Apple is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the supply chain for gadgets. It gives buyers what they want faster than its rivals — and in the process, it sometimes delays the competition’s products from coming to market.
Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and aftershocks halted or slowed production of hundreds of components that are found in consumer electronics devices, including the iPhone and iPad. Memory chips, touch screens, image sensors, batteries and the special resins that are used to hold chipsets together have all been in scarce supply lately.
Yet Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) sold a remarkable 18.7 million iPhones and 4.7 million iPads last quarter. COO Tim Cook said Wednesday that the company would suffer “no material supply impact” in the current quarter, despite what he called “the mother of all backlogs” thanks to very strong demand for the iPad.
Other consumer electronics makers haven’t been so lucky. Sony Ericsson, for instance, said it would delay its eagerly anticipated Xperia Play “PlayStation phone” because of the Japan earthquake’s impact on the supply chain. Research In Motion (RIMM) finally launched its PlayBook tablet last week, after delaying its release by a month.
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Via: CNN Money.com
