This morning we covered a report from Reuters that said Pegatron, one of Apple’s supply chain partners in China, is increasing its work force by 40% in anticipation of producing a budget iPhone in the coming months. The news was based on Pegatron’s investors conference yesterday and anonymous supply chain sources adding the iPhone ‘mini’ bit to Reuters.
Bloomberg decided to slant Pegatron’s comments and cite “falling iPad mini demand” as the reason for the company’s forecasted 25%-30% drop in revenue during the second 2013 quarter. Never mind the fact that the drop was expected for the entire consumer electronics division of Pegatron; it’s still the iPad’s mini fault.
Mainstream publications love to take hits at Apple whenever they can, but this specific instance has turned out to be an example of Bloomberg putting words in Pegatron’s mouth.
Fortune did some digging and emailed Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng for clarification on the “quote” Bloomberg used to frame Apple:
A decline in revenue from the iPad Mini “is more on demand, while price has been stable,” Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng said. “Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles, almost every item is moving in a negative direction.”
That was the crux of what Bloomberg used to argue that iPad mini is faltering, and the “decline in revenue from the iPad Mini” isn’t even in quote marks.
Here’s part of what Cheng told Fortune:
“After the meeting, one reporter from Bloomberg approached me, trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product. I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions. I did say those words that he quotes me in the article “more on demand, while price has been stable”…, “almost every item is moving in a negative direction”…; “Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles”. But I did not say anything associated with any specific products.
No indication, nor hint for specific products or customers has been our principle and guideline for any public events such as investors conference. There are always speculations after these meetings.”
Why would Pegatron’s CEO risk his relationship with Apple by telling a reporter that a specific Apple product was seeing weakening demand? Try again.
Source: Fortune
Image: AP
