According to a new report from CNNMoney writer Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Bloomberg’s recent report of ‘falling iPad mini demand’ raises more questions than answers.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports that he was intrigued by a story from Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan, who was covering Pegatron’s investor conference on Wednesday. According Elmer-DeWitt, Culpan posited, that after growing 162% year over year in Q1 Pegatron’s revenues from consumer electronics were expected to fall 25% to 30% sequentially in Q2, mainly due to the lack of demand for the iPad mini.”
Elmer-DeWitt on Culpan’s piece:
His headline: Falling IPad Mini Demand to Push Pegatron Electronics Sales Down
His lead: “Pegatron Corp., the Taipei-based maker of Apple Inc. devices, forecast its biggest drop in consumer-electronics revenue in six quarters as iPad Mini demand falls.” (emphasis mine)
His killer quote: “A decline in revenue from the iPad Mini ‘is more on demand, while price has been stable,’ Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng said.”
Subsequently, Elmer-DeWitt sent an email off to Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng to clarify the matter.
Here is the reply he received:
“We held our Institutional Investors Conference yesterday, and gave out a guidance of our 2Q13 business outlook… The category of Consumer Electronic Product includes game consoles, LCD-TV, e-paper readers, tablet products, and some others. We put all tablet products in this category, but have never broken down to detail numbers for specific products nor customers.
“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.
“Thank you for the mail to clarify.”
According to Elmer-DeWitt, Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan and his editor are yet to reply to his request for a comment on the email he received.
Source: Fortune
