Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.
Apple's worldwide logistics operation is now overseen by Michael Seifert, an Amazon.com veteran who joined the company in 2010. He reports up through the organization to Jeff Williams, Apple senior vice president of operations who runs the company's supply chain.
The logistics for a new gadget start months before it is unveiled, said the people with knowledge of the process. Apple first coordinates flights and trucks to move components from suppliers to assembly plants in China. Teams from sales, marketing, operations and finance collaborate to forecast how many devices the company expects to sell, said the people.
The internal estimate is crucial. An example of how that can go wrong is Microsoft's recent $900 million writedown because of unsold Surface tablets. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is now buying Nokia, adding employees with more experience building such hardware products.