Yesterday, Apple released the results for its 2013 fiscal third
quarter (which ran from March 31, 2013 to June 29, 2013) and held a
call with analysts to discuss the results. This is typically not a big
fiscal quarter for Apple; the important quarter for Apple every year is
the first fiscal quarter containing the holiday sales season. And many potential Apple customers have been in a wait-and-see mode because it is widely known that Apple will be announcing new products in just a few months. Nevertheless, it was yet another profitable quarter for Apple, with
Apple announcing quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion (essentially the same as the $35 billion that Apple saw this time last year) and and quarterly net
profit of $6.9 billion (down from the $8.8 billion in profit this time last year). If you want to get all of the nitty gritty
details, you can download the audio from the announcement conference
call from iTunes, or you can read a rough transcript of the call prepared by Seeking Alpha. Apple's official press release is here. Here are the things said on the call yesterday that I think would be of interest to iPhone and iPad users:
- Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones, which is pretty impressive considering that there is a large number of people who are waiting until this Fall to purchase an iPhone when Apple announces the new model for 2013. That's the largest number of iPhones that Apple has ever sold in a fiscal third quarter. Apple CFO Peter Openheimer said: "iPhone sales were ahead of our expectations, and we were particularly pleased with very strong year-over-year growth in iPhone sales in a number of both developed and emerging markets including the U.S., UK, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, Thailand and Singapore. iPhone 5 remains by far the most popular iPhone, but we were also very happy with sales of iPhone 4 and 4S." By my count, as of June 29, 2013, Apple had sold over 383 million iPhones.
- Oppenheimer emphasized the success of the iPhone for corporate users: "iPhone also continues to be the smartphone of choice for business. Given the security and stability of iOS, enterprise and government customers continue to deploy iPhone on their networks in ways that go far beyond personal productivity. Companies have built tens of thousands of custom apps to improve every aspect of their business. Global companies including American Airlines, Cisco, General Electric, Roche and SAP have deployed more than 25,000 iPhones each across their organizations. U.S. government organizations such NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ATF and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency are supporting and managing thousands of iPhones on their networks and continue to create both customer facing and internal iOS apps. In just this past quarter, iOS 6 was granted FIPS 140-2 validation by the U.S. Federal Government, and approval by the U.S. Department of Defense to connect to their networks. Combining sales for business, government and education customers, iPhone holds a 62.5% share of the U.S. commercial market based on the latest quarterly data published by IDC."
- The iPhone accounted for 51% of Apple revenue last quarter. Apple may have once been known as a computer company, and perhaps at some point in the future they will be known primarily as an iPad company, but right now it would be fair to think of Apple as an iPhone company.
- iPhone market share is always difficult to determine because other companies don't report precise numbers like Apple does. But Apple noted yesterday that according to business analytics company comScore, the iPhone had 39% of the U.S. smartphone market in March through May of 2013.
- Apple sold 14.6 million iPads. By my count, that means that as of June 29, 2013, Apple had sold over 154 million iPads.
- Just as he did for the iPhone, Oppenheimer emphasized that corporate customers love the iPad. "In every major industry around the world, companies are developing, deploying and supporting apps for iPad. Government organizations as well as global enterprise companies across diverse fields, including automotive, insurance, energy services and healthcare, are using iPad and custom apps to create unique, meaningful experiences for their employees, partners, and customers. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service has deployed thousands of iPads to in-person interviewers resulting in higher response rates and decreased cost. And companies including Eli Lilly, Novartis, Cathay Life, Roche, and SAP have deployed over 20,000 iPads each across their organizations."
- The iPad accounted for 18% of Apple's revenue last quarter. Put that together with the iPhone and that means that almost 70% of the company's revenue came from iOS devices.
- Apple never announces new products in a fiscal results conference call, but when asked about new product categories, Apple CEO Tim Cook did say: "We are working on some stuff that we are really proud of and we will see how it does, and we will announce things when we are ready." Recall that three months ago, Oppenheimer said: "I don't want to be more specific, but I'm just saying we've got some really great stuff coming in the Fall and across all of 2014."
- I think it is safe to assume that some of the "great stuff" coming in "Fall" of 2013 is a new iPhone. But when will we see it, September or October? (The iPhone 5 was announced on September 12, 2012 and went on sale September 21, 2012.) We are currently in the Apple fiscal fourth quarter, which will end in late September, and an analyst asked on the call whether we would see new products in the Apple fiscal fourth quarter. Unsurprisingly, Apple executives declined to answer the question, so we will just have to wait and see.
