Ship Date For New iPad Slips To March 19

Not surprisingly, demand for the new iPad has pushed ship dates for newly ordered tablets several days.

Apple fans pre-ordering their new iPad will see their new devices arrive at March 19 rather than March 16, according to Apple's website. That applies to all versions of the iPad, in both colors. Those who don't want to wait can brave the crowds at Apple Stores this coming Friday.

Verizon and AT&T are also offering the new iPad with 4G LTE connectivity, but at this point, both companies are just asking for user email addresses and say they will email customers when the device is available. If you're not sure which carrier to select, check out the data plans each company is offering.

Best Buy, meanwhile, is currently taking pre-orders for in-store pickup.

A delay in iPad shipments, meanwhile, is not all that surprising. Last year, after the debut of the iPad 2, wait time for the second-generation tablet quickly slipped to 4-5 weeks. By April, Apple's Tim Cook said the company was facing the "mother of all backlogs" with the iPad 2.

Those iPad 2 delays seem to have eased, at least. For those who want to save a little cash, the 16GB iPad 2 is available now and will ship within 1-3 days. The Wi-Fi version is selling for $399, while the Wi-Fi + 3G will set you back $529. For more on that, see New iPad vs. iPad 2: How to Choose.

Apple unveiled the new iPad earlier this week during a press event in San Francisco. The updated tablet includes a Retina Display, 4G LTE connectivity, an improved camera, and the new A5X processor with a quad-core GPU, among other things.