App Store Sees Best Quarter Ever With 24% Revenue Growth
During today’s third quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook highlighted App Store sales, noting that the iOS and Mac App Stores saw their best quarter ever, with a 24 percent growth in revenue. The number of transacting customers also grew by 19 percent.
The services category, which includes the App Store, iTunes, Apple Pay, AppleCare, and other licensing/service fees, generated a record $5 billion revenue during the quarter, up from $4.5 billion during the year-ago quarter.
Apple’s iTunes Store has become an increasingly important revenue source for Apple in recent years, largely due to the ever-growing popularity of the App Store. China has been an important factor in the App Store’s recent growth, with App Store revenue more than doubling in the country during 3Q15. Chinese developers have created more than 250,000 apps, according to Apple CFO Luca Maestri.
Overall, Apple saw revenue of $49.6 billion during the quarter, with a net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. The company sold 47.5 million iPhones, 4.8 million Macs, and 10.9 million iPads.
Tim Cook: Apple Watch Sales ‘Exceeded Expectations’
As expected, Apple did not share specific sales numbers on the Apple Watch during its third quarter earnings call, but Apple CEO Tim Cook did shed some light on how well the Apple Watch did during its first quarter of availability. According to Cook, Apple Watch sales “exceeded expectations” despite supply continuing to trail demand at the end of the quarter. “We feel really great about how we did,” he said.
Cook also pointed out that Apple Watch sales during their first few months of availability were higher than sales of the original iPad and iPhone when those devices first became available for sale. June sales, he said, were higher than those in April or May.
Apple includes the Apple Watch in its “Other Products” category in an effort to keep its competitors from getting a detailed look at its shipments. Other Products includes the Apple Watch, the iPod, the Apple TV, and accessories like Beats headphones.
During the third quarter of 2015, the Other Products category saw $2.6 billion in revenue, up from $1.7 billion during the second quarter of 2015, a difference of nearly a billion.
Cook said “it would not be inaccurate” to look at the sequential change or the year over year change and “assume that’s the Apple Watch revenue,” hinting that Apple Watch revenue in the quarter hovered around $1 billion or higher. Apple CFO Luca Maestri made a similar statement to the Associated Press, stating revenue from the Apple Watch amounted to “well over” the $952 million increase between the two quarters. Both Maestri and Cook also pointed out that iPod and accessory sales, which are also included in the category, are shrinking.
Aside from analyst estimates that range from an estimated 2.85 million sales to 5.7 million, the $1 billion revenue difference between Q2 and Q3 is the closest we’ve come to learning how many devices Apple sold.
Cook went on to say that beyond the “very good news in sales,” Apple is excited about how the Apple Watch is positioned for the long term. There are now 8,500 apps available for the device, and the company is poised to release watchOS 2 in the fall, which will bring native apps and performance improvements. “We believe the possibilities for Apple watch are enormous,” said Cook.
iPhones and China fuel Apple’s growth, not the Watch
It’s that time again – Apple just dropped its Q3 2015 earnings and despite missing Wall Street’s always-lofty expectations, it’s been a solid three months of growth thanks to the two usual suspects. Say it with us now, folks: It’s all thanks to the iPhone and China. (If you’re the sort who cares, Apple just missed most Wall Street estimates by posting earnings of $1.85 per share.)
Just under 27 percent of the 49.6 billion dollars in revenue Apple generated in the past three months was thanks to Greater China, which is more than double the amount of the pie the country accounted for this time last year. (The addition of a ritzy, massive new Apple store in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong should help wealthy mainlanders get their fix that much easier, too). Meanwhile, iPhones were still far and away the most sought after gadgets in Apple’s portfolio with 47.5 million moved in a single quarter – not quite as much as last quarter’s blowout but a big lift over the year before. To hear CEO Tim Cook tell it in the early stages of the customary earnings call, the iPhone grew at “almost three times the rate of growth of the smartphone market overall, and we gained share in all of our geographic segments.”
Meanwhile, iPad sales continued to dip for another quarter, but the Mac line is doing more than just hanging steady; it’s actually growing a little bit. Apple moved 4.7 million Macs this time, just a hair better than it did last quarter and last year’s quarter.
Oh, and then there’s the elephant in the room. There’s no such luck for anyone hoping to see Apple Watch sales numbers this quarter – Apple lumped revenues in with its “Other Products” category where the Apple TVs once-great iPods now live. Still, there’s perhaps just a little insight to be gleaned here since the category as a whole has only grown about a billion dollars since this time last quarter. It’s possible (if unlikely) that the Apple Watch drove all that growth despite the iPod’s near-irrelevance, but we’d figure some nice post-price cut Apple TV sales helped a lot too. Still, CFO Luca Maestri told the New York Times that the Watch’s first nine weeks on the market “exceeded those of the iPhone and iPad in their first nine weeks of availability.”
Update: Maestri just gave us a little more info on the Apple Watch situation, saying it was responsible for “over 100 percent” of the “Other Product” category’s growth in the quarter and offset any losses from iPod and accessory sales. That means the Watch was responsible for around a billion dollars in sales on its own, though there’s still no way to tell exactly how many units that shakes out to.
Filed under: Mobile
Source: Apple
Apple Reports Q3 2015 Earnings of $10.7B on $49.6B Revenue: 47.5M iPhones, 10.9M iPads, 4.8M Macs
Apple today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter and second calendar quarter of 2015. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $10.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $49.6 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $37.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Gross margin for the quarter was 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 64 percent of revenue. Apple also declared an upcoming dividend payment of $0.52 per share, payable on August 13 to shareholders of record as of August 10.
Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones during the quarter, up from 35.2 million a year earlier, while Mac sales registered 4.8 million units, up from 4.4 million units in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales continued to decline, however, falling to 10.9 million from 13.3 million.
“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”
Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 includes expected revenue of $49-51 billion and gross margin between 38.5 and 39.5 percent.
Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q3 2015 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.
Conference call starts at 2:00 PM Pacific – No need to refresh 
Apple Seeds Fourth iOS 9 Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of iOS 9 to developers for testing purposes, nearly two weeks after releasing the third beta and more than a month after unveiling the new operating system at the 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference.
The update, build 13A4305g, is available through Apple’s over-the-air updating system on iOS devices and is also available for download through the Apple Developer Center. Xcode 7 beta 4 is also available.
Today’s beta includes the return of Home Sharing for Music, which was removed in iOS 8.4. iTunes chief Eddy Cue said Apple was working to re-add the feature in iOS 9, and he’s kept his promise. This is also the first iOS 9 beta that’s available for Apple’s new iPod touch.
iOS 9 beta 3, which preceded beta 4, brought several much-desired features to iOS 9 including the News app, an updated Music app with support for the Apple Music service and Beats 1 radio station, folders for selfies and screenshots, 4×4 app layouts for folders on the iPad, and more.
iOS 9 is Apple’s latest operating system, focusing on intelligence and proactivity with much improved Siri and Search functions, plus improvements to several apps like Notes, Maps, and Mail. iOS 9 also brings several highly desired features like split-screen multitasking for the iPad and performance boosts that improve battery life and optimize storage space.
As of early July, iOS 9 is available to both developers and public beta testers. The software will be released to the public this fall after testing is complete.
What’s new in iOS 9 beta 4:
Home Sharing – Home Sharing is once again available for music.
iPod touch support – This is the first iOS 9 beta that can be installed on Apple’s newest iPod touch.
Picture-in-picture for Podcasts – Apple’s Podcasts app now supports iOS 9’s picture-in-picture feature that lets users watch videos while doing other tasks on their iPads.
Apple Seeds Fourth OS X 10.11 El Capitan Beta to Developers
Apple today released the fourth beta of OS X 10.11 El Capitan to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the third El Capitan beta and more than a month after unveiling the new operating system at its 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference.
The update is available through the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Apple Developer Center.
It is not clear what today’s update adds to the operating system, but we will add any new features and bug fixes to this post as they’re discovered. Previous betas have featured primarily under-the-hood fixes to improve performance and reliability.
OS X El Capitan builds on the features introduced with OS X Yosemite, focusing on improving performance and user experience. Behind-the-scenes improvements in El Capitan have made a number of apps and processes on the Mac much faster, and the introduction of Metal makes system-level graphics rendering 40 percent more efficient.
Along with a new systemwide font, El Capitan includes a revamped Mission Control feature, a new Split View feature for using two full-screen apps at once, deeper functionality for Spotlight, and several new features for Safari, including Pinned Sites for housing frequently visited websites and a universal mute button that quiets all tabs.
OS X 10.11 El Capitan is available to both registered developers and public beta testers. After testing is completed, Apple will release El Capitan to the public in the fall.
Apple Seeds Fourth WatchOS 2 Beta to Developers
Apple today seeded the fourth watchOS 2 beta to developers, build 13S5305d, just under two weeks after seeding the third watchOS 2 beta and more than a month after announcing the new operating system update at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
watchOS 2 requires iOS 9 and can be downloaded over-the-air through the Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General –> Software Update.
watchOS 2 is the first major update to the first version of watchOS, the software that runs on the Apple Watch. The new software brings many new features that Apple Watch developers can take advantage of, including native apps that run on the Apple Watch itself instead of the iPhone. It also allows developers to access the Taptic Engine and a number of other sensors in the Apple Watch, including the heart rate monitor, the microphone, and the accelerometer.
Along with these features for developers, which will lead to much more complex and full-featured third-party Apple Watch apps, the update introduces new watch faces (photo albums and time-lapse), third-party Complications, Time Travel for viewing upcoming events in a watch face Complication, and a Nightstand mode that’s activated when the watch is charging, displaying the time.
watchOS 2 is currently only available to registered developers who have also installed iOS 9 on their iPhones. Apple plans to release the software to the public in the fall.
iOS 9 Beta 4 Tidbits: Home Sharing for Music, Volume Button Photos, iPod Touch Support, and More
Apple today released the fourth beta of iOS 9, and as with the previous iOS 9 betas, there are quite a few new features bundled into the release. There are some major additions, such as the promised return of Home Sharing for Music, and several other minor tweaks intended to refine the look and feel of the operating system.
With approximately two months to go until release, iOS 9 is already feeling faster, more polished, and more full featured. For those eager to know all about what’s coming in iOS 9 ahead of its release, we’ve rounded up a complete list of the changes introduced with iOS 9 beta 4 below.
You can also check out all of the changes, large and small, that have been made in previous betas: iOS 9 beta 1, iOS 9 beta 2, iOS 9 beta 3.
Home Sharing – Home Sharing for music was removed in iOS 8.4 with the launch of the new music app and the new Apple Music service, but iTunes chief Eddy Cue said Apple was working to re-add the feature in iOS 9 and it has, in iOS 9 beta 4.
iPod touch Support – People who purchased one of the new A8-based iPod touch devices last week can now upgrade those devices to iOS 9 beta 4. With this beta, Apple added a new installation profile for the device.
Volume Button Photos – In iOS 9 beta 3, there was a bug that prevented the volume button from working as a shutter button for the iOS camera. That’s been fixed in beta 4 and it’s once again possible to snap a photo using the volume buttons on your iOS device.
Notifications icon – In the Settings app, the icon that represents the Notification setting has been updated with a new red color.
Picture in Picture for Podcasts – One of the iOS 9 features on the iPad is a multitasking Picture in Picture option that lets users watch a video while continuing to complete other tasks on their iPads. As of iOS 9 beta 4, this works with the Podcasts app.
Additional feature updates in iOS 9 beta 4 will be added here as they are discovered. Apple should continue to release regular updates to iOS 9 at two to three week intervals throughout the beta testing period to bring minor performance boosts and changes ahead of the operating system’s official launch. iOS 9 is expected to be released to the public in the fall.
Your next phone could have a fingerprint reader on its screen
Security technology firm Sonavation recently unveiled a novel means of embedding an ultrasonic fingerprint reader directly into a Gorilla Glass display. With it, mobile devices would no longer need a physical button, like the iPhone’s Home button, to use as a fingerprint reader. Instead, they’d be able to press anywhere on the screen, finger grease smudges allowing. Apple has reportedly been working on a similar idea, although it doesn’t seem likely we’d see a buttonless iPhone for at least another year.
[Image Credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Tablets, Mobile, Apple
Via: Apple Insider
Source: Sonavation
Here’s what our readers think of OS X Yosemite
The public beta of OS X El Capitan might be out now, but plenty of users will continue using OS X Yosemite through the fall and beyond. And at first glance that’s just fine: In our own review we called Yosemite “a solid update for Mac users” that offered a “clean new design” and close integration with iOS devices. However, quite a few of our readers disagreed. Almost 30 of you chimed in on Yosemite’s product database page to give this iteration of OS X a user score of 4.8 out of 10, possibly making it the most contentious product on our site. What is it about Yosemite that makes it more shaky than solid for many users?
“Slapping a new coat of bright paint and changing the system font to Helvetica does not constitute a major OS release.” — emgbeeker
Yosemite didn’t leave a good first impression on many. Abiewasabi had a different take than ours about the clean design, calling the graphics “childish, garish and simplistic.” Emgbeeker says the updated user interface “suffers from many bad usability decisions,” with vedmant specifically calling out the bright colors and hard-to-read text as being “a huge step back for Apple” that distorts the reasons for switching to a flat design. Even mindfreek, who thinks Yosemite looks “very nice,” called it impractical and lacking the boldness of the previous version of OS X, Mavericks.
In performance, Yosemite didn’t shine either, with altergeist complaining of “GPU panics, hard crashes, freezes and lower performance in benchmarks than Mavericks,” commenting that even Windows Vista was “fundamentally more stable and reliable than Yosemite.” Sydneystufff said, “I have wasted countless hours of my time force quitting, re-starting, re-installing on a daily/hourly basis” and GeeboH calls Yosemite “the most unstable version of OS X I’ve used since 2001.”
Even when it’s not constantly rebooting itself on our readers, many reported that Yosemite felt slow. Pim1987 noted “extreme slow-downs” even after a clean install, and a user unabashedly named “ihateosyosemite” compared it to ’90s dial-up speeds. Sydneystufff says, “The wheel spins and spins and spins,” and ultimately for them, “productivity is at an all-time ZERO!” But these problems varied by user, with steenbag actually finding it “fast and responsive,” while Matmania says it runs “much faster than Mavericks” on his 2012 MacBook Pro.
Another major particular point of contention users had with Yosemite was its WiFi performance, with sydneystufff calling it “a disaster” and evey77 constantly force-quitting her laptop due to connection problems. Applebol notes the WiFi is “less stable than on Mavericks,” while mindfreek even decided to switch back to the previous OS due to the wireless issues.
“The iPhone sharing stuff means nothing to me, as I use an Android phone and have no plans of switching.” — OftHated
Downgrading back to Mavericks was a refrain for quite a few users, with emgbeeker and evey77 also vowing to switch back, while Mot12 calls Yosemite “a most unwanted upgrade.” The switch to Yosemite did work out for a small handful like alecbuck, who had a smattering of issues, but said, “At least it is better than Mavericks.” However, for most users, upgrading Yosemite seemed to remind them of the worst of Windows. Lwj says Yosemite made their Mac act just like a PC, and the spinning wheel of death gave OftHated “awful flashbacks to the Vista days.” Mot12 says that Yosemite is “Apple’s way of becoming a Microsoft-type klutzy product,” and sydneystufff feels that it’s the work of “Gen Y designers who don’t use the system for anything but Facebook.” In the end, mudguy simply says that the folks at Apple “can dump their Yosemite into the Grand Canyon.”
Was your experience with Yosemite also down in the pits? Or did you have a more uplifting take on it? Feel free to write your own review, for good or ill, on the Yosemite product page.
AIVAnet 