Pegatron CEO says Bloomberg reporter made up report of ‘falling iPad mini demand’

Jordan Kahn

iPad_mini_inHand_Wht_iOS6_PRINT-600x688

Yesterday we decided not to run with a story published by Bloomberg that Pegatron’s forecasted 25 percent to 30 percent drop for second-quarter revenue was due to “falling iPad mini demand.” It seemed a little far fetched that an Apple supplier would be giving up specific information on product demand, something we know suppliers in Apple’s circle typically remain tight-lipped on. Today CEO of Pegatron Jason Cheng has confirmed our suspicions in an email to Fortune claiming that Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan made the iPad mini angle up.

While quoting an analyst’s expectations for iPad mini demand in Q2, Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan offered the following quote from Pegatron Chief Executive Officer Jason Cheng as proof:

A decline in revenue from the iPad Mini “is more on demand, while price has been stable. Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles, almost every item is moving in a negative direction.”

Pegatron chief Jason Cheng says he wasn’t referring to iPad mini specifically, but rather all of its products including all tablets and game consoles, while noting that “clearly refused” to answer Culpan’s questions related to specific products. Here’s what he had to say about the Bloomberg piece: Read more

iMac $125 off sale at Best Buy pushes new iMacs down to $1175 shipped (Update: Amazon matches)

9to5 Staff

From 9to5Toys.com

Screen Shot 2013-04-26 at 2.31.03 PMFind the best deals/buying advice at 9to5Mac.com/products

Update: As is often the case, Amazon has matched Best Buy (which could save some tax $)

Best Buy is taking $125 off all of their stock of iMacs for two days only. New iMacs now start at $1174.99 for the 21.5-inch variety and $1674.99 for the 27-inch variety shipped or site-to-store. These iMacs with super-slim profile were released late last year with low inventory and these are the deepest discounts we’ve seen.

More specials at Best Buy’s 2-Day sale. Read more

Apple’s evolution leaves it between two camps for investors, explains low share price (AAPL)

Ben Lovejoy

guidance

An insightful Reuters blog by financial journalist Felix Salmon suggests that Apple’s surprisingly low share price may be due to the evolving nature of the company leaving it between two sets of investors.

Conservative investors, who like slow-growing stocks with high dividends, are constitutionally uncomfortable with the volatility inherent in the tech world. And technology investors, who are happy taking that kind of risk, want to see substantial growth. Apple, notwithstanding the fact that it’s one of the most valuable companies in the world, is falling through the capital-markets cracks.

Apple always used to be the company which surprised and delighted investors and customers alike. Its guidance to investors was deliberately pessimistic, blowing through those figures when it reported actual revenue and earnings. It was notoriously secretive about new products, launching new ones in a playful manner with Steve Jobs’ famous ‘One more thing‘ moments… Read more

Feature

Apple more than doubles capital returns, $100B to be returned to shareholders by end of 2015

Seth Weintraub

Just off the wires, Apple is more than doubling its capital returns citing its inability to stop making more money than it can spend to “operate the business, invest in our future, and maintain flexibility to take advantage of strategic opportunities.”

As part of this program, Apple’s board has increased its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from the $10 billion level announced last year. This is the largest single share repurchase authorization in history and is expected to be executed by the end of calendar 2015. Apple also expects to utilize about $1 billion annually to net-share-settle vesting restricted stock units.

More details in the press release that follows: Read more

AAPL earnings preview: what the analysts expect

Ben Lovejoy

Update: AAPL blew away expectations.

At 4.30pm Eastern, Apple will report its Q2 results (and we’ll be covering it live). It’s the day when the last three months of analyst predictions and forecasts come home to roost.

Apple’s newly-realistic guidance revenue is $41b to $43b, with margins of 37.5 – 38.5 percent. These numbers would suggest earnings per share of just over $10 … Read more