“Quanta Computer has reportedly cut back production lines for RIM’s PlayBook at its factory in northern Taiwan due to a large decrease in orders and has offered preferential compensation to lay off about 1,000 workers, according to industry sources,” Aaron Lee and Adam Hwang report for DigiTimes. “Quanta confirmed the layoffs but declined to comment on clients and orders.”
“In April, RIM forecast sales of 4-5 million PlayBooks in 2011, the sources noted. However, RIM shipped fewer than 800,000 units during the first half of 2011 and monthly shipments dropped to about 100,000 units in the third quarter, the sources said,” Lee and Hwang report. “In view of drastically shrinking ODM orders from RIM, Quanta quickly decided to downsize its production to minimize losses, although RIM has not indicated plans to withdraw from the tablet PC market, the sources explained.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Delusional hubris hurts more than just the deluded. May DCW‘s batshit insane half-CEOs’ charade end sooner than later.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
They will need to ramp up that production of the RIM’s PlayBook. When RIM starts the buy one PlayBook get another free, these puppies are going to start moving (to inventory). Then they will start selling the buy one BlackBerry and get another BlackBerry and PlayBook free.
They could really get their percent of market share up with a “Just call us” and we will send you a PlayBook FREE.
So, pick up that production and RIM will find some way to dump them somewhere. Money is no object. They are all in regardless of how much they loose or if people even want the crap tablet.
What surprises me is that they’re still shipping 100,000 Playbooks a month. Are there really 100,000 out there with irreversible brain damage? Why would anyone with a sane mind even choose a 7″ tablet over a 10″ iPad that costs exactly the same? I don’t get it. They have to be shipping it somewhere. If consumers aren’t buying, then why are retailers stocking them on the shelves? What goes through the minds of people who buy this crap? Too many RIMjobbers out there still on crack cocaine.
The iPad is still in less than 100 countries, so there are plenty of markets, like Moldova, where RIM can flood the market with no fear of market competition from Apple.
Focusing just on screen size and ignoring technical merits, there should be a market for smaller tablets. The iPad is a bit too heavy and unwieldy in certain circumstances (crowded bus for example).
Think of it as a hardcover vs. paperback novel.
Even if they’re shipping 100,000 per month, those could still be filling the retail channel with no end user sales. RIM has relationships with lots of carriers and retailers.
Wow, Quanta’s management can see the writing on the wall, when Blackberry’s are in denial.
Sounds like an opportunity to increase iPhone/iPad production capacity to me!!
Shadenfreud. Shame on you all. Have you forgotten the early ’90’s? Didn’t your mothers tech you to do unto others (blah, blah)? Hope you sleep well with yourselves.
Schadenfreude…
Thank you Ms. Spellcheck. Glad to see you had no real point of retort so had to resort to checking spelling.
I’m more interested in your verb “tech”. Didn’t your mother tech you how to spell?
Obviously his mother only teched him how to rite.
Oh yeah, never slept better. Good to see undeserving souls suffer the unpopular consequences for their hubris and poor leadership.
You leave our mothers out of this, NoBlindness. And we sleep well with ourselves (???) just fine thank you. I (for one) will match my morality and sense of self-preservation with yours any day of the week. So get off your high horse . . . and go back to grammar school.
They have a large inventory of expensive parts. We may see them ditch the product altogether once those are assembled and flushed down the money losing drain.
Has RIMM stock bottomed out yet? I’m thinking of buying some to get the upside once buyout talks get going. Any thoughts?
Maybe they can take a page from HP’s playbook! However, their halfCEOs would probably consider the fire-sales as actual demand for their product!
There should be a law against citing number of units shipped to the channel. It is completely meaningless.
Even if you hate Apple, why would anyone be stupid enough to buy this DOA product? Sadly I’ve seen several people with this POS. LOL