iTablet Gains OLED Display, Delayed Until Late 2010

If an unannounced product exists solely in the minds of speculative journalists and know-nothing analysts, can it be “delayed”? If so, then the fabled Apple tablet has just seen a setback to its non-existent launch date, pushing it to the second half of 2010.
The source? Component manufacturers for the iTablet, who, according to Digitimes, say that Apple has changed its mind on the product range (partway through production, it would seem) and decided to confuse customers with a split product launch.
Instead of the usual Apple strategy of launching one product, letting it run for a few years, and only then adding more lines (think iPod, which was on sale for two years before the Mini joined it, and iPhone, which is still the only iPhone), Digitimes’ sources claim that there will be two tablets at launch. One with a TFT screen will measure 10.6-inches and one with an OLED screen will measure 9.7-inches.
The sources have even worked out the prices of the tablets. Going on current prices of OLED screens and the percentage of the product budget they normally occupy, the price is estimated to be between $1,500 and $1,700. That’s not the sale price but the cost. Add a conservative 30 percent on top  of that for Apple’s famously fat profit margins and you get to around $2,200. That’s almost as much as the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Due to the imaginary delay, these prices are expected to drop to a more reasonable $1,200-1,500 by launch, as the prices of OLED screens drop. Digitimes also points out that “The price could be more flexible if bundled with telecom providers’ 3G services.” Extrapolating from the iPhone, which costs AT&T around $600 and sells for $200 on a two-year contract, the iTablet would need a four-year contract to bring it into the necessary price range between the iPhone and the MacBook, around $700.
Why would Apple, a company famous for its pared down, easy-to-understand product lineup, introduce two models of a new device not only almost exactly the same size, but with confusing differences in screen technology? And why would it sabotage the recent and aggressive price cutting across all product lines by launching a big iPhone at a price higher than many of its pro-level notebooks?
This is a truly bewildering story. One day, we will see an Apple Tablet, I’m sure. But until it is officially announced, the only place to get one will be in the Atlantis Apple Store, which is staffed by unicorns.
Apple tablet PC reportedly delayed until 2H10, with OLED model now included

[brainw4re]