Apple (AAPL) Drops on Possible iPad Launch Delay

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares fell 2.4 percent after a brokerage firm said the next version of its iPad tablet computer will be delayed as maker Hon Hai faces production bottlenecks due to the device's new design.

Taiwanese brokerage Yuanta Securities said in a note the next version of iPad would come out two months later than last the first version, which launched in April last year.

"Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production process and it is taking time to resolve them," Yuanta's head of downstream tech equities, Vincent Chen, wrote in the note on Tuesday.

According to the note, component makers had to change their production processes after Apple made design changes to the iPad2 before the Lunar New Year at the beginning of February.

Apple was trading at $340.92, dropping $9.64, or 2.75 percent, as of 11:23 AM EST.

Rest of Story...