Once again an Apple-is-doomed story turns out to be more media malpractice than factual account. This time the non-story in question supposedly concerned shrinking demand for the iPad mini. At least that's how Bloomberg made it look:
A decline in revenue from the iPad Mini “is more on demand, while price has been stable,” Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng said. “Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles, almost every item is moving in a negative direction.”
This seemed to indicate that Pegatron, one of the manufacturers of the iPad mini, would experience lower revenues, due to lower demand for the iPad mini. Well, not so fast. If you look at the placement of those quotation marks, you’ll notice that the iPad mini appears nowhere inside of them. This made Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune suspicious, and after sending an email to Pegatron CEO Jason Cheng, he found that no comments were made on a specific product from any company.
"'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.”
So, demand for the iPad mini could have decreased -- the holiday quarter is always far bigger, and experiences far greater demand than the quarters that follow it. However, because Pegatron didn’t talk specifics, Bloomberg ended up creating a story rather than reporting one, and that's bad for everybody.
If you want a better idea about recent iPad mini demand, look at Apple's Q2 2013 and wait for Apple to announce its Q3 2013 results in a few months. They may not break down specifics between the different iPad models, but the trend will be far clearer than a dodgy quote in an Apple-is-doomed headline grab.
Is it just me, or is mainstream media in general rushing to report anything they can that puts Apple in a bad light, even if it's smoke and mirrors? And where are the stories focusing on the good news, and correcting the false reports? Is Apple bites man really all we have to look forward to this year?
Source: Fortune, Bloomberg
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