5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Oct. 20

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week is Apple, which is reportedly cutting back on production of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus as a result of slow demand. Also making the list this week is Lenovo, which is laying off off 2 percent of its workforce; MobileIron, which replaced its CEO amid a weak earnings outlook; BlackBerry, which lost an executive focused on its critical licensing business; and the numerous technology vendors affected by the KRACK WPA2 vulnerability.

In the following slides, we've got the key details on why these companies had such a challenging week.

Apple Reportedly Cutting Back On iPhone 8/8 Plus Production

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus began shipping on Sept. 22, but reports suggest the new models may be seeing weaker-than-expected demand due to the upcoming release of the iPhone X, which ships Nov. 3. The iPhone X represents a major redesign of the smartphone line with a nearly edge-to-edge display, while the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have a similar design to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Citing news reports from Asia, Bloomberg reported this week that Apple has cut its production order for the iPhone 8 models by more than 50 percent.

The company will offer further indications about early sales of the iPhone 8 models when it reports its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Nov. 2.

Lenovo Cuts 2 Percent Of Its Workforce

PC market giant Lenovo has laid off about 2 percent of its workforce, including an undisclosed number in its Americas headquarters in Morrisville, N.C., the company confirmed this week. The cuts come as the company contends with diminished standing in the global PC market, partner uproar over recent rebate and pricing changes, as well as the challenges of launching a new data center strategy.

Worldwide, Lenovo has about 52,000 employees in 160 countries. Lenovo's enterprise business is run from its U.S. headquarters, which has about 2,700 employees.

Lenovo began notifying employees of the layoffs in late September. All those affected have now been notified, though the company said it does expect to make more cuts.

Lenovo is "on the right path to profitable growth [and is] taking this step now to ensure that we are as competitive and cost-efficient as we can be," a spokesman said.

MobileIron Replaces CEO Amid A Weak Earnings Outlook

Mobile device management company MobileIron said this week that, less than two years into his tenure, CEO Barry Mainz (pictured) is leaving the company and being replaced with Chief Financial Officer Simon Biddiscombe. The news came as MobileIron shared preliminary results for the third quarter, ended Sept. 30, with quarterly revenue pegged at between $42 million and $43 million. That's below a consensus of Wall Street analyst estimates, which had forecast that MobileIron's sales for the quarter would reach $45.2 million. The company reports its third-quarter results on Oct. 31.

Mainz had served as CEO of MobileIron since January 2016. In the last 36 months, MobileIron shares have lost about two-thirds of their value.

BlackBerry Loses Another Executive Focused On Its Critical Licensing Business

For the second time this month, BlackBerry has seen the departure of an executive involved with the company's patent licensing efforts. The licensing business has become a key focus for BlackBerry, which reportedly holds 40,000 patents, as the company looks to reverse its falling revenue while continuing to shift to a software model. The latest executive to leave BlackBerry is Victor Schubert (pictured), who disclosed this week that he has departed his role as a licensing director at the company. Earlier this month, BlackBerry saw the departure of Mark Kokes, who had headed the company's patent licensing arm.

Numerous Vendors Affected By The KRACK WPA2 Vulnerability

The new KRACK (key reinstallation attack) vulnerability could impact all devices using WPA2 protocols to secure their Wi-Fi networks, according to a report released this week. The "serious weakness" in the WPA2 protocol allows for attackers to not only read and steal information transmitted across Wi-Fi, but also potentially manipulate the data or insert malware. The vulnerability was discovered by Mathy Vanhoef and Frank Piessens at KU Leuven and announced by US-CERT Monday. The KRACK vulnerability isn't a problem with the encryption itself, but rather in the "handshake process" and the way the device connects to the access point.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that affected vendors include Aruba Networks, Cisco Systems, Fortinet, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Ruckus Wireless, Samsung and Sophos. Researchers, however, noted that they weren't sure if the vulnerability has yet been exploited in the wild.