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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=575
Digitimes: iMac shipments contract, upgrade coming
By ron carlson, Insanely Great Mac
June 27th 2002
Suppliers and assemblers report reduced or cancelled orders
Digitimes reports (quoting unnamed sources) that Taiwanese part suppliers and
assemblers of the LCD iMac have seen orders reduced or postponed since May -- a
100,000 unit adjustment -- amid weakening demand for the flat-panel desktop.
Apple''s original forecast for sales of 550,000 to 600,000 units in the March to
August time period has been reduced to about 400,000 units according to insiders.
However, Cupertino still expects to sell upwards of 1,000,000 units this year.
According to the report, sales of the Luxo Jr. consumer desktop began faltering in May
and that Apple is holding off on building more units until current stocks --
reportedly a 15-week backlog -- have been sold.
Initially, Quanta and its suppliers were hard pressed to meet demand and reportedly
moved heaven and earth produced 10,000 units in a single day in order meet surging
orders.
The worm turns
The Digitimes write up states that Quanta used production lines originally slated to
manufacture Dell products, which is a fairly pleasant scenario to envision, in order
to satisfy the thousands waiting to get their hands on a new LCD iMac earlier this
year.
Digitimes quotes unnamed sources as saying that Apple is using this breathing space to
redesign certain iMac components as part of its plan to launch an upgraded version of
its LCD-based consumer desktop. Additionally, the company is also said to be
considering cutting prices to boost sales and does not expect to see an uptick in
demand until August.
Analysis: This report appears to confirm that iMac sales have indeed stagnated and
that an upgrade is in the works. The notion that Apple doesn''t expect demand to
improve until August could be indicative of two things -- they are 1.) hoping for
solid educational demand for an upgraded model that likely will be announced at MWNY
in mid-July and 2.) that those new models won''t ship until August.
The apparent downward adjustment in the company''s unit forecast doesn''t bode well
for its stated goal of doubling Mac market share in the short term. On the other hand,
we haven''t yet heard from HP, Dell, etc. and their sales could be falling even more
precipitously than Apple''s, which could in the end lead to a rise in market share for
Cupertino as the market contracts overall.
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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=575
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