Apple on Tuesday announced its earnings for the quarter ending June 30. The consumer electronics giant posted a net profit of $7.7 billion on revenue of $37.4 billion, and credited strong iPhone and Mac sales for the results. But the word "iPad" was conspicuously missing from Apple's earnings press release. It turns out that product line has stalled at an inopportune time.
"Our June quarter revenue was fueled by strong sales of iPhone and Mac and the continued growth of revenue from the Apple ecosystem, driving our highest EPS growth rate in seven quarters," Apple CEO Tim Cook is credited as saying. "We are incredibly excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as other new products and services that we can't wait to introduce."
As for the products and services Apple actually does sell, well, it was a mixed bag.
On the good news front, sales of the iPhone surged to 35.3 million units, an improvement of 13 percent year-over-year. And the Mac sold a solid 4.4 million units, up 18 percent from last year (though that is artificially high because last year customers were waiting on new models in that quarter).
For the second quarter in a row, iPad sales disappointed onlookers (though Apple said iPad sales were in-line with its own expectations). The firm sold 13.3 million iPads in the quarter, down 9 percent from the same quarter a year ago, and down 19 percent from the previous quarter. The iPod of course remained negligible, with almost 3 million units sold, down 36 percent YOY.
Apple plans to ship what appears to be two new iPhone 6 models in the coming quarter. But it's not clear what it can do to help stem the drop-off in iPad sales, especially given that Android tablets are now outselling it 2-to-1 overall and gaining share. And Apple's most mysterious coming product is most likely a smart watch. It's not clear what kind of impact such a device will have on earnings, or the company's reputation.
