JAPAN & S. KOREA: iPad interior reveals power struggle between Japan and Korea

The electronic viscera of the iPad reveals a technological power shift: the most expensive and sophisticated components inside Apple's new gadget are no longer Japanese but Korean. Analysts calculating the raw cost of the items within Apple's device believe that the bill for materials amounts to $260 per unit, or $239 less than its retail price in the United States. Suppliers vary across the range but, in some iPad models, more than half of the component costs borne by Apple will go directly to South Korean companies, say analysts. The Japanese media has shown increasing signs of panic over the thinning of the country's once comfortable technology cushion over its Asian rivals. (Times Online)