DigiTimes is reporting that Research in Motion’s forthcoming Playbook tablet computer will launch on the 19th of this month, which is a month later than originally planned. Software was part to blame, but the main reason the Playbook was delayed was because Apple had already bought up most of the touch panel supply, leaving RIM scraps.
This folds back to a recent rumor that suggested Apple spent nearly $4 billion on securing touch panel supplies for the foreseeable future. This in turn, seems to be why competitors, such as RIM in this instance, are having trouble scraping together enough components to put a product of their own into full scale production.
This reminds me an awful lot of Flash storage shortages we saw in the mid-2000s. Apple had snapped up most of that supply as well, and made it difficult for the rest of the world to get supplies.
This is a temporary choke point. In a few years, production will be able to fully meet demand. Until then, expect more stories similar to these.
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