Apple’s iPad sales for Q2 were significantly lower than some analysts were expecting, especially given the 7MM+ iPads Cupertino was able to push over Q1.
What the heck happened? Did demand slacken because of the imminent arrival of the iPad 2? Could Apple not produce enough iPad 2s to satisfy demand because of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan?
According to comments made by research firm iSuppli, Apple’s low sales number for the quarter were primarily due to production issues that led to extreme shortages of display and speaker parts.
It appears that quality problems were the bogeyman of the iPad 2 launch, with the companies tasked with producing displays and speakers for the tablet having considerable problem producing enough parts up to Apple’s specification. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan were not a problem initially, although shortages remain a problem in the aftermath.
It’s worth noting despite all of this that Apple still sold over 4 million iPads this quarter, despite slackening demand due to the arrival of the iPad 2 late in the quarter and production shortages. If Apple doesn’t double that number next quarter with three whole months to play with, when they’ve got three I’ll eat my hat.
[via MacRumors]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
2 responses to “iSuppli: iPad 2 Shortages Due To Display And Speaker Quality Shortages”
Quality or Quantity?