Has Apple slashed iPhone orders?
November 3rd 2008
Market Watch reports that recent checks of Apple's supply chain indicate that the company may have drastically reduced, by up to 40%, iPhone orders this quarter.
"We believe Apple is a good proxy for broader consumer demand given that it has the hottest, sleekest, most desirable products available today," says Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Craig Berger. "That the firm's iPhone production plans are being revised lower suggests that the global macroecomomic weakness is impacting even high-end consumers, those that are more likely to buy Apple's expensive gadgets, and that no market segment will be spared in this global downturn."
Specifically, Berger has been monitoring chipmakers Broadcom, Marvell, Linear Tech and Infineon, which are all iPhone component suppliers. Previous checks had indicated a much smaller 10% fall in iPhone orders.
Editor's note: With PC and smartphone makers slashing prices, more often than without any uptake in demand, it's entirely possible that falling chip orders can't be traced back to Apple at all and that the Cupertino, CA Mac, iPod and iPhone maker is doing just fine...
What's your take?
