‘iPad’: Analyst expects Apple to release tablet computer

“Gene Munster, a highly respected senior research analyst at the investment firm Piper Jaffray, says representatives of an Asian component manufacturer told him that they had received orders from Apple for parts to build a tablet computer — a project code-named ‘Touch,'” Maxim Lott reports for FOXNews.

“The tablet, Munster says, would most likely sell for between $500 and $700, have a 10-inch touch screen, and use an operating system similar to that of the iPhone,” Lott reports. “Munster believes that applications would be sold through the Apple app store, but that the tablet’s larger screen would allow multiple applications to run simultaneously.”

Lott reports, “He declined to release specifics about the Asian parts maker. ‘I don’t want attribution back to this company because Apple would probably fire them,’ he said… Munster estimates that the tablet will be released early next year, and that Apple will sell 2 million units — worth $1.2 billion — in 2010.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Davecc” for the heads up.]