Pegatron CEO refutes report about waning demand for Apple's iPad mini

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
While a report about Apple supplier Pegatron this week claimed demand for the iPad mini has been softening, the company's CEO has revealed in a follow-up that he said nothing of the sort.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Apple 2.0 reached out to Pegatron Chief Executive Jason Cheng via e-mail after Bloomberg ran a report claiming demand for the iPad mini was falling. Cheng said after his company's Institutional Investors conference, one reporter from the publication approached him "trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product."

iPad mini


"I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions," Cheng said. "I did say those words that he quotes me in the article? but I did not say anything associated with any specific products."

The Pegatron CEO wrote off the piece by author Tim Culpan as "speculation," rather than based on anything he actually said.

The original Bloomberg story gained attention on Wednesday after it claimed that Pegatron said its revenues were negatively affected by waning demand for Apple's iPad mini. Pegatron's first-quarter profits were up more than 80 percent year over year, but Culpan's report focused on the fact that the supplier expects its second-quarter consumer electronics revenue to be down sequentially as much as 30 percent.

The media has been following Apple's key suppliers very closely in recent months as the company's growth has slowed. Market watchers pointed to weak results at companies like Cirrus Logic as negative signs for Apple.

Last month, Apple reported its first year over year profit decline in a decade, falling roughly 18 percent to $9.5 billion.

The intense focus on bits of information from Apple's supply chain led company CEO Tim Cook to warn investors in January that attempting to interpret such data is not a wise approach. Cook noted that the supply chain is complex, as Apple has multiple sources for various components, and that various factors ? such as production yields and supplier performance ? can skew the data.

"Even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to interpret that data point as to what it meant for our business," he said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 32
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Does anyone seriously pay attention to this noise?

    It's become almost as bad as all the analyst fluff.
  • Reply 2 of 32
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    Wow, you just got love the media, they just make shit up as they go along (I'm referring to Bloomberg here).
  • Reply 3 of 32
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member


    So much negative press on Apple, and most of it must be either written by idiots or evil stock manipulators.



    Like the report in the Wall St Journal in January, where the guy said "iPhone 5 orders in the Christmas quarter cut from 60 to 30 million" when nobody was expecting more than 30 million in the first place, they only sold 47 million total for all the iPhones.



    http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/01/14/wsj-apple-cuts-iphone-5-component-orders-in-half-due-to-weak-demand



    I am starting to move over to the conspiracy theory camp, I think that somebody was trying to manipulate the stock all spring, and despite the terrible job that they did the bovine investors trashed the stock price.  Nice to see that the trend has changed though, I don't think that they can issue reports like this and still get any reaction.

  • Reply 4 of 32
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    e1618978 wrote: »
    So much negative press on Apple, and most of it must be either written by idiots or evil stock manipulators.

    AppleInsider must share some of the blame, too. After all, there is such a thing as fact checking.
  • Reply 5 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Didn't stop AI and others from reporting it and people commenting on it as though it was fact. I was always skeptical because Apple suppliers never mention Apple products by name. If they didn they probably wouldn't be suppliers for much longer. Clearly Bloomberg had a story they wanted to write (iPad demand slowing) and were trying to bait the Pegagtron CEO in to saying something that would fit their meme. He didn't do it, but they were able to twist his words to make it look like he did. Shameful. :no:
  • Reply 6 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Does anyone seriously pay attention to this noise?

    It's become almost as bad as all the analyst fluff.
    Doesn't help when sites like Apple Insider, Mac Rumors and 9to5Mac pick up on it. Because the wider media (tech/financial/other) are constantly checking rumor sites for the latest "buzz". And if something gets reported here, they're more likely to re-report it.
  • Reply 7 of 32
    hydrhydr Posts: 146member
    Is it me, or has the amount of articles surrounding Apple, Analysts and Suppliers risen exponentially in the last 12-24months?
  • Reply 8 of 32
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Negative press sells. Apparently, so do lies.
  • Reply 9 of 32
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    The original [I]Bloomberg[/I] "report" has this standard contact paragraph:

    [QUOTE]To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Culpan in Taipei at [email protected].
    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at [email protected].[/QUOTE]

    I say drop a note to both him and his editor about this disgusting deceptive fake journalism.

    It has to stop. They're creating an atmosphere of anti-Apple FUD that is actually causing harm to the company. It is a daily distraction for Tim Cook and others, I'm sure. So stupid and unnecessary. So American.
  • Reply 10 of 32
    geekdadgeekdad Posts: 1,131member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Doesn't help when sites like Apple Insider, Mac Rumors and 9to5Mac pick up on it. Because the wider media (tech/financial/other) are constantly checking rumor sites for the latest "buzz". And if something gets reported here, they're more likely to re-report it.


    Yep...fully agree with you. If these sites just stop giving it so much attention it would just die off.


    We also have to give a little credence to the stock manipulation theory....they give all this negative Apple press.....stock goes down......they buy stock then release something positive about Apple then the stock goes back up and they have made tons of money....

  • Reply 11 of 32
    macmanfelixmacmanfelix Posts: 125member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Does anyone seriously pay attention to this noise?


    Unfortunately, it seems that nearly everyone does pay attention, then they repeat it as if it were verified fact.



    Originally Posted by Rob55 View Post



    Wow, you just got love the media, they just make shit up as they go along (I'm referring to Bloomberg here).




    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    Negative press sells. Apparently, so do lies.


    I agree with all three of you 100% — the media has and always will recklessly spread lies for one or two reasons: profit or political agenda (and the second reason is linked to the first in nearly every case: i.e. think about the subsidized corn/HFCS/Ethanol debacle). This is no different than any reportable arena where they distort every happening or just plain make shit up to feed the public thirst.

  • Reply 12 of 32
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member


    I hope Apple keeps the old ipad mini and do a decent price reduction on it.  Maybe one model at 199$ ?  The problem with Apple being the only makers of iOS hardware is its not covering the entire market. 


     


    I know purist dont want Apple to cover the low end, but not doing it hurts the ecosystem because its keeping out a lot people.  If I was Apple, I would push special itunes rebates for buyers on the cheap iphone in both India and China in order to keep them from immediatly jailbreaking there phpne and pirate everything. More itunes income could make up for the lower margins.


     


    Regarding the emerging market phone, my hopes are for a $150 cost with a 35% gross margin for a total of $200 per phone. I would only sell this model only in emerging markets at first or until supply is meet. Reminder, current iphone gross margin are between 50% to 70%. 

  • Reply 13 of 32
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Doesn't help when sites like Apple Insider, Mac Rumors and 9to5Mac pick up on it. Because the wider media (tech/financial/other) are constantly checking rumor sites for the latest "buzz". And if something gets reported here, they're more likely to re-report it.

    At the very least, AppleInsider should include a cautionary tagline when they pass on something from Bloomberg or the WSJ, like they do with DigiTimes—"hit-or-miss," or "sometimes accurate."

    In the case of Bloomberg et al, they can say "anti-Apple." Caught with their pants down this time, and it ain't a pretty sight.
  • Reply 14 of 32
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    geekdad wrote: »
    Yep...fully agree with you. If these sites just stop giving it so much attention it would just die off.
    We also have to give a little credence to the stock manipulation theory....they give all this negative Apple press.....stock goes down......they buy stock then release something positive about Apple then the stock goes back up and they have made tons of money....
    It all comes down to page views. Negative Apple stories generate clicks so sites like Forbes, Bloomberg, WSJ, etc.run with them. Rumor sites like AI have nothing to report on since Apple's gone quiet and we're not getting any new product leaks. They know people will stop coming to the site if its not updated with new stuff so they throw anything and everything up just to continue to drive traffic to the site.
  • Reply 15 of 32
    512ke512ke Posts: 782member
    Apple is the best bug tech company in the world and yet reading stuff here you'd think Apple was about to go bankrupt.
  • Reply 16 of 32
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member


    Imagine a report made up a story out of a non story. I am glad to see the CEO to call out the reporter and the media who printed his words. Company need to begin doing what Hollywood is doing any time a rag magazine publish false information about an actor or actress. Company can easily prove the false reports has harmed company values. Imagine if a reporter or Trade Magazine has to pay for lost stock value of a company because they reported false negative information.

  • Reply 17 of 32
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Wow. Analysts fabricate their "reports." In other news, water is wet.
  • Reply 18 of 32
    jfc1138jfc1138 Posts: 3,090member


    OR:


    "


    Apple supplier Pegatron boosts China workforce by 40 percent in second half"


     


    http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/17081953/apple-supplier-pegatron-boosts-china-workforce-by-40-percent-in-second-half/

  • Reply 19 of 32
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    It almost seems as though GOOD Apple news is more likely to be true, yet BAD Apple news is more likely to be spread regardless of reality...
  • Reply 20 of 32
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    It all comes down to page views. Negative Apple stories generate clicks so sites like Forbes, Bloomberg, WSJ, etc.run with them. Rumor sites like AI have nothing to report on since Apple's gone quiet and we're not getting any new product leaks. They know people will stop coming to the site if its not updated with new stuff so they throw anything and everything up just to continue to drive traffic to the site.


     


    It also comes down to reporters, bloggers, et al. wanting a dramatic story, combined with some negative aspects of human nature. The only thing that people love more that the rise of a hero is to watch the hero fall. So, while the rise of Apple was a great story, people get tired of hearing the same story over and over, and they love to tear down heroes, or watch them be torn down. It makes for a dramatic story. It makes for dramatic reading. And, as you point out, it sells newspapers and generates page views.

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