When Apple’s UK online store started taking orders for the second-gen tablet this morning, it was promising a sign-up to ship-out window of two to three weeks.

That delay has now been extended to between three and four weeks.

Punters are receiving email order confirmations with ETAs stretching well into April.

Retailers who spoke to Reg Hardware said they had good quantities of the tablet for the launch, though there’s some debate whether stocks will last the initial rush. Our advice if you want an iPad 2 today: find a less well-known supplier and head there rather than an overcrowded Apple store. ®

Verizon stores began selling the first-generation Wi-Fi iPad in late October, typically bundling the device with a MiFi mobile hotspot but also offering iPads on their own with no MiFi or data service required. With the launch of the second-generation iPad, Apple now offers CDMA models directly compatible with Verizon’s network.

Late last week, AT&T slashed prices on 3G-capable first-generation iPads to $429-$629 with the carrier’s online store dropping the 64 GB model even further to $529. As of this writing, AT&T’s online store only has availability of 64 GB models at the $529 price point.

As may have been expected given current shortages in the United States, new iPad 2 orders in New Zealand and Australia are not shipping immediately but instead come with shipping estimates of 2-3 weeks. Apple could certainly ship units earlier than the stated timeframe, but the company clearly does not want to promise that units will be moving out for distribution immediately.

Apple does typically maintain separate distribution chains for its North American, European, and Asian markets that sometimes result in differences in shipping estimates among countries, so it will be interesting to see the status of deliveries in European countries once sales begin in those countries.

Shipping estimates for new online orders in the U.S. remain at 4-5 weeks.

The UK and most other European countries are paying a significant premium over US pricing. Regardless of local tax rates, most European nations can expect to pay €479 (~US$675) for a base 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad 2, all the way up to €799 (~US$1125) for a 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G model. In the UK, once VAT is subtracted the base retail price of the 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G model comes to about US$892, much higher than the before-tax $829 price in the USA.

Remarkably, New Zealand has some of the lowest pricing on the chart. Although it’s traditionally been home to very high prices for Apple gear, NZ’s before-tax pricing for the iPad 2 is very close to that in the States. Once New Zealand’s GST is subtracted out, the 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad 2 costs US$834, only $5 more than the base US retail price. The base 16 GB Wi-Fi model before-tax price is US$517, again not much higher than the $499 US price. For Kiwis used to paying a 5-15 percent markup on retail pricing on top of GST for Apple gear, these lower prices will make the device a much more attractive prospect than before.

We still don’t know how the international launch will play out on the 25th, but given the way things played out in the US launch, it’s likely that stocks will be very limited in most countries. If you live outside the US and want an iPad 2 badly enough to brave both the higher cost and the launch-day craziness, good luck and good hunting.

Based on the automated translation, the report seems to indicate that the smaller iPad would debut in the middle of this year, in part to buy time for Apple to finish work on a “great successor” to the current iPad. Such a move could possibly be in line with rumors and speculation about Apple releasing an “iPad 3″ or a “Pro” version of the second-generation iPad around September of this year.

The site appears to tie the legitimacy of this new report to an analysis of a pre-release iPhone 4 display last year that demonstrated the display carrying a resolution of 960 x 640, although it is unclear how today’s claims of insider knowledge of future products relates to a technical analysis of parts that had already been floating around.

Apple had been reported to have been investigating a range of tablet screen sizes from 4- to 12-inches prior to the iPad’s launch, with some reports claiming that what became the iPad would actually debut in both 6-inch and 10-inch sizes. But late last year, Apple CEO panned forthcoming 7-inch tablet being released by competitors, calling them “dead on arrival” due to their perceived inability to offer a true tablet experience.

Instead, the iPad 2′s screen improvements will focus on thickness and anti-reflection. The screen is said to be 30-35% thinner and also offer a better sunlight reading experience due to the anti-reflective properties.

The report also claims that the next iPad will use a Cortex A9 dual core processor running at 1.2GHz, as well as Imagination Technologies’ SGX 543 dual-core GPU. The iPad 2′s RAM will also see a much needed boost to 512MB, equal to the iPhone 4. The iPad 2 is also expected to use the same lower quality front and back cameras found in the iPod Touch.

It’s hard to tell where this information is sourced. Some pieces have been reported, but some specifics (1.2GHz, anti-reflective screen) seem to be unique information.

The iPad 2 details are close to what has been reported. This includes a “super high resolution” screen that is akin to the iPhone 4′s Retina Display. The physical screen size is said to remain the same but will feature both front and rear cameras. One somewhat new piece of information they do provide is that they claim that the new iPad will carry an SD card slot. There had been talk and speculation about an SD card slot based on some of the earlier circulating case designs, but no real definitive statements.

Meanwhile, Engadget also claims that Apple will start transitioning their communication chipsets to those produced by Qualcomm. The move will allow for Apple to support dual-modes allowing for both Verizon and AT&T compatibility in the same hardware model. This chipset change will also advance to the iPhone 5, again allowing a single hardware model to work across both Verizon and AT&T. Right now, Apple is producing two distinct iPhone 4s to support both CDMA (Verizon) and GSM (AT&T) modes.

The iPhone 5 is said to be “completely redesigned” with an expected launch in the summer. One major upgrade will be a Cortex A9-based multicore processor (to be dubbed the Apple A5). The current Apple A4 processor is a single-core Cortex A8 processor. This faster processor will also make its way into the next generation Apple TV.