HP: "Extraordinary Demand" For Slate 500 Prompts Six Week Wait

Having left pre-order customers unclear on when, exactly, they can expect their tablets to arrive, HP's Slate 500 is now listed as "on backorder" at the company's site. New orders are now not expected to ship for six weeks, close to the end of 2010, with no specific ship dates being given.

Meanwhile, over at GottaBeMobile there's a so-far unsubstantiated rumor that HP has discovered a bug in the Slate 500 that triggers freezing that can only be addressed with a full reboot. The suggestion is that HP's delay is to allow them time to fix the issue and so avoid a wave of warranty returns from frustrated early-adopters.