“Apple’s meteoric rise in the last 15 years has been punctuated by devices that changed the landscape of personal computing: the iPod, iPhone, and iPad,” Dave Gershgorn writes for Quartz.
“But the company has hit its first real bump in that remarkable run, and 2016 marked the first year since 2001 that Apple posted an annual decline in revenue and profit (Apple’s fiscal year ended Sept. 24),” Gershgorn writes. “The company reported $46.9 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, down about 9% from a year earlier. It was the third consecutive quarter of declining revenue for the company. Sales for the year were $215.6 billion, compared to $233.7 billion in fiscal 2015.”
“Apple said it expects revenue of $76 billion to $78 billion in the quarter. That would put it back in positive growth territory; it recorded $75.9 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2015,” Gershgorn writes. “Services continued to be a bright spot, though it still makes up just a small piece of the company’s overall revenue. Revenue from the category, which includes iCloud, Apple Music services, and Apple Care, increased 24% during the quarter to $6.3 billion.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The tough compare created by Apple being years late to market with a properly-sized iPhone is now blessedly OVER.
Apple has now forecast a return to growth.
Apple’s fiscal 2016 revenue from Services alone ($24.348 billion) would stand at #155 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue, ahead of the likes of Duke Energy, Time Warner Cable, and Halliburton.
Perspective is a wonderful thing.
SEE ALSO:
MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q416 conference call – October 25, 2016
Apple beats Street, services revenue grows 24% to all-time quarterly record of $6.3 billion – October 25, 2016
I’m sorry but listening to the earnings call doesn’t instill confidence nor credence in what Tim Cook says and how he says it. He rambles, evades, studders, parses, and offers zero vision nor strategy for investors. I’m tired of pixie dust superlatives such as how great he feels about the future, if he can’t stand the heat… Apple deserves better.
I like Cook but I would have to agree that his conference calls are as exciting as paint drying. Eventually Apple will have another blockbuster and it won’t matter much how he comes across, but right now, it does seem like it does.
Earnings calls are never exciting. They weren’t under SJ either.
yes but the CEO should not come across as lacking basic communication and leadership skills, investors deserve much better guidance
I do agree he never offers anything inspiring just how we (as in company and consumers) have never had it so good. When there has been so many declines (even considering MDN’s very real take) it starts to look like a guy ignoring certain realities. One being even if this is exaggerated it occurred because there was no inspiration shown a while back in filling the larger phone sector of the market before the inevitable rush occurred, or indeed putting inspiration into the iPad before it started to plateau. Everything is looking too reactive over proactive at the moment.
The fact that he was asked if he had an overall Strategy for the next 3-5 years was unbelievable to be asked. That shows that the analysis had very little or no credibility in Tim Cook.
Even Steve Ballmer had strategies. They weren’t very good but he had them.
Tim Cook will be the fortuitous benefactor of a big Samsung mistake. Apple’s next quarter will most likely be blow-out quarter for iPhones. But after that, Samsung will be coming back up to speed and, if past history is a guide, will be leapfrogging Apple once again in technology.
Tim Cook is a terrible CEO. It is that simple. He is coasting on what Steve Jobs built and doesn’t have a clue on where to invest all that cash. That’s why they have so much cash now while revenues are declining.
Steve Ballmer had strategies.
The iPhone costs how much?? you should buy a Motorola Q phone… it does internet, it does music, it is crap!!
Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!
Lets milk windows Vista for all its worth!!
Yeah, admitting to losing 3-4 BILLION is always a good strategy!!
Your comparison to Ballmer is MORONIC. Sorry, not sorry.
No, it shows that they’re trying to get information out of him so they can adjust their analysis of the stock. They were doing their job by asking and Tim was doing his job by not revealing the company’s strategy.
And I think you mean confidence, not credibility.
Leave Tim be. No one needs a huckster or a pompous ass. Way too many of those LOSERS in the public eye already 😉
Well said. I listened to that conference call and could watch my stock value drop with every miserable phrase Tim Cook uttered. The guy is simply out in his own reality. Investors are completely unimpressed with his message. Apple DOES deserve better.
Last year was an abysmal year. The Mac was left to languish to the point where it is BEYOND embarrassing. Billions left on the table.
Want an Apple Watch? Sorry, no supply until late November. More money left on the table. Same with iPhone 7. All you can hear from the “great” Tim Cook is about how supply constrained they are. And this is Apple’s weakest quarter? How are they going to produce more product for the holiday season?
It’s just pathetic, simply pathetic.
For once I am glad that my stock holdings are taking a pounding. I hope that continues until this god forsaken incompetent boob of a CEO is FIRED.
All Tim Cook has done is take out hundred BILLION dollar loans to generate fake wealth for shareholders.
FIRE Tim Cook!
Why are you still investing?
Why indeed.
No, seriously. If you’re so upset with Tim Cook and the direction of the company, why are you wasting time complaining about it? Take your money out and invest in a company that you think has a better leader and better prospects.
I would assume there is a reason that you haven’t done that.
Or, to rewrite the headline…
During 15 years of operation, Apple’s annual sales and profit were lower ONLY one time.
The Roman Empire was saying something like that the year after their peak.
one of the reasons that Apple’s sales and profit has declined must be the insane neglect Apple has treated the Mac over the last few years. Hardware not updated (the Mac Pro is three years old with no drop in price) and practically NO ADVERTISING — in spite of the fact for THREE QUARTERS (with said no ads) Macs have MORE REVENUE than iPads ! (imagine the revenues if they had advertised!).
(compare Mac ads (zero) to the number of apple Watch ads. Look I’m not damning the Apple Watch which is fine tech but Watches make much less than Macs — the OTHER PRODUCTS category which includes a bunch of stuff AND The Watch is HALF Mac revenues — yet they get ads and Macs don’t for years , Not even Cheap Web ads. )
Apple hardly even ran Mac ads all through Win 8 fiasco which is bizarre….
IF YOU DON’T MAKE UPDATED PRODUCTS and SWITCH OFF THE ‘OPEN for BUSINESS’ SIGN’ (advertising) is there a surprise SALES GO DOWN???
yes services income has increased but for Apple services depend on large part on HARDWARE SALES –e.g no Macs no Mac app store revenue etc.
This is what I wrote yesterday on the article where Apple is touting it’s sponsoring of a FASHION SHOW, the Met Gala:
“never heard of a senior Apple VP visiting a PC game convention like Blizzcon, or a business that uses Macs like high end graphics, music studios, labs etc. Never heard of them attending or making speeches in conferences like Siggraph where power computing is front and centre etc. (maybe i missed them but seriously I’ve not heard any news of such things, only SVPs etc visiting rock concerts, fashion shows, charity events etc).”
lets hope the coming Mac Event will turn things around.
——
yes Steve Jobs did say something about ‘milking Macs’ and going to the next thing but NOTE, Jobs ALSO ran Mac ad campaigns like Mac PC guy which had one NEW AD A MONTH (66 different ads over 4 years) , the campaign which stopped soon after his passing.
My concern is that Tim Cook is becoming the next John Sculley. During the late 80s and early 90s when Apple was growing the press (even the Wintel PC press) thought Sculley was the best information technology related CEO *ever*. Across all product lines Apple was selling more computers per quarter than any other company in the world. Apple had, at one point, a 19.2% market share. Apple was diversifying into many product lines other than the Apple and Mac product lines, and people were sure Apple’s best days were ahead of them.
Then the dark days started to appear. The slide started happening faster and was going deeper. People started calling for Sculley’s head. The marketing guy had started to make Apple more about the “flash” and “cash” and the “barely good enough product of the day” than about *great* products. How many really bought a Pippin? a QuickTake? or a MacTV?
Cook eventually resigned, but not before Apple was in such a tail spin that it took several years to get out of it.
Now Apple has senior personnel that are more interested in accounting and what Wall Street says than in truly great products. Apple doesn’t have a CEO who stakes his reputation on a product introduction. When Jobs introduced a new product *HE* introduced it. Yes, it was part ego on his part, but it was also, in large part, Jobs saying, “I firmly believe in this product. You need to believe in this product too. It will change your personal world for the better.”
You don’t have to look at the Mac line to see this (though that’s an obvious choice). Look at other very simple things that no one really notices, e.g., the Airport Express. It has not been updated since June 2012. It has not even been updated to do 802.11ac! It still has 100 Mbps Ethernet. It does not have MIMO at all.
There are many other Apple products that have languished too — all the while Tim and group are pushing the iPhone and Apple Watch and NOT making enough of either. So much for Tim being a great operations guy.
For those who have followed my rants here… you know I’m generally not a Tim Cook basher. However, other than Sculley’s truly massively stupid licensing of the Mac System source code to Microsoft, I’m starting to wonder if Cook is not that much different from Sculley.
The Apple TV being of Intense interest is getting very old. I have purchased every model and this last was the most disappointing especially since it does not support 4K. Apple should have said that if we did have supply constraints we would forecast more IPhones for Q1. I think he is terrible on these calls and so is the CFO. Compare the conference call of Google last this week with Apples. I love Apple but it is increasing looking less special everyday and I hope it doesn’t go down in history as missing the next big thing.
Tim Cook is a fraud just like the man he opposes in the election. Tim had all the money to make Apple the greatest company but he wasted it on dividends and stock purchases. He could have bought Adobe, NBC, Tesla, Netflix for the money he wasted in div and buybacks and would be still left with something. He has made Apple a debtor for the billions he borrowed to make payments that were not required. His two innovations Apple TV and Apple are miserable failures. I bought Apple TV but I see no reason to use it. Watch is ok but nothing special. I don’t want to say it but it is the truth: Apple is finished. Thanks to Tim Cook.
The best part of the internet is that you can post nonsense on it with no real repercussions. No one knows who you are. No one cares about your opinion. You get to make a crazy prediction and then when it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter.. but you at least got to pretend like you’re the smartest person in the room for a few fleeting minutes.
You don’t even have a last name Jonny. Tell me who you really are. Check the facts. Apple has borrowed billions to pay for dividends and purchase of shares. Imagine 150 billion plus invested in good acquisitions and/ or new technologies! Apple would not be showing revenue and profit declines. This is common sense. Cook has failed Apple and a good Board would have fired him by now.
Apple has made investments in dozens of companies over the last few years that they have made into the products and services they currently sell. They likely will continue to do so. Is it flashy to buy Turi or Perceptio? Nope. Is that helping with Photos new enhancements? Probably. Was Linx a company that had all the rumor sites buzzing? Nope. Has it led toPortrain Mode in iOS 10.1? Absolutely. What about the AR companies, motion capture/recognition companies they’ve bought over the last two years? I bet those are going to come in handy in the near future.
Buying well-established companies that need to be integrated into Apple makes little sense and is hard to pull off… it’s possible, sure, but it’s never been Apple’s MO and that approach has served them pretty well. They could go out and buy a bunch of high-profile, big dollar companies, but it would be tough to have them pay off.
I’m guessing this is where sh1t gets real for Tim Cook.
… And AAPL gets pounded. Predictable. But I can’t fault the Apple bears at this time. They’re allowed their justified moment of misery mongering. Next quarter we’ll be making fun of them again. So let them make mud while the sun’s down. 🙁 🐻📉⛈
Keep removing headphone jacks, making home buttons that are garbage in cold climates, keep jacking up the price multiple times a year, keep releasing increasingly buggy iOS’s (I absolutely hate ios 10), and just listen to the board who doesn’t care at all about what the customer wants, and thinks just because it’s apple, every feature they remove will sell. Welcome to the decline, it’s a long way down, and well deserved.