Did Apple hold back the BlackBerry Playbook?

A few months back, reports claimed that Apple was looking to acquire a massive stockpile of displays for the iPad and iPhone. Now there's word that Apple's appetite may have caused delays for another big-name tablet.

Apple Insider points to reports from Asia claiming that Apple's heavy orders for touch-screen tablet hardware caused a shortfall of components and left RIM unable to procure enough screens to launch the BlackBerry Playbook tablet on time.

Given the high demand for tablets, coupled with the diminished manufacturing capacity after the disaster in Japan, this may not be the last we hear of electronics vendors fighting over hardware supplies.

It will be interesting to see how the companies respond and how the manufacturing sector can react to the demand over the coming months and years.