For some time, production problems have made ordering the ultra-popular iPad 2 seem like a slow boat to China. Despite heavy demand for the tablet, Apple’s foreign partners have been the weak link. Friday comes word that the situation has ‘significantly improved.’
The key to improving supplies is from changes made in overseas manufacturing, according to Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Components for the iPad 2’s touch panels. In January, the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant announced a $3.9 billion investment in suppliers of unnamed components.
The increased flow of iPad 2 components could enable Apple to almost double the number of new tablets sold, shipping more than 4 million units. That would be a dramatic increase over the 2.4 to 2.5 million iPad 2s reportedly sold in March.
Earlier this year, an Apple spokesperson described iPad 2 demand as “amazing.” The company was “working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” Trudy Muller said at the time.
