Apple CEO Tim Cook took time on the company’s earnings call today to comment on a specific rumor, which is an extreme oddity for Apple’s top-tier executives. He prefaced it by saying he doesn’t want to make a habit of addressing rumors, but went on to comment on recent reports that iPad and iPhone part order volumes have been cut owing to weak demand.
“I know there’s been lots of rumors about order cuts and so forth,” he said. “I would suggest it’s good to question the accuracy of any kind of rumor about build plans, and even if a particular data point were factual, it would be impossible to interpret that data point for what it means for our overall business.”
Cook ended his discussion of the issue by summarizing that a “single data point is not a great proxy for what’s going on.” The intent was clearly to defuse the ability of supply chain reports to affect analyst outlooks on the company and subsequently stock price, since the recent outburst of these kinds of stories coming from suppliers are likely a key component of recent stock price volatility.
