Apple is set to cancel all third party orders for iPads in markets outside of the USA, as the company struggles to meet demand due to touchscreen supply problems. The move could impact retailers and phone carriers in Australia who were expecting shipments of the iPad to boost quarterly sales.”We have a lot of accessories but no iPads” said JB Hi-Fi CEO, Terry Smart, during a recent trip to Singapore where iPads are openly on sale in Indian-owned supermarkets.
“We are banking on the iPad and 3D TVs to drive sales in the second quarter,” said Smart.
Last week, several Australians I was travelling with in Asia purchased Apple iPads in Singapore, via a basement discount store, despite Apple stores in Singapore and at Changi airport having no stock.
A source in China, who for many years had close ties to Apple and who recently visited one of Apple’s manufacturing plants, said in an email, “I am in China and we have just been told that all third party sellers of iPads are set to have their orders cancelled due to supply problems”.
There is also a possibility that the planned international launch scheduled for May may be put back.
Business news outlet, Bloomberg, recently quoted an analyst from market research firm, iSuppli, noting that LG Display, Samsung Electronics and Seiko Epson, Apple’s Asian LCD suppliers, simply can’t keep up with demand, owing to low yields on the particular size of screen Apple needs.
Indeed, the problem is said to be so serious, Isuppli’s analyst deemed it “a production bottleneck,” which could sour Apple’s chances of taking over the tablet market before competitors like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Toshiba and others start launching competitors to the iPad.
