Does anyone else remember the flurry of pre-iPhone rumors back at the end of 2006? Here we are three years later, and history almost seems to be repeating itself with a veritable onslaught of rumors surrounding Apple’s fabled tablet computer.

Today, word is out that Cupertino is already placing orders for 10-inch tablet displays and glass panels.

Everyone’s favorite Taiwanese rumor mill, DigiTimes, is now reporting that Foxconn subsidiary Innolux is now the primary supplier of 10-inch panels for Apple’s forthcoming multi-touch tablet, according to AppleInsider. Wintek, the current provider of the iPhone display panel, will also fulfill remaining orders for the panels as well.

As usual, DigiTimes is citing sources directly inside Apple’s component suppliers, who are also reporting that the company has been “seeking solutions to strengthen the glass of the 10-inch panel” for the tablet, which has presumably contributed to delaying the launch of the device until the first quarter of 2010 as previously reported.

In keeping with current rumors elsewhere, DigiTimes predicts that Apple could announce the new tablet device in January, with volume shipments to follow in March, based on analysis of Apple’s component shipping schedules.

G-Tech Optoelectronics, an optical glass processing subsidiary of Foxconn, is reportedly hard at work at an unidentified method to strengthen the tablet’s glass surface, while optical film maker Wah Hong Industrial is also pitching in to supply components for such an effort.

Just before the Christmas holiday, word spread that Apple had booked the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for an event on Tuesday, January 26, which has further fueled speculation that the mysterious tablet will be unveiled on that date.