14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is doing the best it can to keep up with demand for its “magical” tablet device, the latest move in this respect being contracting Cando, a subsidiary of AU Optronics, which is scheduled to start shipping 9.7-inch touch panels for Apple's iPad from its newly reformed 4.5G production line in September-October 2010, according to DigiTimes.
Generally accurate in such predictions, the source goes to add that the target is a monthly capacity of almost one million units, while overall output of the newly reformed 4.5G plant will be mainly for iPad touch sensors.
Apple is known to have struggled with manufacturing enough iPads to meet demand, the main drawback being the touch panels employed by the tablet device.
Cando would not comment on its shipments to Apple but, according to the same report, the company did note that “the 4.5G line will start volume production of several products with sizes ranging from 10- to 12-inch, mainly for medium-size capacitive touch panels for tablet PCs."
Apple sold over 300,000 iPads on launch day.
“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said at the time. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”
Less than three months after its introduction to the market, the iPad had sold over three million units, and the number kept growing ever since.
“People are loving iPad as it becomes a part of their daily lives,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in a June 22 press release. “We’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more people around the world, including those in nine more countries next month.”
Analysts expect the slate-shaped device to sell as many as 50 million units by the end of 2011.
In the meanwhile, Apple is also struggling to assemble enough iPhone 4 units for shipping. The white version of the handset isn’t even out yet, almost three months into its existence.