The continuing saga of the Apple tablet that everyone seems to know is in development, despite all of Apple’s attempts to make sure that it is unannounced and unconfirmed, seems to have taken another swerve.

The latest from our sources suggests that because of a necessary design change and the selection of the LG manufactured 9.7” OLED display the cost is just too high. Of course, it is being blamed on the LG OLED panel as the leading reason for the high price. It seems that LG will be making changes to the manufacturing process, as well as adding new equipment to their OLED line, which will reduce the cost of the OLED display that Apple wants to use in their unconfirmed and yet-to-be announced tablet product. The current price of a panel of this type is hovering around $500 if purchased in large quantities.

From what the fruit moles say, the problem should resolve itself in the 2nd half of 2010. While Digitimes was the first to break the news, the report seems to confirm the likelihood of both a 9.7” and 10.6” model, as our other sources have been confirming to us for some time. What this all really means is while Apple has been working on a tablet, the release of such a product is still some time off; and when the 10.6” LCD model does arrive, we expect that it will fetch between $800 to $1,000 each when it first hits the streets. While it is possible that the OLED 9.7” model might arrive before the end of 2010, we are starting to think that it is likely that this model will not arrive until early 2011.

The news gives everyone more time to speculate and to save up for it when it finally does hit the streets.