In his keynote at Apple Expo Europe in Paris, France, perpetual interim CEO Steve Jobs says Apple has already started shipping its iBook consumer notebook. We announced that we would ship the iBook in mid-September, and guess what – that’s today, said Jobs. He described the iBook as the industry’s second-fastest laptop, second only to Apple’s own PowerBook. That said, CompUSA still lists the notebook as on back-order. Not to worry. The iBook seems certain to be another strong seller for the Lazarus from Cupertino. Apple says it has taken 160,000 pre-orders at around $1700 a pop for the translucent clamshells – and that doesn’t include Japan, where the machine was the darling of the World PC Expo in Tokyo.
