Was Apple Hurt by Differing Views in Kindle Fire Pre-Launch?

Apple shares Tuesday rose more than 2 percent in early Tuesday trading, after Monday's 2.1 percent drop on an analyst's report that it was shaving orders for iPads as much as 25 percent.

The shares gained $2.00 in the first hour of trading to $405.18. The gains reflected pre-market activity.

Both reactions may have been to different analyst reports from JPMorganChase. Apple is fine, U.S.-based analyst Mark Moskowitz assured investors after Hong Kong-based analyst Gokul Hariharan wrote about lower orders to Apple's main Taiwanese supplier.

Moskowitz wrote after Monday's Apple drop that his colleague's view may have been on the impact to Hon Hai Precision Industries on potential iPad price cuts. This alert is not the view of the U.S. IT hardware team, he noted.

Hariharan had suggested Apple told principal vendor Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan to shave iPad orders to only 13 million units from about 17 million in the third quarter. No reason was cited for the trim.

Aside from expected competition from the new Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon expected to be sold for about half Apple iPad's $499 tag, Apple might also be anticipating a slowing global economy which could dampen fourth-quarter sales.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is a supply chain expert, known for keeping tabs on components, costs and inventory. Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., does not comment on market reports. The company has also not discussed when it expects to introduce new iPhone or iPad products for fourth-quarter sales.

To date, market researchers including IHSiSuppli suggest Apple iPads account for about 75 percent of the market, but last month's TouchPad debacle by Hewlett-Packard also showed enormous demand for a $99 tablet.

Amazon, based in Seattle, has scheduled a product launch for the Kindle Fire on Wednesday. Other tablets, from Sony and Samsung, have already been introduced to compete with the iPad.