蘋果公佈略強於預期的三季度財報
Apple assured investors that demand for the iPhone was getting stronger and the worst of the decline in sales of its flagship device was behind it, as it reported third-quarter results just ahead of Wall Street expectations.
蘋果(Apple)公佈了略強於華爾街預期的三季度業績，並自信地告訴投資者，其旗艦設備iPhone的需求正變得越來越強勁，銷售下滑最嚴重的時期已經過去。
Apple sold 40.3m iPhones in the three months to June, down 15 per cent on the prior year but at the higher end of analysts’ forecasts. Overall revenues fell 15 per cent to $42.4bn, with net income down 27 per cent to $7.8bn. Sales in China were the worst hit, down 33 per cent year on year, because of an economic slowdown.
在截至今年6月的3個月裏，蘋果賣出了4030萬部iPhone，比上年同期下滑15%，但這一銷量處於分析師預測區間的較高一端。總收入下滑15%至424億美元，淨利潤下滑27%至78億美元。由於中國經濟放緩，其在中國的銷售額受到的打擊最爲沉重，同比下降33%。
Luca Maestri, chief financial officer, said that Apple was able to clear more iPhone inventory than it had anticipated and that unit sales had fallen less than they had in March, which he said had “turned out to be the low point for our cycle”.
蘋果首席財務官盧卡•馬埃斯特里(Luca Maestri)表示，蘋果能比原先預想的售出更多的iPhone存貨，銷量的下滑幅度低於3月份。他表示，“結果證明（3月份）是我們週期的谷底”。
“Customer demand for our products was stronger than we had anticipated 90 days ago on a number of fronts,” he told the Financial Times. “We see a number of positive signs.”
“在許多方面，消費者對我們產品的需求都比我們90天前預想的要強，”他告訴英國《金融時報》，“我們看到了多個積極的跡象。”
Mr Maestri also pointed to a 19 per cent rise in services sales, thanks to 37 per cent growth in the App Store and an “inflection point” in its music business with revenues from its streaming subscription service now more than offsetting the decline in iTunes downloads. Apple Music now has more than 15m subscribers.
馬埃斯特里還指出，蘋果服務業務的銷售額增長了19%，這要歸功於其應用商店(App Store)增長了37%，以及其音樂業務走到“拐點”——其流媒體訂閱服務的收入現在抵消掉iTunes中音樂下載量下滑的影響後還有富餘。Apple Music的訂閱用戶現已超過1500萬。
He said that Apple’s services business would become the size of a Fortune 100 company on a standalone basis over the next year, implying strong double-digit percentage growth.
他表示，在接下來幾年裏，單是蘋果服務業務的規模就將與一家《財富》(Fortune) 100強公司相當。這是在暗示這塊業務可實現強勁的兩位數增長。
Apple’s shares have fallen by more than a fifth over the past 12 months as investors have come to terms with the iPhone slowdown. They added almost 5 per cent to $101.25 in after-hours trading.
過去12個月，蘋果股價累計下跌逾五分之一，投資者逐漸接受了iPhone銷量的放緩。在昨日盤後交易中，該公司股價上漲近5%，至每股101.25美元。
