Two months after warning of slowing sales, Apple is once again saying it will report disappointing quarterly results, only this time things look significantly worse. For its first quarter ending December 30, the company now expects to report revenues of $1 billion, a 38% cut from the already scaled back US$1.6 billion figure it announced in its Q4 results.
Such a shortfall in sales will cause the company to report it’s first loss in three years. Excluding investments, Apple executives say losses will run US$225 to $250 million.
What’s to blame this time? Again, the company’s industry-leading inventory management is the culprit. Like last quarter, Apple says it will exit the period with a sizable chunk of unsold inventory. The company also says “unplanned sales promotions and pricing actions” are to blame.
Steve Jobs said the company plans to return to sustained profitability next quarter and once again pointed to new products and programs planned for 2001 that will kick start the company.
