Apple's terabyte hard drive and wireless router combo, the Time Capsule, has finally started shipping - FedEx reports that mine, coming direct from Shanghai, China (!?!), should arrive next Wednesday.

"When CEO Steve Jobs introduced Time Capsule on Jan. 15 at Macworld, he said the appliance would ship in February; the company met Jobs' deadline with just a day to spare," notes Computerworld's Gregg Keizer.

In order to do so, apparently, they had to ship direct from the warehouse in China - anyone wanna guess how much that cost Apple in extra shipping charges?...

"It's an 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with either a 500GB or 1TB hard drive that allows you to back up files to the drive or share files across a network without having to connect a cable," writes CNET News' Tom Krazit. "It will set you back either $299 or $499, depending on the storage size chosen."

"By our extremely rough calculations, that's a $43 markup compared to an Airport Extreme, a 1TB drive, and a roll of duct tape," writes The Register's Austin Modine. "But perhaps we're missing the point..."

Both Engadget's Nilay Patel and Gizmodo's Wilson Rothman already have the device in hand, and offer some first impressions.

More here from Techworld ... more here from Macworld ... more here from TUAW ... and more here from Coolest Gadgets.