Apple iPad Delay because of Software Issues?

Now that the official shipping date is set for the Apple iPad in the US with rough dates set for end of April in the UK amongst other countries, we are now hearing of reasons why Apple [AAPL] delayed the launch.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball claims to have heard the software is the problem with the device rather than a hardware issue (or lack of certain parts). Apple, as do all companies, need to get the software just right to make a successful launch. If software is the reason (and we’ll probably never know for sure) then the extra time will hopefully allow them to get the final version on the iPad. Worst case scenario (other than a bunch of bricked devices) is that a large scale patch launch will need to happen to correct the software issues afterwards.

Back to the delay, if we really look at it in terms of what the old estimated date was and what the new date is, there’s really only a couple of weeks in it which delaying something for two weeks based on a software issue really isn’t bad at all.