Having been somewhat irked that my delay in placing my pre-order for a new iPad had resulted in my shipping date being bumped by ten days (from May 28th to June 7th), I am more than a little suspicious that the Apple Store website is now declaring a shipping date of “June”.

Not June 7th. Not June the anythingth. Just “June”.

What the hell does that mean? I fear the worst, particularly since Apple have been tripping out that old chestnut about demand being far in excess of expectations since pretty much the minute they opened things up for international markets such as the UK.

I am already bracing myself for the forthcoming announcement that deliveries will be delayed until “mid-June”. Which I fully expect to be closely pursued by one promising that iPads will be shipped by “late June”. And then one declaring that all the problems with the volcanic ash mean that – due to circumstances completely beyond Apple’s control – it will actually be “July”.

Not happy.