As a quick follow up to my article a couple of weeks ago, it appears that Apple's supply chain is also starting to hit some stumbling blocks in manufacturing. Coincidentally, the stumbling block is almost identical to the one that we mentioned HTC was having, the primary supplier is not able to produce enough displays. In Apple's case, LG apparently is not able to meet the demand for the iPad and will not be able to completely hit targets until Q2 of 2011.

Although Apple supposedly has other minor suppliers that they can turn to, they also face a new major challenger in Microsoft. Last night, as expected, Microsoft beat the Street's earnings estimates and is on a roll with a new series of products in the pipeline. Microsoft is set to release their new series of Windows Phone 7, for the holiday season of 2010, while simultaneously launching their own series of tablet devices (called slates), to compete directly with the iPad. These slate computers are promised from a large variety of major technology manufacturers including; Asus, Dell, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, MSI and HP.

It will be interesting to watch just how prepared Apple is with their supply chain sources over the next few months, as those are some serious competitors they are up against.