More than a week ago we told you that Apple would have concluded contracts with certain suppliers in Asia for the delivery of a very large number of touch panels for the iPad 2 tablet. Then it was rumored that Apple would have agreed to pay prices close to 4 times larger on these touch panels just to have enough of them so as not to stop the production of iPad 2 tablets. Even if that information were half true, here's how Apple managed to "capture" a very large part of touchscreen panels produced globally, the situation forcing those from RIM to postpone the launch of the BlackBerry Playbook tablet by one month due to the Apple company.
Sources from touch screen panel makers also pointed out that PlayBook shipments were postponed for about a month from the original schedule due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity.
Foxlink has also recently started mass shipping its connectors to RIM for the PlayBook. Foxlink is also a connector supplier for iPad 2, the sources added.
It is estimated that Apple buys approximately 70% of the entire production of touchscreen panels on the planet and if the information about the Playbook is true, then it is quite clear why no one has managed to resist the iPad tablet until now. iPad 2 is on the rise and in the following months the demand will increase considerably, so it is very possible that the number of competing tablets produced will be quite small.
