by Jason Snell
Unannounced product delayed by success, doom sure to follow
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Apple Inc. suppliers have pushed back plans to mass produce a larger-screen tablet to early next year, people familiar with the matter said, as they struggle to make enough new iPhones to meet strong demand.
I’m sure this will be used as proof in some quarters that Apple is doomed, despite the fact that the driving factor seems to be dramatic demand for new iPhones.
Unannounced Apple products are often reported to be “delayed,” but what does that word really mean? Apple didn’t promise that the product would be available at all, let alone at a given time. Product schedules change all the time, and for plenty of different reasons. (That doesn’t stop the report from throwing some shade on the viability of the iPad market in general, because why not?)
The Journal suggests that Apple’s original plan was to “produce the larger iPad in mass volume beginning in December,” which doesn’t necessarily mean the product was meant to ship in December. Production might have begun in December for a planned January release—we just don’t know. And Apple’s suppliers, which are the source of the story, probably don’t know either.
[via Jon Seff]