Edible Apple

DigiTimes reports:

As rumors that Apple’s iPad 2 will launch in the first quarter of 2011 circulate the IT market, sources from notebook players pointed out that if the rumors are true, the launch is expected to seriously weaken other PC vendors’ tablet PCs, and since consumer demand for tablet PCs is still limited, while most upstream and downstream players are over-optimistic about the market, tablet PCs may see a sharp drop in demand as soon as the third quarter of 2011, after a big battle in the second.

Global notebook vendors including Samsung Electronics, Acer, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell have already launched tablet PC products, while several research firms are also optimistic about demand in 2011 and believe volumes will reach 45-55 million units; however, the sources noted that whether tablet PCs will achieve such performance still remains questionable and an over optimistic attitude may cause players to suffer from overstocked inventories, as happened with netbooks.