Tim Cook speaks! Apple's COO on Android, Japan, iPad 2

21.04.2011

Let me sort of step back and talk about Japan in general. First of all, this is an incredible tragedy and our hearts go out to everyone involved. Apple as a company has a very long history and has many strong ties to people in Japan, and we're very, very saddened by the situation, and we've undertaken various actions to assist in the relief effort. The economic impact that we'll address today pales in comparison to the human impact.

Regarding our business in Japan, we had some revenue impact in Q2, but it was not material to Apple's consolidated results. We believe revenues will be approximately $200 million less in Q3, and this has been factored into the guidance [we] provided you earlier.

Regarding our global supply chain, as a result of outstanding teamwork and unprecedented resilience of our partners, we did not have any supply or cost impact in our fiscal Q2 as a result as the tragedy, and we currently do not anticipate any material supply or cost impact in our fiscal Q3. To provide a bit more color on this, we source literally hundreds of items from Japan, and they range from components such as LCDs, optical drives, NAND flash and DRAM to base materials such as resins, coatings, and foils that are part of the production process that are several layers back in the supply chain. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami and the associated nuclear crisis caused disruption for many of these suppliers. And many unaffected suppliers have been impacted by power interruptions. But since the disaster, Apple employees have literally been working around the clock with our supply partners in Japan and have been able to implement a number of contingency plans. Our preference from the beginning of this tragedy has been to remain with our long-term partners in Japan, and I have to say, they have displayed an incredible resilience that I've personally never seen before in the aftermath of this disaster. So while we do not currently anticipate any material impact to our component supply or cost in our fiscal Q3, we do need to caution everyone that the situation remains unpredictable, given recent aftershocks, the uncertainty about the nuclear plant, and potential power interruptions.

Further, there are some supply risks that are beyond the current quarter, and although we know of no issue today that we view as unsolvable, the situation is still uncertain and there's obviously no guarantee. For this reason it's difficult to predict whether the issues created by the tragedy would impact revenues beyond Q3. However, I'll be happy to address Q4 on our next call in July.

As of today we currently do not anticipate any material supply (or cost impact as far as that goes) in our fiscal Q3. That's the quarter that we're in now, that ends in June. Beyond June, there are risks, but there's no issue that we're aware of today that we view as unsolvable. However, new things could happen. I'm sure you've been paying attention to the news: there's aftershocks, there's still uncertainty about the nuclear plant, there's power interruptions. If that stays at the level that it is today, I'm not as worried. I would worry if something happened and took a turn for the worst, and obviously I can't predict that and certainly hope that it does not occur.