The phrase ‘a close source’ is usually tabloid parlance for ‘what the writer made up to suit the story’, however, when uttered by Taiwan based tech industry bible DigiTimes those words mean a whole lot more. So when a ‘close source’ tells them that the iPad 2 will begin shipping in 100 days you can be pretty sure there’s something to it.

The countdown is on for this guy to wait in line outside his local Apple store once more.

According to reports on the site, Foxconn Electronics’ plants in Shenzhen, China have recently been notified they will ship the follow up Apple’s phenomenally successful tablet PC in just over three months with initial shipments to reach 400,000-600,000 units. However, Foxconn declined to comment on its products or clients.

Continues the report, “The sources pointed out that the iPad 2 will ship as soon as the end of February in 2011. Apple originally planned to start mass production in January, but because the device’s firmware is currently still in testing, Apple has been postponing the schedule.

“Since Foxconn’s new plants in Chengdu are still in pilot production, iPad 2 will be mainly supplied by its Shenzhen plants, while the company’s upstream component partners have all been notified of the shipments schedule.”

It all makes sense with late January marking a year since the unveiling of the original of the species by Steve Jobs. Sales of the original device for first nine months in 2010 reached over 7.5 million units, while it’s still to reach certain markets – with South Korea and Latin America only getting their hands on it in the coming month. With massive Christmas sales expected, you couldn’t blame Apple for thinking they may have peaked with the original device.

As DigiTimes adds, “The sources expect shipments to drop significantly after the end of the January as the company begins to digest the inventory across the rest of the first quarter and then launch iPad 2 in April.”

Those same sources pointed out that Foxconn shipped about six million iPads in the third quarter of 2010, meaning there are about 1.8 million units of inventory left for the fourth quarter. The sources also forecast that Apple will still place about 1.6-1.8 million units of orders in January, but will start to reduce order volumes in February to allow the remaining inventory to last until the end of March.

So then, prepare for another few months of rumours, fuzzy prototype photos and eventually a pandering article from Stephen Fry on how the iPad 2 proves there is no god, as it in fact is Christ himself in digital form.