Apple reportedly picks Toshiba as sole supplier of iPhone LCDs
The Nikkan Kogyu Shimbun reported Wednesday that Apple has decided to go with Toshiba for orders of screens for the iPhone, as noted by MarketWatch. "Sharp was no longer a candidate for Apple's investment," the report claimed.
Sharp denied the rumor in a statement Wednesday, asserting that the report "contradicts the facts." However, if true, the report would signal a crushing loss for the company.
Last year, Sharp announced an Android smartphone that matched the resolution and dimensions of Apple's iPhone 4, which boasted a Retina Display with "the highest resolution display ever in a phone" when it was released last June.
The Japanese report follows several rumors late last year that Apple plans to invest over $1 billion each in LCD plants at Toshiba and Sharp. Last December, the Nikkei business daily alleged that Apple was investing in an LCD factory that Toshiba was building in Ishikawa, Japan. However, a Toshiba spokesman told Reuters that "the report was untrue and nothing had been decided" regarding Apple's involvement in the new factory.
Days later, Nikkei reported that Apple would partner with Sharp to build a $1.2 billion facility. According to the newspaper, Apple would be responsible for a "large portion" of the facility and would buy "most" of the panels produced by Sharp. The Sharp plant is expected to begin production in the second half of 2012.
LCD panel production has caused bottlenecks in Apple's supply chain in the past. The limited launch supply of both the original iPad and the iPad 2 has been attributed to LCD delays.
14 Comments
Could be quake related. Eastern Japan is still under electricity rationing. It would be a risky investment if the site would not be able to function at full capacity because of power or raw material delivery issues. Most of the ports in northeastern Honshu were heavily damaged from the tsunami.
Western Japan has no electricity rationing. The two halves of Japan are unable to share electricity due to incompatible grids.
America has hundreds of thousands of young adults standing at the street corners yearning to work in a manufacturing plant.
Hundreds of thousands of young adults yearning to earn 30¢ per hour? I don?t think so.
When will America's corporations start building things in the U.S. again? Apple's components should be built by General Electric and other U.S. tech companies in the U.S. These contracts should be awarded to U.S. companies with the condition that the products must be built in the United States. America has hundreds of thousands of young adults standing at the street corners yearning to work in a manufacturing plant. http://www.digitalundivide.com
When the US can make a similar product at a competitive price which basically means never, as US labor costs are astronomical when compared to counties like China and Korea for example. Everyone says they would pay extra for a made in USA product but history shows they don't and won't unless the made in USA product actually costs less.
Correct.
Levi Strauss eliminated all their US domestic manufacturing about 15-20 years ago for this reason. If you wanted to buy US-manufactured 501s today, they would probably be around $200 dollars, similarly priced to Japanese denim jeans.
Hundreds of thousands of young adults yearning to earn 30¢ per hour? I don?t think so.
Certainly not the case in Japan.
But as long as the disparity between the boss and the employee is so wide, perhaps the greed amongst the boys at the top will dictate that creating jobs is not a real concern for American management.
As reported,
While Japan maintains a relatively low CEO-to-worker pay ratio, the average American CEO now earns 319 times as much as the average American worker.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/08/...merican-sixth/