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Within two days of the unveiling of the new iPad, new orders of the iPad had already slipped from this Friday's launch day delivery to a ship date of March 19. Apple has since confirmed in a statement that preorders of the touchscreen tablet have run out, as noted by USA Today.

"Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased," a company spokesperson said. "Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date."


Given the response to the device, Apple is expected to set new sales records later this week when the device launches. Pre-existing records for the Cupertino, Calif., iPad maker were already impressive, as it experienced crushing demand for its second-generation tablet last year, with orders quickly slipping to multi-week shipping estimates. A month after the iPad 2 was released, Apple's then chief operating officer Tim Cook said during a quarterly conference call that "staggering" demand for the device had caused the "mother of all backlogs."

Apple has presumably significantly increased its production volume for iPad in anticipation of high demand, but it has also expanded its ambitions with a faster international rollout for the device. Whereas the iPad 2 was released in just the U.S. before launching overseas two weeks later, Apple plans to sell the new iPad in a total of 12 regions from day one. Those markets include: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands.

Related: The New iPad Battery Tech Could Lead To All-Day MacBooks And LTE iPhones