One of the reasons Apple’s competitors have had such a hard time manufacturing their own sub-$500 tablet is because Apple’s got a lock on most of the world’s available touch panel supply. Things aren’t going to get any easier for them: Apple has just added Chimei Innolux as a third supplier of touch panels for the iPad 2.
From a consumer perspective, hopefully this means more iPad 2s, which still remain constrained. How constrained? A month after launch and people are still camping overnight to get one. Like they were Phantom Menace tickets or something!
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
