Apple reports strong iTunes growth as profits slip

Apple reported “strong growth” in revenue from its iTunes, software and services division and recorded a record quarter for iPhone sales, though profits dropped year-on-year.

Announcing its fiscal third quarter results for the three months ended June 29, 2013, Apple said that iTunes, software and services contributed US$3.99 (€3.02 billion) billion of the US$35.3 billion it grossed in the quarter.

On the earnings call, Apple’s chief finance officer Peter Oppenheimer said that to-date iTunes users have downloaded more than 1 billion TV episodes and 390 million movies from the five-year old store, and are purchasing over 800,000 TV episodes and over 350,000 movies per day.

Referring to Apple’s set-top box device, Oppenheimer added that “Apple TV users can now choose from a broad selection of programming including over 60,000 movies and over 230,000 TV episodes.”

Though Apple did not break down sales figures for Apple TV, which it has referred to in the past as a “hobby” project, the company sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter.
Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter, and sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million a year ago.

CEO Tim Cook said: “We are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”

Overall, Apple posted quarterly revenue of US$35.3 billion, up slightly year-on-year from US$35 billion. However, net profits came in at US$6.9 billion, down from US$8.8 billion in the same quarter last year.