The company the designer works for is planning to launch a product on the market that needs a 10.1-inch screen, but has been trying to get such a screen for months. Not a single Asian supplier can deliver such screens, because Apple bought the whole production.

“We were designing a product for a customer and we needed 10 inch screens, but we’ve been trying for months and can’t get one from any of the Asian suppliers,” an anonymous designer for a firm wishing to remain nameless told TG Daily.

“We were told that Apple pre-ordered them all. All 10 inch LCDs, and all 10 inch OLEDs too,” our source continued, redundantly adding “it’s for the Apple tablet.”

The fact that it’s about LCD and OLED screens is striking. OLED screens are brighter, sharper, AND energy efficient, but are also very expensive. Production costs could get as high as $1500 per device, when looking at the current prices. The eventual price for the consumer could be even higher.

Source: AppleInsider

The devices introduced at CES all have similar functionality. All have multi-touch screens, a build-in webcam and a relatively powerful processor. Still the audience is a little disappointed. Why? Because so far there’s no news about the Courier, which seemed it could have been the big surprise. A much heard comment is that all the tablets run an unadapted version of Windows 7 or Android. Even more disappointing is the fact that all these products seem to be in a concept stage. No computer developer dares to set a launch date or name a price.

I first thought Apple would be too late with introducing a tablet (later this month), but with all this disappointment at CES I now think Apple will be the big surprise of 2010. At least they know how to introduce a new product on the market with their stylish events. And at least they dare to name a price and tell the world when everybody can buy the device.

“On Wednesday, Mr. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer during his evening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The slate will be made by Hewlett-Packard and possibly available by mid-year, these people said.”

The tablet will be introduced as a multimedia device with e-reader and multi-touch functionality. Some time ago I already posted about the ‘Courier‘, but it’s not clear if that’s the device Microsoft is going to introduce today.

It seems that Ballmer’s tablet device has similar functionality to that of Apple’s device. Previous rumors, here, here and here, are claiming that Apple will introduce their own tablet computer this month as well and launch the device in March. And another report confirmes Apple does indeed has plans for a January introduction and a launch in March.