A one month delay to the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook may have been down to Apple’s high demand for touch panels for its iPad 2. The 7-inch PlayBook is set to launch on April 19th at $499, but shipments were postponed for about a month because RIM couldn’t get its hands on enough touch panels.
Citing sources from touch screen manufacturers, a DigiTimes report says the PlayBook setback was “due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity.”
Thanks to Apple’s abundance of cash reserves, the Cupertino company can pre-pay for components and get guaranteed priority from manufacturers. This means that RIM’s PlayBook – a tablet which aims to rival the iPad – won’t launch now until at least a month after the iPad 2 began shipping. It was originally scheduled for release during the first quarter of this year.
[via AppleInsider]