Strong sales of the new iPad helped boost Apple's March quarter earnings. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired
In fact, Apple saw its strongest March quarter ever, resulting in a net profit of $6 billion. Sales for the iPhone and iPad continue to lead Apple’s fiscal success, delivering a combined revenue of $29.2 billion out of Apple’s total $39.2 billion in revenue Q2 2012.
iPhone sales have barely slowed since the debut of the iPhone 4S in early October. Since the new year, Apple has sold 35.1 million iPhones, which amounts to 88 percent unit growth over Q2 of last year. These number make Q2 2012 Apple’s second best quarter for iPhone sales, only trailing behind last quarter’s record-breaking sales of 37 million iPhones.
iPhones sold especially well in Japan, Asia Pacific and China. Sales doubled in Japan and the Asia Pacific markets, and in China, Apple sold five times as many iPhones as it did last year. This is partly due to the January iPhone 4S release in China, and the addition of China Telecom as a carrier partner.
iPad sales slumped slightly compared to the holiday quarter. The likely reason: The new iPad didn’t arrive until the end of the quarter in March. In fact, it had only two weeks to impact Q2. So, for a good portion of the quarter, would-be iPad buyers held onto their money in anticipation of the new tablet. Nonetheless, Apple sold 11.8 million iPads this quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.
“The new iPad is on fire. We are selling them as fast as we can make them,” Apple Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said in an earnings call on Tuesday.
The iPad is the fastest-selling Apple product to date. According to Oppenheimer, Apple has sold a total of 67 million iPads since the original tablet’s release two years ago. By comparison, it took 24 years for Macs, five years for iPods, and three years for iPhones to reach 67 million in sales.
Oppenheimer also highlighted the iPad’s use in education, noting that Apple sold two iPads for each Mac sold to K-12 institutions. The iPad is also making strides in the enterprise field. For instance, the U.S. Air Force is deploying iPads in technical flight bags for pilots, Oppenheimer said.
The iPad 2 still has a firm place in Apple lineup, too. When Apple launched the newest iPad, it offered the iPad 2 for a lower price. “On iPad 2 and the change in the entry price, we’re actually thrilled with the results that we’ve seen,” CEO Tim Cook said during the earnings call. “The absolute sales of the iPad 2 is very exciting.”
Macs saw slower growth — 4 million units sold, which is only a 7 percent increase over Q2 2011. Cook attributed some of the slowdown to cannibalization from the iPad, but emphasized that overall market slowdown compared to last year played a much larger factor. Even so, Mac sales had a record March quarter.
Unsurprisingly, Apple’s iPod line continues on a slow decline. Only 7.7 million were sold, a 15 percent drop since last year, with sales of the iPod touch making up half of total iPod sales. Still, the iPod still accounts for more than 70 percent of the MP3 player market at large.
On the software side, Apple’s iCloud and iTunes aren’t doing too shabby either. Oppenheimer confirmed that iCloud has 125 million users since its October launch, and iTunes generated $1.9 million of revenue, a 35 percent increase from Q2 of last year.
While Tim Cook did not speak to specifics of future Apple products, he did note that the company will not get into the tablet-laptop hybrid market like some of its competitors. So don’t expect an iPadMacBook anytime soon.
“I think that anything can be forced to converge,” Cook said. “But the problem is that these products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point that what you have at the end of the day won’t please anyone. You can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but that probably won’t be pleasing to a user.”
Additional reporting by Christina Bonnington.
No comments:
Post a Comment