Apple had a raring September quarter – In fact, the best of all time. And this is saying something considering that this quarter is usually when Apple unveils new devices, and sales peak as people rush to get their hands on the latest iteration of iPad, Macbook, iPhone, or whatever else Apple has chosen to unveil. Interestingly enough, these numbers failed to impress investors, sending the company’s stock tumbling.
Post Apple’s earnings call, its stock went to a low of 206, from an initial high of $222.22, which could point towards the fact that despite the great numbers, investors weren’t very happy with Apple. Why that could have happened? Let’s try and find out by taking an in-depth look at the findings from Apple’s earnings call.
No More Unit Sales Numbers:
In a departure from tradition, Apple has decided to stop reporting unit sales numbers. So, Apple will no longer be announcing to the world that “Hey, we sold X numbers of iPhones, or iPads, or Macboooks this year”. Many of Apple’s competitors have already stopped reporting numbers however, the Cupertino giant had so far honored the tradition.
Meanwhile, the decision to stop reporting numbers stems from the fact that smartphone sales are plateauing across the globe. Not everyone is going to be able to pick up a new Apple device when they come out because one, they are expensive, and two, people have to eat. As such, sales are invariably not going to keep on increasing year after year. In view of this, Apple has decided to stop reporting numbers even as it tries to plug the gap through oter means — such as by raising the prices of the devices it launches.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also attributed some of these losses to under performance in Turkey, India, Brazil and Russia. Interestingly, China did not make this list as sales there have grown by over 16 percent. This increase in sales was accompanied by an increase in service revenue as well.
Cook also reiterated Apple’s commitment to healthcare, stating that his company was working on all ew products and services.
I don’t wanna give away what we’re doing but this is an area of major interest to us.
Services are “Da Bomb”
Apple has been investing fairly heavily in the services sector. And it seems like the company’s efforts are paying off as it just realized its best quarter even in terms of revenues from services. The company’s revenues from services stood at a massive $10 Billion. And this seems to have further reiterated Cook’s conviction to strengthen Apple’s position as an independent service provider.
We’ve added new services to our portfolio over the past few years. And clearly we will want to continue to offer new services over time.
On the topic of emerging markets such as India, Apple said that it had been having trouble. The company also blamed its lower guidance for sales going into the next year on weaker emerging markets, and said that sales may come in lower than Wall Street’s expectations. Of course, it doesn’t help matters that the currencies being used in these markets has also depreciated against the US dollar.
2 comments