Record Q1 but Apple TV slow, more content to come
February 1, 2017
Apple has announced financial results for Q1 2017 ended December 31st 2016. The Company posted all-time record quarterly revenue of $78.4 billion (€72.6bn) and all-time record quarterly earnings per diluted share of $3.36. These results compare to revenue of $75.9 billion and earnings per diluted share of $3.28 in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
However, somewhat buried in Apple’s positive numbers is the poor performance of its Apple TV streaming device. Apple saw significant annual declines in its “others” category, where it lists sales of products like the Apple Watch, Beats headphones, and the Apple TV. This category was down 8 per cent.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri told the FT that a key reason why Apple’s “others” revenue was down was the Apple TV, which saw a year-over-year decline in sales, although actual sales figures were not revealed.
Despite this the company emphasised a new focus on original content, Cook told WSJ they were thinking deeply about ways to participate in the original content business and referenced ‘carpool Karaoke’ as a ‘toes in the water’.