Jobs' Mob has slashed its orders to vendors in the supply chain for its iPad by 25 per cent.
According to JPMorgan Chase it is the first such cut that analysts at JPMorgan’s electronic manufacturing services team in Hong Kong said they have ever seen. For Hon Hai, the cut could mean a drop to 13 million units in the fourth quarter from 17 million units in the third quarter, JPMorgan analysts wrote.
Bad news for the suppliers, but why is Apple making the cut? It is possible that the world is starting to wake up to the fact that a keyboardless netbook is as useful as a chocolate teapot and when the economy is suffering, the last thing punters want is a glorified dinner tray.
JP Morgan thinks that the cut could reflect both weakening demand in Europe due to economic conditions there as well as a strategy by Apple, the world’s biggest company by market value, to operate with reduced inventory. Wanli Wang, a Taipei-based industry analyst at RBS Asia told Bloomberg that Apple was as last having to suffer from the same reality that other tech companies had to deal with.
Shares in Apple fell $8.21, or 2 percent, to $396.09 on the news.
More here.
Not going as well as they should
Latest from Nick Farell