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The big question is whether it is actually unreasonable for them to have 2.4 or 4.8 million in inventory. As he points out 700k isn't that much - not really eno
by nohat 15y ago
The big question is whether it is actually unreasonable for them to have 2.4 or 4.8 million in inventory. As he points out 700k isn't that much - not really enough to compensate for the proposed difference between reasonable and unreasonable excess inventory. Without much knowledge, I doubt that over estimating demand by a factor of ~4 is unreasonable.
- martingordon 15y agoTheir inventory went from $618M to $943M to $1,372M in Q1/Q2/Q3 2011 (while sticking around the $650M mark the two quarters prior), so it is entirely possible that they did grossly overestimate demand. Maybe each of their CEOs placed Playbooks orders without the other knowing?
- raganwald 15y agoI agree it’s guesswork. Are they writing 2.4 million tablets down to zero? 4.8 million tablets down to $99? Is either number ridiculous? The other possibility he questions is whether they reported as sales shipments that were not really sales. As he points out, there are upcoming opportunities to clarify these numbers, and I think that part of the purpose of the article is to goad analysts into throwing some hardball questions at RIM.