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Live blog: Apple’s fiscal year Q4 2015 earnings call

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s<a href="http://viptest.9to5mac.com/2015/09/29/tim-cook-box-live-blog/" target="_blank"> “fireside chat” </a>with Box CEO Aaron Levie last month

It’s that time of the year again. Apple just announced results for its fiscal year 2015 fourth quarter earnings including $11.1 billion in profit from $51.5 billion in revenue and 48 million iPhones sold, 9.8 million iPads sold, and 5.7 million Macs sold. Next up Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri will host a conference call with analysts from various firms to discuss numbers from the last quarter, product performance, and guidance for the current holiday quarter. We’ll be listening in on the finance call (so you don’t have to), bringing you a play-by-play summary including any news that Cook may make on-air. Stay tuned for our live coverage below as the call kicks off at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET:
Here’s your earnings report for Apple’s last quarter…lots of iPhones sold as usual.

— Awaiting Cook and Maestri to hit the airwaves…

— Here we go!

— Tim welcoming everyone, reflecting on ‘record breaking year’, recapping Apple Pay in the UK launch this year, Apple Music in 100 countries, Apple News in US (also UK)

— Apple completed 15 acquisitions between September 2014 and September 2015

— Sells up Apple Watch up this quarter and above Apple expectations

— 13,000 Apple Watch apps, 1,300 native watchOS 2 apps

— Cook recaps 61% iOS 9 numbers, OS X El Capitan launch, Apple Music at over 15 million users with over 6.5 million paying customers, Apple Music coming to China this quarter with iTunes Movies and iBooks, Apple Music coming to Apple TV 4 as we know

— Apple Pay seeing monthly growth, American Express partnership will bring Apple Pay to Australia and Canada this year, then Spain, Singapore, and Hong Kong in 2016

— 50+ brands working on HomeKit, 1600+ HealthKit solutions, 50+ CarPlay brands

— 40 million+ people using Apple News, 70+ publishers on platform, 100+ titles across US, UK, AU

— Luca Maestri recapping earnings numbers and citing survey data…

— 55 IBM MobileFirst apps in total now including watchOS 2 and iOS 9 versions

— 1 million+ developer members in China

— Apple Watch available at nearly 5,000 locations in 32 countries by end of last quarter

— Apple plans to open or replace 30 to 40 Apple Stores next year, reach 40 Apple Stores in China by mid-2016

— Maestri recapping guidance for Q1 2016 (holiday quarter)

— Question time!

— Cook addressing Katy Huberty/Morgan Stanley question on negative growth concern in Q1, says iPhone will grow in Q1 based on highest switcher record of Android users at 30%, emerging market opportunity based on marketshare and low LTE penetration so far, Cook still looking to China growing middle class and well-positioned Apple as growth expectation, cites progress in Vietnam, India, Indonesia, others, says Apple TV “off to a great start” and Apple Watch “just getting going”, really happy with Apple Music and people moving from free trial to music business

— Toni Sacconaghi/Bernstein: what factors affect activations beyond December? Cook: no guidance past current quarter but install base on pre-iPhone 6 leaves a lot of room for upgrades (Tim makes a point to disagree with Toni’s forecast model)

— Shannon Cross/Cross Research: Comments on enterprise business, relatively small sales force internally, how do you attack that market going forward beyond partnerships? Cook: From product view we’re improving iOS with more enterprise features, continuation of that cadence perhaps with little more intensity, working with IBM and Cisco, 75 mobility partners principally in US but expanding internationally, many of these companies with large sales force

— Follow up: More on China and LTE penetration? Cook: Market without iPhone slightly contracted, iPhone 6 #1 selling smartphone in China, iPhone 6 Plus #3, Apple investing in China for the decade ahead, “China will be Apple’s top market in the world”, developers too, ecosystem very strong, customers in China stores “enthusiastically contagious”

— Steve Milonovich/UBS: Clarity on Android switching? Cook: Customers who purchased an iPhone and replaced a smartphone switched from Android, Cook recapping that user base that hasn’t upgraded yet is opportunity, new upgrade plans like subscriptions, Apple wants to add people to ecosystem

— Cook: 60% of tablets purchased in China were iPad, 40% of those were first time Apple buyers

— Goldman Sachs: What percent of shipments are install base versus new users? Cook: I don’t know the answer to your question, we don’t look at it in the aggregate, we look at by iPhone model by country, what percent is going to first time buyer, in China over 50% buying 6 and 6 Plus bought first iPhone, 5s generally higher in most countries, goes higher down the line

— JP Morgan: Mix between 6 and 6s? Cook: Mix of demand any different than 5 and 5s point? 6s most popular currently selling iPhone, only available last quarter for 2 days, 6s doing better than 5s at same point

— Follow up: iPhone Upgrade Program, envision future where customers won’t need to come into Apple Store for iPhone Upgrade Program? Cook: Over time hopefully online

— That’s a wrap: audio will hit iTunes in a few hours.

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Comments

  1. Ilko Sarafski - 9 years ago

    Thank you for the quick information! Can you at some point post some graph with the last 3 or 5 years, broken by quarters? That would be interesting comparison! :)

  2. drtyrell969 - 9 years ago

    Investors should see this as borrowed time. Expanding into a market without choices is a cheap way of increasing revenue. Those in the USA are sick and tired of their inferior devices that patch slower and slower with each new OS. The inability to type smoothly after two consecutive iPhones are released is pure evidence that Apple is intentionally forcing the hand of their customers to move up OR ELSE suffer horrid performance. The iPhone 4S has 1000+ more processor power than the Cray computers of the 80s, yet typing a text on it feels like a computer out of the early 60s. Apple will be caught just like VW, and when they do, their stock with be worth NOTHING.

    • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

      My iPod touch 5g with a5 chip is running fast with iOS 9.1.
      So I really don’t know what you are talking about.

    • 89p13 - 9 years ago

      Drtyrell969 – Your comments – observations sound like are either (1) Technically ignorant of what you see as “inferior products” and how newer versions of the software those these devices down or (2) you are just “trolling for reactions.

      Here’s my reaction: Try to install Windows 10 on your computer that was designed and built for Windows 98. IT WON’T INSTALL!

      Apple isn’t forcing you to upgrade your iOS version – it’s offering you the ability to upgrade. Further more, Read the Apple upgrade path documents and see if the latest and greatest s/w upgrade is recommended for you “inferior product.”

      My humble suggestion would be to do some research or, Buy anApple Product and use it.

      YMMV

    • yojimbo007 - 9 years ago

      What have you been smoking? Or who ks paying u go write this garbage?

    • Ilko Sarafski - 9 years ago

      I bought the 6S just today. Literally. Priot to that, I used the 4 for… 3 years or so (got it from my gf, I bought her 5S). And yes, you can see that this 4 was aging with every single second, yet I was able to do plenty of stuff on it (iOS 7.1.2). So no, Apple is not “forcing” you to buy their new products every 2 years. More likely every 5 to 6 years. Which sounds fair to me for a product which is relatively cheap (because most of us today use it to somehow support or do a lot of work on it, so a lot of people are actually earning money through their phones, which make them “cheap” – 80 or 90% of the cars only “use” your money, for instance). :)

    • viciosodiego - 9 years ago

      Apple needs to keep older devices fast because.
      People on lower class countries buy old iPhones like the 4s 5 and 5s.
      example I see people in my country with iPhone 4s or 5.
      So there you have it.

      • SKR Imaging - 9 years ago

        I am still using 4S.. don’t see a need to replace just yet… I know many people in Canada who don’t have the latest iPhone..I paid full price for my unlocked 4S 3 years ago and it wasn’t cheap… these devices should not be considered replaceable so fast.

      • Ilko Sarafski - 9 years ago

        My gf’s mother has 4S and she is still using it. And it is in great shape. It could last at least 2-3 more years. She paid $280 two years ago. So I wouldn’t say they are AS expensive as a lot of people think. Simply, put the 4s (2011) to any Android 2011 and see the difference. You’ll jump from the window because of the Android crap. And you’ll be like with the iPhone “oh, okay, it’s a bit slow but it’s okay”. PS. I live in Bulgaria, our average salary here is 260 euros/month (official statistics). The new iPhones starts at 750 euros (unlocked). Yet, I am confident to say that an investment of such caliber is pretty much okay. It’s worth it. Well, not as much if you only play games etc. Then you are just stupid to say that the iPhones are expensive. But if you earn money thanks to the phone… think twice! :)

  3. triankar - 9 years ago

    Any word on how many retina MacBooks were sold? You know, this almost-laptop thing released earlier this year. Or is Tim swiping it neatly under the carpet?

Author

Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.