Power shortage for the holidays? | CNET News.com
Is this a perfect storm scenario for the PC industry? Take one massive battery recall, make good on replacing those batteries with new ones, and suddenly for want of a nail the inventory is lost. There have been past “disasters” in the PC industry supply chain. I remember a massive 3.5″ floppy shortage in the late 80s brought business to a standstill, and I recall something in the last ten years when a fire at a crucial component manufacturer knocked supply flat.
“That could spell problems for PC manufacturers. In its conference call last week, Compal cut its forecast for fourth-quarter notebook shipments to 4.6 million units, down from earlier predictions of 4.8 to 5 million. It blamed the change on a shortage of batteries.”
Add into the fourth quarter mix the looming release of Vista, and some buyers may be sitting on their wallets.
