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Remote areas won't receive iPad Saturday, but 'vast majority' will

Apple has paid UPS for special Saturday deliveries of its iPad on launch day, but some customers who live in remote areas will have to wait until Monday for the device to arrive at their homes.

All week, UPS employees Mike (@MikeAtUPS) and Thomas (@ThomasAtUPS) have been answering questions via Twitter from excited customers anxiously awaiting their iPad. Users have been sending their zip codes to the UPS employees to find out if Saturday delivery is available in their area.

"Gang, if you're not in a rural area (or, unfortunately, Hawaii), you should see your iPad tomorrow," Mike posted on his Twitter account Friday afternoon.

In other tweets, he said that the "vast majority" of iPads will be delivered on Saturday. In remote areas where UPS does not offer Saturday delivery, the iPad will arrive on Monday.

Most of the inquiries sent to Thomas and Mike show users being told they will receive their iPad on Saturday. However, a handful of those who have inquired will have to wait until Monday.

The employees also noted that although there is "confusing info" on status updates when tracking packages via ups.com, "operations are all on board for Saturday deliveries."

Earlier this week, iPads began shipping from their manufacturing location in Shenzhen, China. Many orders have sat for days at the UPS Worldport hub in Louisville, Ken.

After shipping began, some users began to receive e-mails from Apple notifying them that Saturday delivery is not available in their area. Apple also began refunding customers who had paid for expedited shipping of their iPad, as all devices ordered in time are scheduled for Saturday delivery, where available.

As of last weekend, Apple sold out of its initial run of orders, and new orders placed will not ship until April 12. In addition to direct purchases, the iPad will also be sold at all 221 Apple retail stores, most Best Buy retail outlets, and some Apple Specialist locations on the April 3 launch day.



78 Comments

MacPro 19 Years · 19853 comments

Mine is still in the air from China according to the tracking. Hope they fly fast!

spoton 15 Years · 587 comments

Quote:
As of last weekend, Apple sold out of its initial run of orders, and new orders placed will not ship until April 12. In addition to direct purchases, the iPad will also be sold at all 221 Apple retail stores, most Best Buy retail outlets, and some Apple Specialist locations on the April 3 launch day


Rumor has it only 15 (5 of each wifi model) will be at Best Buys and the resellers will get one for display, but not to sell.

So Apple really wants to drive traffic to it's stores on this one, likely to upsell customers.

It's so sad the software selection at Apple Stores is so poor, perhaps by design?

spoton 15 Years · 587 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips

Mine is still in the air from China according to the tracking. Hope they fly fast!

A faster way would be for you to jump on a plane and meet it halfway.

quadra 610 17 Years · 6687 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpotOn

Rumor has it only 15 (5 of each wifi model) will be at Best Buys and the resellers will get one for display, but not to sell.

So Apple really wants to drive traffic to it's stores on this one, likely to upsell customers.

It's so sad the software selection at Apple Stores is so poor, perhaps by design?

All major productivity titles for Macs are on sale at Apple Stores. The rest are available online and for non-Mac devices, the App Store.

Since when was this ever a problem?

eightzero 15 Years · 3159 comments

Mine shipped from China 4:10a 4/2/10, but given the placement of the date line, it was actually 4/1 on the US calendar. Wonder which way the plane went?

Anyway, the UPS page hasn't updated for a day or so. Can't say I've ever seen a UPS truck operating on a Saturday in urban Seattle where I live. I was dubious about the Saturday delivery claim when I read about it. With all the claim of "fail" about iPad, I think this is the most likely thing the doubters will be right about.