Going by a Thursday report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), with the iPad's scheduled April 3 launch round the corner, Apple is virtually rushing to finalize its content-related negotiations with television, newspaper, magazine, and textbook publishers; so as to ensure that iPad - for which the pre-orders have reportedly been 'brisk' - boasts sufficient content when it hits the market!

The report, citing inside sources, says that while negotiations are underway between Apple and media companies for discounted TV shows through iTunes; even the proposed partnerships with e-book content providers have apparently "been put on the backburner," with other types of content being given more importance.

As per the sources, the biggest hitch in the way of Apple, in terms of lining up content for the iPad, appears to be the apprehension among the potential partners with regard to the effect the proposed iPad deal may have on their current revenue streams.

Another hurdle affecting Apple's agreement with most of the television and digital print publishers is the fact that while they make 'heavy use' of Adobe Systems' Flash video technology, the iPad lacks support for Flash.

Moreover, along with the lack of content, some of the accessories for the touch-screen tablet computer are also 'a little behind schedule' - with the keyboard dock/charging station and the 10W USB power adapter not to be available until May!