back to article Sapphire glass maker's woes caused by Apple relationship 'breakdown'

Analysts have suggested the collapse of sapphire glass manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies may have been caused by a "breakdown" in relations with Apple. The iThing giant appeared to be determined to use the scratch-resistant wonder material in its new iPhones and the Apple Watch, but those plans were thrown into doubt on …

  1. oldtaku Silver badge
    Devil

    Well what did you expect?

    If you dance with the Devil then either you're going to be fabulously wealthy (and then he'll Get You later) or you're going to get burnt. You knew that going in. Suck it up. You gambled and you lost.

  2. SuccessCase

    Apology accepted, Captian Neda

    Thanks to John Gruber for that link

  3. Paratrooping Parrot
    Thumb Down

    The facilities

    I have a feeling that Apple may buy it on the cheap.

    1. Anonymoist Cowyard

      Re: The facilities

      Yep, that's the plan. They then get exclusivity, and the sapphire glass hype machine can be restarted.

      Its pretty much like what EE and vodaphone did to phones4u

      1. TheOtherHobbes

        Re: The facilities

        "Crash a wreck, buy the tech" seems to be becoming the default USian corporate 'partnership' model.

        1. g e

          Re: The facilities

          Doubtless adapted from bomb-the-shit-out-of-the-country-then-rebuild-with-US-construction-companies-and-bleed-its-treasury-dry-then-fuck-off-and-give-them-a-world-bank-loan approach to foreign policy in "some areas" of the world

  4. Neoc

    Well, duh

    "What we do not understand is why the two companies did not restructure the agreement to buy some time for GTAT and how did this relationship potentially breakdown to this extent"

    Because Apple's executive are back-stabbing SOBs who do not care about anything else but Apple's bottom-line. Why pay a premium when you can force the other company's stock-price down and buy it all for small change?

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Well, duh

      Because Apple's executive are back-stabbing SOBs who do not care about anything else but Apple's bottom-line. Why pay a premium when you can force the other company's stock-price down and buy it all for small change?

      How do you know that? Citation please?

      Have Apple done this before?

      We know that MS does this to stifle competition (EEE) but do Apple have a track record of this?

      1. chr0m4t1c

        Re: Well, duh

        I must admit, my first thought was that Apple had done this deliberately in order to buy them at a discount, but I am also unable to think of a single instance where they had followed this approach before.

        In fact, Apple have (so far) gone out of their way to avoid owning most of their own manufacturing capability, prefering to invest with existing companies to either improve their facilities or introduce a new capability and then have that investment be recouped as manufacturing discounts and/or guaranteed production levels.

        Natually, anyone who wants to continue to believe that Apple are evil should ignore any developments in this story that do not support that supposition.

        1. itzman

          Re: Well, duh

          Google terms such as 'arms length' and 'third party'

          Is someone else buys the wreck and the debt wasn't all apples, then apple gets cheap glass, and doesn't lose out on any loans it may have made too badly.

  5. Mark 85

    Not suitable for a phone...

    ....but suitable for a watch. Like maybe they were being trolled to supply for the iWatch? Are there other suppliers of this glass?

  6. Tom 7

    I do hope someone else buys it

    or an important part of it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I do hope someone else buys it

      I would think Corning's lawyers and board are going to have a long day today.

  7. MJI Silver badge

    Just glad

    I am glad my Hunter has nearly 200 Sapphire wires.

  8. Toothpick

    The GT CEO

    sold $10 million in stock since Feb 14; and 9000 shares ($160,000) two days before the Apple 6/6+ announcement. Coincidence?

    Apple may get the company on the cheap, but Apple pumped a load of cash into GT which allowed them to expand their operations. You can't compare what happened to Phones4U with this.

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      Re: The GT CEO

      Well, he's gonna have some explaining to do...

    2. Adam T

      Re: The GT CEO

      Indeed.

      He's claiming that the sale of stock was according to a plan laid out in March, but that doesn't make things any less dodgy.

      Put yourself in his shoes. It's March and you're well aware by now that your glass isn't going to be in the iPhone 6, while analysts and media pundits are bending over backwards spreading rumours that it is. What do you do? Sell...preferably discreetly, over the next 6 months.

  9. johnnymotel

    blame it on Wall Street Journal

    the whole iPhone 6 sapphire glass RUMOUR, was started by 'journalists' at the WSJ. Now the 6 doesn't have sapphire glass, these scurrilous 'journos' are backtracking fast. It's amazing that a trader can get jailed for a 10$ insider trade, but 'journos' like this, who can cause massive gyrations in stock prices get away scott free.

    1. Soap Distant

      Re: blame it on Wall Street Journal

      Perhaps some of those journos had bought shares in GT before they broke their "saphire iPhone 5" story/rumour?

      I've often wondered if there's collusion between stock traders and journos - like when they write "Bacon will take 5yrs off your life" type stories, are the traders all out buying pork futures the following day, knowing the general public will have forgotten how unsafe bacon is a week later?

      SD

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like