the problem? We’ve got the first analyst saying that it was indeed hardware, and then the second saying it isn’t. But, what if it’s software? We know, we know. That’s probably the one thing that should be pretty much perfected at this point, right? Well, according to John Gruber over at Daring Fireball (who has plenty of his own sources), that’s exactly what may have happened. Nothing groundbreaking, truth be told, but something as simple as getting the finishing touches on the iPhone OS 3.2. There’s a difference between an almost ready to ship OS, then one that’s good-to-go. There’s not much of a difference, but it’s there.

The question is, considering the official release date has been given from the Cupertino-based company, why are there still questions lingering about the manufacturing problems? That’s simple. The best guesstimations had the release of the iPad on March 26th, which is the last Friday of the month. Why? Because that was, for all intents and purposes, 60 days after the keynote. That’s what the slide at the keynote, and what Steve Jobs reiterated aloud. But, we’re thinking that the 60 days was a rough estimate, to be honest. More like, “The iPad will be launched in about 60 days.” That would make more sense. After all, the gap between April 3rd and March 26th is negligible, to say the least. What do you think? Were there really manufacturing problems (whether it was hardware, or software), or was this Apple’s plan the entire time?

[via Daring Fireball]