Rumors of an iPad 2 Delay Send Apple Shares Down

Someone needs to tell Apple, "You better check yourself before you wreck yourself." Here's the deal. Steve Jobs and his merry Cupertino gang are in excellent shape in the emerging tablet market. The original (and current) iPad, even with all its quirks (like no Flash support, limited I/O ports, etc) set the bar by which all other tablets are to be measured. But with Motorola's Xoom launching later this week, Google's Honeycomb era is about to begin, and combined with upgraded hardware, the iPad may finally fall from its throne.

Of course, Apple isn't standing still and from what we know so far, the iPad 2 is looking like a worthy successor. It should be faster, lighter, better equipped, and cost about the same as first generation iPads. So what's the problem? Delays.


According to a Reuters report, Apple shares fell 2.4 percent after a brokerage firm opened its yap and said product bottlenecks at Foxconn will ultimately delay the iPad 2. And citing a note from Yuanta Securities, the self-inflicted setback is the result of Apple making last minute design changes to the second generation iPad.

The silver lining is that whatever those changes are, it might end up being worth the wait. The bad news is it looks like the iPad 2's release will be pushed back two months as a result, and that's assuming everything's smooth sailing from here on out.
Tags:  Apple, tablet, slate, ipad, iPad 2