Pre-ordering will be a lottery. I've been trying to get to the online Store for more than half an hour and I get either server error, "we'll be back soon" or incredibly slow connection (which then fails). I managed to get once to iPad page but clicking on any link brought me back to server error.
The store went down just as the checkout page (page after the smart cover upsell page) was loading. I auto refreshed on that URL and was able to place my preorder a few minutes ago.
I stopped counting, but I must have started over a dozen times before I was finally able to check out. What I didn't know was that each walk through the iPad page was ordering another iPad, so my cart wound up with five of them (!) but thankfully removing the extra three didn't make me start over.
[Aside: The new Apple TV is impossible to order from the website because the page has no continue or buy button! Maybe they'll notice when first day sales are zero. You can add one to your cart from the Apple Store iPhone app, but so far I have been unable to check out. Apple seriously underestimated the order volume for these products!]
