Another revolution: a new priority in the BOM

"Conventional notebook PCs are 'motherboard-centric,' with all the other functions in the system—-such as the display, the keyboard and audio—-peripheral to the central microprocessor and the main printed circuit board at the core," Andrew Rassweiler, teardown services manager for iSuppli, said Wednesday. "With the iPad, this is reversed."

User interface components total 44% of the total bill of materials (BOM).  The display is 26% and the touch assembly is 12%.  Memory is 11% (16G variant), processor is 10%, and case a 4%.  Batteries make up a large part of the rest (37%).