Would the wind spinning for Apple? The Apple brand which in recent years has always posted impressive growth figures, is now marking time. IPhone sales have almost stood still in the very crucial holiday season. Worse, the group anticipates a decline in revenue for the current quarter, the most since the summer of 2001
Apple seems to have reached a kind of ceiling between October and December 2015. The group announced. , Tuesday, January 26, have sold 74.77 million iPhone, barely 270,000 more that a year ago. A number “ amazing ,” said Tim Cook, however, the group’s CEO. It is true that the bar was very high, since the last quarter of 2014 corresponded to the rise of the iPhone 6. Devices that were a rupture, especially in terms of screen size. Their renewed a year later was not as revolutionary, which is reflected in the evolution of sales.
216 000 000 000 Cash
Still, they have disappointed analysts, while the iPhone is the group’s cash cow: it represents over 60% of turnover and even more in terms of profits. “The trees do not grow to the sky , tempers Jean-Louis Gassée, a former executive of Apple, now converted into venture capital in Silicon Valley. We will see in the market for smartphones in the same pattern as in PCs, with fewer new customers and renewal and one or two companies that will continue to take market share while being able to identify a very good profitability. From this point of view, Apple is uniquely positioned, “ he said. Moreover, the Apple brand says it has never attracted as many former users of Android, the operating system from Google competitor.
However, iPhone sales are not the only ones to have taken against the foot analysts. The overall turnover, which grew by only 1.7% to 75.9 billion, also below estimates. Apple relies principally the rise of the dollar against other currencies. Excluding currency effects, sales would have jumped 8%, says the group.
But do not worry. Apple remains an impressive cash machine. “Our financial position has never been stronger,” says Cook The Group generated 18.36 billion dollars in profits between October and December, up 1.9%. As for his cash, it now stands at 216 billion, ten more than at the end of September. The CEO stressed that what makes the brand strength today they are loyal customers who redeem in most cases for Apple products.
While Mr. Cook says that the group continues to grow in China, despite the less favorable economic situation, he knows that the growth for the iPhone are becoming increasingly rare. Therefore, during the conference call on the results of the group, he emphasized the rise of services like Apple Music or application catalog. The Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri has stressed that this activity had increased 23% in one year to $ 31 billion. A development that “The market has not yet integrated” , sorry Mr. Maestri.
One billion devices Apple
“We are seeing a shift from the economic center of gravity of Apple , insists Mr. Gassée. Services grow and add more value to the material. Like Google with its search engine, Apple has been able to build an essential ecosystem for users and becomes increasingly profitable. “ The circle is more virtuous, now it’s in the world over one billion devices from Apple in business.
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Until this “slippage” is fully expressed, the current quarter is complicated for Apple announcement. The group expects a turnover between 50 and 53 billion. A wide range, reflecting the concerns of Apple volatility in the foreign exchange market. Anyway, if we take the middle of this range would represent a revenue decline of 11%. Not since 15 years back to find such a performance-cons. Mr. Maestri said that Apple was going to increase its prices in some markets to preserve its margins, which has the effect of slowing sales. The question is whether this slowdown is temporary or more durable
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