Apple’s ever-growing Services division helped the company stave-off effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the global crisis affecting the bottom line, the company the company announced earnings and user engagement records in a number of sectors.
The Services division – which includes Apple Music, the App Store, Apple Card, Apple TV Plus and Apple Arcade – brought in an all-time record of £13.35 billion. That’s almost a quarter of the company’s total revenue of $58.3 billion from January 1 – March 31.
Apple made an overall profit of $11.25 billion, during the quarter, which is only slightly down on the $11.56 billion the company brought in (under normal circumstances) during the same period a year ago. iPhone, Mac and iPad revenue all being down on the same period last year, so Services really have come to the rescue.
Indeed, the company announced there are currently 515 million paid subscribers across the entire portfolio of services.
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Another success story includes quarterly records for wearables and the Apple Store business, despite the shutdown. That’s down to what CEO Tim Cook called “unprecedented” demand for the online store.
Cook also revealed that FaceTime and Messages set all-time usage records amid social distancing rules limiting physical meet-ups. Apple News also hit a record 125 million active users during the January-March quarter.
The CEO said during the earnings call that despite the difficulties – which upset potential for all-time record quarters – he couldn’t recall a period when he’d been “prouder of what we do and how we do it.”
Listing how Apple’s initiatives in reacting to the crisis and assisting others in doing so, it’s easy to see why Cook was beaming. For instance, he mentioned the ECG feature on Apple Watch models is ensuring vulnerable patients don’t have to risk attending medical facilities because readings can be relayed remotely.
Cook said: “Despite COVID-19’s unprecedented global impact, we’re proud to report that Apple grew for the quarter, driven by an all-time record in Services and a quarterly record for Wearables.
“In this difficult environment, our users are depending on Apple products in renewed ways to stay connected, informed, creative, and productive. We feel motivated and inspired to not only keep meeting these needs in innovative ways, but to continue giving back to support the global response, from the tens of millions of face masks and custom-built face shields we’ve sent to medical professionals around the world, to the millions we’ve donated to organizations like Global Citizen and America’s Food Fund.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
