iPhone 5's Got the Supply Chain On a String
With manufacturers gearing up for the launch of the iPhone 5 this coming fall, Apple's dominance of the entire IT supply chain is becoming increasingly apparent.
In fact, it's becoming less and less of an exaggeration to say that Apple owns the supply chain.
"Year over year, Apple on a dollars basis is expected to [be] outgrowing the overall tech supply chain," writes analyst Jim Suva. "In other words, without Apple, the supply chain is actually shrinking."
That's how the technology behemoth is able to hit its own special sweet spot of glossy products at competitive prices. As its market share has grown, its management has aggressively leveraged the company's purchasing power, driving prices and fulfillment time frames down.
Now, Apple wields remarkable influence over the global supply chain, setting the bar for how low manufacturers can go. In the ongoing hardware wars, it would seem that logistics is Apple's secret weapon.
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