14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has been surrounded by bad press since it disclosed its record-setting sales figures on Monday, mostly because its iPhone sales have failed to impress.
With over 50 million units sold this past quarter alone, it’s pretty strange to see people complaining. For example, investors are afraid that Apple’s deal with China Mobile is not picking up Steam.
But CEO Tim Cook begs to differ. Speaking to investors, he said, “I would add, as a further update, we've been selling with China Mobile now for about a week, and last week was the best week for activations we've ever had in China.”
Cook continued by explaining that the company had only just begun offering the handset to Chinese customers, with hundreds of cities still lined up to receive shipment.
“So it's been an incredible start, and at this moment, we're just selling in 16 cities with China Mobile, and as Peter alluded to, this number is projected to be over 300 cities by the end of this year.”
“And so we've got quite the ramp in front of us, and we're incredibly excited,” Cook added, trying to reassure everyone that Apple has some great new products lined up for 2014.
During its fiscal 2014 first quarter ended December 28, 2013, Apple sold 51 million iPhones (compared to 47.8 million in the year-ago quarter), as well as 26 million iPads (compared to 22.9 million in the year-ago quarter), and 4.8 million Macintosh computers (up from 4.1 million in the year-ago quarter).
The Cupertino giant posted revenue of $57.6 billion / €42.1 billion and a record net profit of $13.1 billion / €9.58 billion. Apple’s guidance for the next quarter is revenue between $42 billion / €30.7 billion and $44 billion / €32.2 billion, with gross margin sitting at 37% - 38%.