With the death toll rising to more than 1000, the coronavirus outbreak has shaken the world & it has gripped not just technology,but many industries. This is considered to be one of the toughest times for multiple companies & industries as a whole as the epidemic has had a powerful impact on the production & sales of their products/services.
One such company badly hit from this epidemic in question is Apple. Apple, which has already been a giant in the mobile industry, had bet big in the China market looking at the demand for their phones.
On Monday, Apple was the first one to comment on how the coronavirus outbreak has hit its business. The epidemic cut their sales expectations from this quarter which they expected to be sturdy a month ago. The company said that its production was hampered as the country was hit by the virus. Unfortunately, last month they had to close 42 of its stores in China & most of them are yet not reopened.
Apple, in a statement, had said, “Work is starting to resume around the country, but we are experiencing a slower return to normal conditions than we had anticipated.” Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, said that Apple’s action Monday “is the first of many we’re going to see around the coronavirus impact.” He further added, saying “Apple is heavily exposed. It confirms the worst fears that the iPhone impact was going to be more dramatic than expected.”
Assembling of most of the products of Apple also happens in China. The Taiwan Company, Foxconn that makes gadgets & iPhones for Apple& many other global electronics companies earlier even rubbished reports of them wanting to reach 50% production levels as the month ends. It also declined to provide details of which plants since the Lunar New Year holiday ended, reopened.
There are multiple global companies which had been mostly dependent on China for their production or manufacturing & the Chinese consumers, on the other hand, had also been enthusiastic buyers of iPhones, luxury goods & many other tech products.
Apple has been the forerunner in the supply & demand of goods globally & in recent years had made China its huge market. In the last decade, the chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, worked closely with the telecom providers of China for introducing the iPhone in the country.
