Coronavirus Outbreak May Halve China's Smartphone Sales in First Quarter

[IIGS User]

Seems strange to be concerned about smartphone sales during an epidemic but okay

World keeps spinning.

Smartphone sales are big business for China. A huge part of their, and the world economy.

Either this epidemic will burn itself out, or we all end up dead. Sooner or later, money changes hands, and business is business.

To not be concerned with smartphone sales during an ongoing epidemic could be suicide for some companies.

Even in the worst of times, and the face of certain death, someone's gotta run things. Those people need information to make decisions that are based on the best information when the troubles pass.

A lot of lives, jobs, and futures are ties to smartphone sales, so yeah, it's important to track it even during an epidemic....

 

[aviddk]

Ebola has been prominent in Africa for all these years and people barely talk about it anymore.

The people doing the talking aren't affected by Ebola. It doesn't appear to be transmittable outside Africa. OTOH we already know from several cases Coronavirus can be. If the purported serious complication rate is 20% then it would overwhelm many countries medical systems.

 

[smirking]

Ebola has been prominent in Africa for all these years and people barely talk about it anymore.

1. Ebola is bad, but we know exactly what it can do and the things that can be done to limit its transmission.
2. There is a vaccine for Ebola.

We have neither of these conditions for the Novel Coronavirus. The part of not knowing exactly what it can do is the part that's most alarming because we simply do not know if it's just a pest or a killer.

Even if early indications are that it's just a pest that gives you the sniffles, until we have a chance to do more research on it, there's a fear that it could mutate into a killer. That fear is especially founded if you consider that a couple other coronaviruses had a much higher fatality rate. SARS killed about 10% of the people that got it and MERS killed 35% of its victims.

That's why health agencies around the world are freaking out. The spread of the latest coronavirus has already far exceeded the spread of the other ones before it and we just don't know what the long term implications are. So far it doesn't appear to be highly lethal, but even that's not entirely certain. It's possible that people who get it develop elevated risks for cancer or heart disease... you name it.

That's the problem with not knowing what we're fighting so it's a far better idea to possibly overreact than to try and push back on the ocean when the town is already underwater.

 

[RogerWilco]

Like how CDC's BSL-4 lab is on the campus of Emory University in the middle of Atlanta? Or Boston University's BSL-4 NEIDL is in the middle of Boston? Or National High Security Laboratory in downtown Melbourne ? How about Bernhard Nocht Institute in Berlin?

Yes, all of those locations are just as bad. Look at the past anthrax releases in Russia and the United States, they originated from government bio labs with supposedly layered security and numerous safety protocols.

 

[5105973]

1. Ebola is bad, but we know exactly what it can do and the things that can be done to limit its transmission.
2. We actually have a vaccine for Ebola.

We have neither of these conditions for the Novel Coronavirus. The part of not knowing exactly what it can do is the part that's most alarming because we simply do not know if it's just a pest or a killer.

Even if early indications are that it's just a pest that gives you the sniffles, until we have a chance to do more research on it, there's a fear that it could mutate into a killer. That fear is especially founded if you consider that a couple other coronaviruses had a much higher fatality rate. SARS killed about 10% of the people that got it and MERS killed 35% of its victims.

That's why health agencies around the world are freaking out. The spread of the latest coronavirus has already far exceeded the spread of the other ones before it and we just don't know what the long term implications are. So far, it doesn't appear to be highly lethal, but that's even that's not entirely certain. It's possible that people who get it develop elevated risks for cancer or heart disease... you name it.

That's the problem with not knowing what we're fighting so it's a far better idea to possibly overreact than to try and push back on the ocean when the town is already underwater.

The reason I have concerns over this virus is that I’ve seen what a coronavirus can do when it’s mutated into a lethal form due to pre-existing conditions. It broke everyone one of our hearts when it killed our cat, who could have lived an almost normal lifespan even with her pre-existing diseases.

If it had been coronavirus alone, she would just have had a bad cold. In fact she started with a bad cold. She would have died in agony with peritonitis had we not had her sedated and then put to sleep.

So here my husband and I are, caretakers to 3 elders with pre existing conditions. We are also parents. And we now have pre-existing conditions ourselves.

Mine might put me at risk for peritonitis like my poor cat had. I have a daughter in the same boat, actually. We have a genetic autoimmune disease that isn’t kind to our digestive system and already suffer enough.

So far, most of the deaths we’ve hear about have been in adults with pre-existing conditions. And that’s about all the details I’ve seen so far.

And then there’s the concern our medications supply could end up disrupted or halted entirely by supply chain issues in China.

So I agree with you, this virus is nothing to brush off. It’s not something to freak out over either. It is something to plan for and think through.

 

[definitive]

looking at all the leaked info from different news sources, it's not the only thing that the virus might halve in china...

 

[MacWorld78]

Easy for politicians: take the stick, point to the other guy and say "It's his fault!" and then repeatedly apply the stick to his head with great force and rapid frequency.
That's how you solve 21st century problems.

You know this can happen from any Countries!

I think it would be a good ideal of all Countries to work together as teamwork - blame, hater, anger, greed and dominate power won’t do any good it just makes things worse obviously.

 

[compwiz1202]

I actually think it's funny that anyone takes these pandemic scares seriously. it's that time of the year folks! Time for the CDC to come up with a new disease that's gonna kill us all! It's every February too. Let's look at the list shall we, and none of it's complete or in order but here we go:

1. The SARS epidemic
2. Killer Bees going to come to the USA
3. Hanta Virus
4. Bird Flu
5. Pig Flu
6. Zika Virus
7. Ebola Virus
8. Mad Cow Disease
9. Should I even add Y2K???

Meanwhile I enjoy sitting back, munching some popcorn and watching the lemmings...

Heck I read about more issues from Y2K20 than Y2K!
[automerge]1581372029[/automerge]

Calm down little girls. Nobody is choosing sales over safety with this article.

Yea just because someone is reporting other effect doesn't mean they want everyone to work until they die from it and infect the whole world.
[automerge]1581372225[/automerge]

This is so dumb. You realize nearly all of those didn’t escalate because of the precautions and attention given by governments, the CDC/WHO etc right? Even with Y2K months of work was put into preventing anything from happening.

So you’re essentially complaining that people did their jobs too well and contained these things.

This is the issue with the world in general. If you work behind the scenes and keep everything working, no one gives an eff. You're better off letting something break and then fixing it, and then you're a hero. Same with the good workers vs bad worker. God forbid a good worker messes up, but if the bad worker does one thing right, there's a freaking party!!!

 

[smirking]

So I agree with you, this virus is nothing to brush off. It’s not something to freak out over either. It is something to plan for and think through.

Indeed. If you're not in one of the hot zones, it's nothing to freak out about, but it couldn't hurt to put a little extra effort into hygiene and to stay home if you get sick. If nothing else, you'll be less likely to catch the flu and it's a nasty flu year so don't go passing that around either.

 

[5105973]

Heck I read about more issues from Y2K20 than Y2K!
[automerge]1581372029[/automerge]

Yea just because someone is reporting other effect doesn't mean they want everyone to work until they die from it and infect the whole world.

My husband got pulled aside to work on y2K mitigation. As did many of my friends. A lot of programmers were pulled aside from lucrative projects or consultants were called in. That’s why y2K didn’t materialize into a complete disaster. Businesses did what they needed to do. They took the matter seriously for the most part and fixed it. It wasn’t ever going to be a major catastrophe once people paid attention and put some effort in. It was a huge threat only when businesses kept putting it off.

It’s like our messy dated infrastructure and our healthcare system. That often gets huge press because it’s persistently neglected or fought over so disaster is always over the horizon. It all could be fixed if everyone did their part and focused. But there is way too much dithering. There are meanwhile individuals and companies making their own workarounds. People find a way. But sometimes we need everyone working together at the same time on the same thing. And y2K was an example of a time we all did.

I hope this post makes sense. Ironically, I’m sick. I have a cold. At least I hope that’s all it is.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

1. Ebola is bad, but we know exactly what it can do and the things that can be done to limit its transmission.
2. There is a vaccine for Ebola.

We have neither of these conditions for the Novel Coronavirus. The part of not knowing exactly what it can do is the part that's most alarming because we simply do not know if it's just a pest or a killer.

Even if early indications are that it's just a pest that gives you the sniffles, until we have a chance to do more research on it, there's a fear that it could mutate into a killer. That fear is especially founded if you consider that a couple other coronaviruses had a much higher fatality rate. SARS killed about 10% of the people that got it and MERS killed 35% of its victims.

That's why health agencies around the world are freaking out. The spread of the latest coronavirus has already far exceeded the spread of the other ones before it and we just don't know what the long term implications are. So far it doesn't appear to be highly lethal, but even that's not entirely certain. It's possible that people who get it develop elevated risks for cancer or heart disease... you name it.

That's the problem with not knowing what we're fighting so it's a far better idea to possibly overreact than to try and push back on the ocean when the town is already underwater.

"push back on the ocean when the town is already underwater" - wow, what a wonderful analogy to finish with, very clever!

 

[Cosmosent]

China is reporting today that the incubation period is 24 days, NOT 14 days as they originally thought.

Based on that & that so little is still known:

Apple cannot announce ANY new products in March !

Unless they give NO Availability Date ! ... which is a possibility.

 

[MacBH928]

After this year is over, Cook will be seriously thinking about manufacturing all his products in one country, its the old "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" metaphor

 

[Septembersrain]

This seems to have one heck of an incubation period. It might not be as lethal as say SARS but it does seem to spread easily. I wonder the true tally of infected and dead. We know China isn't telling the whole story and they've denied help. It's unnerving.

 

[5105973]

After this year is over, Cook will be seriously thinking about manufacturing all his products in one country, its the old "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" metaphor

I think a lot of companies are going to rethink their dependency on China. Look at what was just uncovered about their military hacking consumer data. Not to mention all the other things too PRSI to go into here. It’s a real wake up call.

We don’t need to completely shun working with China. But like you said, we’ve got way too much vulnerability thanks to years of putting all of our eggs in one basket.

It’s not just virus and politics, but climate change and leadership instability that makes the idea of settled manufacturing rather obsolete. Earthquakes, mega storms, little dictators lobbing missles all over the place...there must be some job opportunities opening up for contingency planning consultants to help companies keep their supply chain nimble and adaptable.

I took logistics in college almost 30 years ago. It was such a static subject then. “Just-in-Time” was the fresh exciting concept then. Yeah sure...zzzzz. I did well in it, but it was challenging staying awake for the lectures.

I can see now how logistics would be kind of exciting and dynamic. I can see how Just-in-Time could end up being costly in some situations and a new concept would be needed. It all reminds me of Sim City with the disaster recovery parts.

And no I’m not trying to make light of the fact people are actually dying. But we are going to have real serious problems keeping people in all countries supplied with what they need to live, if we don’t accept the world is a dynamic place and we can’t do things like it’s still 2009.

 

[nicho]

And no I’m not trying to make light of the fact people are actually dying. But we are going to have real serious problems keeping people in all countries supplied with what they need to live, if we don’t accept the world is a dynamic place and we can’t do things like it’s still 2009.

I was thinking about this recently. Obviously China is struggling to keep up with some of the medical supplies it needs itself - but if this spreads and other countries need them too, won't they be even more screwed? How many medical mask factories are there outside of Asia, I wonder (assuming that Thailand/Vietnam/Korea have some, and I've seen that Japan does)?

 

[Sodium Chloride]

Why did the lady wear a mask? Does it mean the iPhone had a virus?

 

[V_Man]

Yep, people are dying from this virus and all we care about is how it will affect sales. I suppose the Chinese worker is expendable as long as production continues at its regular pace.

To be honest. Thousands of people die everyday. I feel bad for the families who have lost loved ones.

The corona virus is a threat but will be contained. It’s nature doing what it does. It can be brutal at times.

 

[5105973]

Why did the lady wear a mask? Does it mean the iPhone had a virus?

Lol, I’m sure that’s to keep condensation from her breath plus any stray nostril hairs and skin flakes off. Eww. Hospitals aren’t the only places that need high levels of cleanliness and sanitation.

 

[Tech198]

lol. contagious...Well, at least it's good to know its impacting in 'other' areas as well.