Apple’s iPhone sales red hot but iPad suffers decline
Apple’s iPhone was again the company’s star in the first three months of the year. The tech giant sold 61 million iPhones, or 40 per cent more than in the same period a year ago. That represented about two-thirds of its $58 billion in revenue.
But executives also shed some light on other well-known Apple products in interviews and a conference call with analysts Monday evening.
Apple’s tablet computing device, once a red-hot consumer gadget, has suffered from a steady decline in sales over the last year. Apple sold 12.6 million iPads in the latest quarter, for about $5.4 billion in revenue. That’s down from 16.3 million iPads sold in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts say consumers are realizing tablets aren’t as useful for some tasks, and they’re also waiting longer to buy new mod- els. Apple CEO Tim Cook said Monday that some potential iPad users are opting instead for the company’s new lightweight MacBook computers, or even the newer iPhone models that have larger screens.
But Cook said he sees a future for the iPad in business settings, where workers can use specialized iPad apps created by IBM and other commercial software developers. “I believe the iPad is an extremely good business over the long term,” Cook said. “Precisely when it begins to grow again, I wouldn’t want to predict. But I strongly believe that it will.”
Despite repeated questions, Cook and chief financial officer Luca Maestri declined to reveal any sales figures for the Apple Watch, which went on sale this month. The company is currently only accepting orders online and Cook said, “right now, demand is greater than the supply.”