iSuppli: Apple ‘significantly’ lowered 2008 NAND forecast

Apple has lowered its 2008 NAND flash memory order forecast, a new report indicates. According to iSuppli, the company “has slashed its 2008 NAND order forecast significantly and has informed suppliers that its demand growth will slow in 2008 compared to 2007.” The reports states that this is expected to have a large impact on the NAND market overall, as Apple was the world’s third largest OEM buyer of NAND memory in 2007, with purchases of $1.2 billion, which represents 13.1 percent of the global market. Apple currently uses NAND flash memory in most of its portable consumer devices, including the iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, and the iPhone. Prior to learning of Apple’s lowered forecast, iSuppli had predicted that the company’s NAND purchases would rise 32.2 percent this year, helping to encourage significant market growth.