Apple for the day

The BBC has an article by Katie Hope about Apple:

Apple has reported another jump in profits, as demand for iPhones soared, but its shares fell in after-hours trading after revenue forecasts disappointed analysts.
The technology giant sold nearly fifty million iPhones in the quarter to 27 June, up 35% from a year ago, with Mac computer sales up 9% to 4.8 million. Chief executive Tim Cook called it "an amazing quarter".
Profits rose 38% to over ten billion dollars, while revenue was up 33% to nearly fifty billion.
The third quarter is typically the slowest for iPhone sales because many customers put off buying new phones, on the expectation of a new model. Despite the strong results, shares fell nearly seven percent to $121.89 in after-market trading in New York City. Analysts blamed the fall on disappointment about the company's revenue forecasts for the fourth quarter, which were slightly lower than expected, as well as the firm's profits being too heavily dependent on the iPhone. Apple is forecasting revenue to be about fifty billion dollars in the fourth quarter. Demand for its iPad tablets remained weak, with Apple selling eleven million, down eighteen percent from a year earlier.
But Cook also said the Apple Watch had had a "great start", in the first indication of how well the company's first piece of wearable technology was selling. The Apple boss said last autumn that he did not want to reveal detailed figures for the watch, which went on sale on 24 April 2015, to avoid giving competitors inside information.
But Apple said that revenue from "other products", which includes the Watch as well as products such as the iPod and its Beats headphones, came to just under two billion dollars. Sales of the Watch in the first nine weeks had exceeded those of both the iPhone and iPad after they were first launched.
Apple said its gross margin, the difference between the amount it spends on making the products versus how much consumers pay, was forty percent, up slightly from a year ago. Apple also continued to do well in the Chinese market, defined by Apple as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Sales doubled year-on-year and accounted for more than a quarter of the company's total third-quarter sales. The jump should help to reassure investors that demand in China remains robust despite fears the market is close to saturation point.
But Colin Gillis, an analyst for BGC Partners, told the BBC that the firm's "complete dependence" on iPhone sales and growth in China was still a concern. "Look at the PC market. People ask if that could ever happen to smartphones. Of course it could. And there are risks associated with its dependence on China," he said. However, Gillis said that investors should put the results into perspective. "Overall, the results are stunning; it's made ten billion dollars in profit. But Apple is an outlier in many metrics, so you need to look at the performance relative to expectations," he said.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which smashed iPhone sales records when they were launched last year, are now ten months old.

Rico says he can hardly wait for the iPhone 7... (And they still should have called it the iWatch.)