APPLE HAVE ANNOUNCED their results for the last three months, and, as is becoming the norm, the figures are pretty special.
However, the company had very little to say about how the much hyped (and much destroyed) Apple Watch is doing, with CEO Tim Cook speaking more in vague generalities about his company’s latest magnum opus, the first original hardware to be launched under his tenure.
Normally Apple are quite keen to tell the world how well their latest models are doing. Not so with the Watch, which officially went on sale on 24 April, with no sales figures forthcoming.
“Right now, demand is greater than supply, and so we’re working hard to remedy that,” Cook told an investors’ conference call.
Apple Watch margins will be lower than company average. It is a new product for us, and with any kind of new product, you wind up taking some time to fully ramp.
Sales of the company’s flagship iPhone 6 are up , strongly boosted by sales in China where takings of €15.3 (up 71%) billion outstripped that of America for the first time.
Cook says the company’s better performance in China is down to the country’s expanding middle class.
Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones up to end March, up 40% from a year ago. It sold 12.6 million iPads however, down 23% from this time last year.
The Apple Mac meanwhile continues to dominate the desktop market, as it has done consistently since 2013.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have proven very popular with customers worldwide, helping the company overtake Samsung in global smartphone sales for the first three months of the year.
Overall revenue rose to €53.2 billion for the quarter ended March 28, from €41.8 billion a year earlier. That beat industry expectations (of €51.3 billion) although not to the same extent as in previous quarters (Apple beating investor expectations is considered the norm at this stage).
The results have seen only muted reflection in Apple’s share price , with a moderate 1.6% boost to about €123.33. This may be a result of the stuttering Apple Watch launch, or just the company paying the price for their own history of high performance.
Don’t be worrying about Apple becoming paupers though. After this set of results they’re working with a cash pile of €178 billion.
And they’re still the most valuable company in the world, worth roughly €690 billion. Not to be sniffed at.
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