Apple has reportedly completed the previously rumored purchase of NAND flash memory maker Anobit.

Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, said today that the purchase had been made, while declining to elaborate. The statement confirmed a December report from in the Israeli newspaper Cacalist.

The deal should help Apple secure key components in the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch and once again cements Apple’s position as the largest purchaser — and now producer — of this type of flash memory in the world.

With the acquisition of Anobit, Apple now has secure and unobstructed access to efficient solutions based on Anobit’s proprietary MSP (Memory Signal Processing) technology, which aims to improve the speed, endurance and performance of the drives.

Source: Bloomberg

It was bound to happen, but with Toshiba announcing that it’s managed to cram 64GB of NAND flash memory onto a single chip, we can now officially start the rumors of a 64GB iPhone and 128GB iPod touch… perhaps as soon as next year’s 4th generation models if prices get low enough fast enough.

The iPod touch doesn’t have to worry about all the phone-related radios, and so has double the slots for memory, and will likely always get twice as much storage as the iPhone. Question is, at 128GB might Apple finally retire the veteran (and last) hard drive-based iPod classic?

9to5mac also posits those same chips would work mighty fine in a mythical iTablet in lieu of an SSD drive.

Apple typically releases new iPhones in June/July, new iPod touches in September, and hasn’t announced any iTablets… yet.

According to AppleInsider, Apple is once again leading the way for a worldwide NAND Flash memory shortage… again:

“Taiwan-based memory module houses are moving to diversify their NAND flash suppliers to minimize procurement risk, according to industry sources,” the report said. “NAND flash supply has reportedly become tighter as major chip producers Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Micron and Hynix Semiconductor favor demand for Apple devices.”

With the release of the iPhone 3GS, new iPod Nano/Touch, and the iTablet device rumored to be released sometime in the first half of 2010 – it’s no wonder this current shortage exists. One thing is for sure, the chip producers bend over backwards to make sure Apple gets all of the memory they need — even if it means less for other companies.