supply chain

iPhone 5: See you in September

Three sources tell Reuters production for the new model will be starting in July or August

Reuters, a wire service that still maintains extensive bureaus in the Far East, cites "three people with direct knowledge of the company's supply chain" who say that Apple's (AAPL) next generation iPhone won't ship until September.

The new phone will be largely the same as the old one, according to Reuters, but will have a faster MORE

Apple's iPad 2 supplies improve

Online shipping delays shrank Thursday to 3 to 4 weeks from 4 to 5

Here's a surprise, given the U.S. stockouts, the disappointed customers and the queues already forming overseas in advance of the launch scheduled for Friday in 25 more countries:

The iPad 2 ship times on Apple's (AAPL) U.S. online store improved this afternoon, shrinking to 3-4 weeks from 4-5 weeks just this morning. The wait is even shorter in, MORE

Japan supplied 5 key iPad parts

In a post-tsunami teardown, iSuppli identifies vulnerabilities in Apple's supply chain

Many analysts have tried to gauge the effect of Japan's troubles on Apple's (AAPL) supply-constrained iPad 2, but the report issued Thursday afternoon by iSuppli's Andrew Rassweiler is the most thorough we've seen. He identifies five key components:

NAND flash memory from Toshiba Corp.
DRAM (dynamic random access memory) from Elpida Memory Inc.
An electronic compass from AKM Semiconductor
The touch screen overlay glass MORE

Apple's workplace violations report

Its own audit found toxic chemicals, underage workers, bribery and falsified records

"Foxconn is not a sweatshop," Steve Jobs told the audience at All Things Digital last June, speaking of the world's largest electronics manufacturer and Apple's (AAPL) primary supplier of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs.

But the company's 2011 Supplier Responsibility progress report, issued earlier this week, found plenty of room for improvement in its extensive Asian supply chain. In first-time MORE

65 million iPads in 2011? Not likely.

An estimate based on chatter among touch-panel suppliers seems way out of line

Several sites early Wednesday picked up a report from Taiwan-based DigiTimes that suppliers of 9.7 inch iPad touch-panel screens had received orders from Apple (AAPL) totaling 65 million units for 2011 -- 35 million for LG Display and 15 million each for Samsung and Chimei Innolux.

DigiTimes, which has good sources in Apple's Asian supply chain, regularly publishes credible MORE

iPad 2: New details emerge

As Apple gears up production, its Asian supply chain has started to sprout leaks

Two cameras, front and rear. Slimmer. Lighter. A better-resolution display.

Those are the salient details in a Reuters report Friday describing the next-generation iPad, now entering production for what is presumed to be an April launch.

The report, datelined Hong Kong and Taipei, cites four unnamed sources who claim to have inside knowledge about five of Apple's (AAPL) suppliers.

Touchscreen MORE

iPad 2 on track for April launch

That's the target, according to the latest reports from Apple's Chinese supply chain

A report in DigiTimes early Tuesday that Foxconn has been ordered to begin shipping the next generation iPad within the next 100 days -- with initial shipments to reach 400,000 to 600,000 units -- sparked a flurry of headlines suggesting that Apple (AAPL) had shortened its production cycle and might start selling the iPad 2 before the end MORE

Is the SEC targeting Apple analysts?

"Channel checks" come under suspicion in a government probe of insider trading

"Wall Street analysts have been left bewildered," writes Susan Pulliam in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, "as federal prosecutors begin to home in on insider-trading cases that appear to involve routinely published information about public-company supply chains."

Case in point: Apple (AAPL), a hot stock with an unusually secretive corporate culture. Today, dozens of analysts and so-called MORE

Still afraid of the "S" word?

Get over it: There's good reason to share data with your customers, suppliers and subcontractors.

By Jim Lawton, senior vice president, D&B

Toothpaste, dog food or children's toys: Which one of these tainted products could have been prevented from coming to market?

The fact is that all of them could have been stopped – well before any consumers were harmed.  How? Manufacturers and retailers could have shared "secrets" about supplier MORE