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.
