Apple just announced that the iPad release will be delayed to at least the end of May 2010 for all markets outside the United States. Previously the worldwide launch was set for the end of April.

Demand for the iPad has been higher than expected and will exceed the available supply for the coming weeks. Apple said it is actually still working on handling the massive amount of pre-orders it got, many of which are not delivered yet.

“Faced with this surprisingly strong U.S. demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May” an Apple spokesperson told reporters, ”We will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10.”.

Will this delay damage the iPad’s release in the rest of the world? No, not a chance. Instead it is merely more free promotion for the device, as the same happened with the first iPhone release. People just want it even more, if they know it is selling so well in one country and it is not available in theirs.