Tuesday, April 04, 2006, 09:00 am

Austek wins order for 1.2M widescreen Apple iBooks?

By Prince McLean

Asustek has secured a contract from Apple Computer to make an initial delivery of 1.2 million iBook notebook personal computers, the Commercial Times reported, without citing sources.

According to the report, of which the reliability is unknown, the notebooks will be powered by Intel microprocessors and be equipped with 13.3-inch display.

The report further states that Apple will not begin to sell the notebooks until June, while contract suppliers of LCD panels will start delivering the displays to Apple's manufacturing facilities in April for a product ramp.

AU Optronics Corp., Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp., as well as South Korea's LG Philips LCD will reportedly supply the LCD panels for the new iBooks.

AU Optronics is expected to supply about 40,000-50,000 panels to Apple a month, the report added.

The Commercial Times also recently reported that Intel will cut Core Duo pricing ahead of a new 2.33GHz model in May.