Apple are on a flyer at the moment, it has just been revealed they top the world richest brands list and they've had the most consecutive quarters of profit in corporate history, so nothing can stop them at the moment.
Well, that's not strictly true, mother nature has dealt a cruel blow to them with the Japanese Earthquake and they are in serious jeopardy of missing their ambitious targets of selling 7.5 million iPads and 20 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2011.
Other companies are so worried about the knock-on effects of the component shortages that they have begun to stockpile components, before the inevitable price rises start to kick in.
In a sense it's a perfect storm for technology companies; many of the components for tablets and phones originate from Japan where they are still reeling from the massive earthquake.
Reports in the Digitimes are suggesting that Asustek, Acer, Motorola, Apple, HTC and Quanta have all started making aggressive moves to try and limit the problem.
But will a massive amount of new tech coming out over the next 6 months it's hard to see how all of these companies are going to be able to combat the problem.
With labour shortages alongside material shortages in China, it’s thought that Apple is going to be facing difficulties with supplies for its iPad 2 and iPhone 4, with Foxconn reportedly unable to meet demand.
Foxconn told Digitimes that it is doing everything it can to make sure it meets the needs of its client, but was unable to quash rumours that labour shortages would affect shipments
While Apple has seen impressive sales of its iPhones it plans to build on its remarkable first quarter results, meaning piling even more pressure on suppliers, with whisperings that it will be doing the same for the iPad 2. It’s exactly what the local labour groups don’t want.
And this is not good news for Asus, whose Transformer tablet may have been muscled out somewhat by Apple’s long term supplier contracts.
Asus recently claimed that shortages were due to massive popularity rather than a lack of materials. Yeah but they would say that.
Factor in Sony releasing a new handheld, Nintendo’s new console, a million and one new honeycomb tablets and you’ve got an inordinate amount of new devices coming along in the next 6-12 months all sharing a lot of the same components.
Whatever happens you wouldn’t want to be a worker at Foxxconn – they’ve are being worked to the bone for the the west’s desires for the latest piece of tech.