The Guardian:

Orders to Quanta from Rim are reported to have dropped substantially as the company struggles to cope with the excess inventory. At its earnings call last week company executives hinted that they would begin price promotions over the next two quarters to get the devices into end-users’ hands.Quanta’s decision to cut staff and production suggests that Rim does not expect to clear its inventory before the end of its current financial year, which ends next May.

The report estimates that RIM may have an unsold inventory of almost 800,000 Playbook tablets. Sluggish sales are the reason why Quanta, which manufactures the tablets for RIM, has cut back the number of contractors working at its factory.