An explosion engulfed a plant for the production of iPad Friday, killing three workers and injuring 15 more in Chengdu, China.
Apple (AAPL) and Foxconn Technology Group, the owner of the factory, are not certain what caused the explosion, but the closure resulting may have a serious effect of the iPad 2 s everywhere in the world, according to a Bloomberg story. The plant already has been forced to close and is not expected to reopen for about a month.
That could mean a loss of 500,000 iPads for Apple during a time when the company is still struggling to meet the orders and prices for the hot-selling device on the sites of the auction like eBay (EBAY) are still well above retail. The actual losses to Apple will depend on how long the plant remains closed, according to market research firm iSuppli.
Foxconn has another plant in Shenzhen, China iPad, but iSuppli notes that it might not be able to withstand the weight of the two plants. That could reduce the number of manufacturing Apple iPad 2 below the 7.4 million predicted by iSuppli as hitting the stores at the end of June, and it could put a damper on the device supplies in at least in some regions.
Analysts appear divided about a significant impact in how the explosion might have on Apple and the iPad, however. On the one hand, tech Analyst Mike Abramsky of RBC markets of capital think if Chengdu was primary Apple iPad supply factory (instead of Shenzhen), losses could pile up to 1.8 to 2.8 million iPads – fall much less shipments of iPad expected Abramsky 8 million at the end of the quarter.
On the other hand is analyst Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee. A report, he wrote today puts Apple on sale late June 6.8 million iPads and iPad said production is already be increased to cover the shortfall of Chengdu.
Latest IPad of Apple has been in high demand since the day when it was announced in March. Since then, pre-orders of Apple online retailer were empty for weeks due to high demand and resellers made some of the devices available on sites such as eBay to capitalize on the hype. Things have slowed since then, with iPads showing the Best Buy (BBY) and target (TGT) stores as well as in Apple and Apple Portal online stores. But if the losses for the supply of Chengdu are important, it is not crazy to assume iPads might be short offer once again, as the bears summer, potentially having an effect on Apple and its plans for the device as it is in its Conference of developers around the world in June.
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