This he feels is GOOD - and that Apple should do more of this. Here's what happened. The stores warehouses remained full. The sales force went back to sell more Apple computers to the retailers, and found that they weren't buying anything because consumer demand was too low for the low margin machines. So they get their sales breaks and offer rebates to retailers to pass on promotional incentives to move the units again.
Problem is - it's too little too late.
What they sell - is a loss on the balance sheet. This is how Apple snatched the largest loss hit for two consecutive quarters less than 2 years ago during a time period when the rest of the industry was struggling to keep up with demand. Otherwise known as snagging defeat from the jaws of victory. Time travel to today. Now we have to start another round of promotions to get them moving.