iPad和Apple Watch成苹果近期业绩亮点

上周二的业绩分析主要集中在iPhone销量同比下滑1%上，这并不意外。一些分析师还问到今后业绩会不会持续下滑。

但iPhone销售下滑，导致人们忽略了其他一些积极的数据，比如iPad销量并没有那么糟糕，以及此前连续滑坡的其他产品，包括电视机顶盒、Apple Watch和Beats耳机的销量大幅上升。

iPad

近几年iPad销量持续下降。消费者保有平板电脑的时间变长，不会迅速购买新产品。同时，许多人转而购买兼具笔记本和平板功能的二合一电脑，而苹果并没有类似产品。

产品升级缓慢也给iPad业务带来了冲击，不然销售额有可能更高。虽然iPad产品线价格高过竞争对手，但对总销售额提振不大。

截至2013年12月28日的财务季度中，苹果售出了2600多万部iPad，实现销售额115亿美元。而上个财季，iPad销量仅为890万部，销售额39亿美元。

乍看之下，iPad上个财季的表现似乎令人失望。毕竟销量和收入分别减少了13%和12%。但投资银行BMO Capital Markets分析师蒂姆•朗在上周二的投资者报告中指出，iPad业务业绩好于预期。

此前朗预计iPad的季度销量为850万部，实际卖出890万部。iPad当季均价为436美元，也超过了他预测的429美元。

换句话说，外界对iPad的预期比实际情况差。而且，截至4月1日的上个财季接近尾声时苹果推出新iPad的影响并未计算在内，就已超过了预期。

iPad上个财季的销售情况算不上成功，但超出预期是个亮点。

其他产品

苹果其他产品业务表现则更好。上个财季，其他产品实现收入29亿美元，上升31%，是一年来首次出现增长。

朗在投资者报告中称，其他产品收入情况比苹果经营数据体现出的还要好些。他分析道，如果剔除Apple Watch，其他产品销售额就会连续近三年下降。数据显示，其他产品主要问题是iPod销售持续滑坡等困难。但Apple Watch热销提振了总体业绩。

朗此前预测，上个财季其他产品收入为26亿美元，低于29亿美元的实际水平。他认为，超预期主要原因是Apple Watch，不过当季蓝牙耳机AirPods同样表现强劲，耳机子公司Beats业绩也不错。

总之，尽管iPad和其他产品的表现超过预期，并且共同带来了近68亿美元收入，但这只占苹果总收入的13%。占总收入近63%的iPhone销售低迷，产生的影响大得多。（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校：夏林

Not surprisingly, much of the analysis on Tuesday centered on iPhone unit sales slipping 1% from the same period a year earlier. Some analysts questioned whether the near future will be similarly challenging.

But the iPhone's poor performance overshadowed a couple of other more positive surprises: iPad sales weren't as bad as they could have been and sales in Apple's "Other Products" division, which includes the Apple TV set-top box, Apple Watch, and Beats headphones, jumped after a string of declines.

iPad

Apple's iPad unit has been declining over the past few years. Customers are holding onto their tablets for longer instead of buying new ones. Meanwhile, many people are shifting to two-in-one hybrid computers that can be used both as notebooks and tablets, and that Apple doesn't make.

Apple's iPad division has also been hampered by slow product updates that could otherwise generate more sales. The iPad line's high price compared to the competition doesn't help matters.

In Apple's quarter ending Dec. 28, 2013, the company sold more than 26 million iPads and generated $11.5 billion in sales. In contrast, last quarter, Apple sold only 8.9 million iPads and generated $3.9 billion in revenue.

At first blush, the iPad's performance last quarter may appear to be disappointing. After all, iPad unit sales fell 13% and revenue slid 12%. But as BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a note to investors on Tuesday, those results were actually better than expected.

He had expected Apple's quarterly sales to hit 8.5 million units, compared to the 8.9 million it actually sold. The iPad division's average selling price was $436 on the quarter, topping his $429 estimate.

The iPad, in other words, was expected to do worse that it did. And the unit beat expectations without the full impact of its new iPad, a tablet it released near the end of its fiscal quarter ending April 1.

It's hard to call Apple's (aapl, -0.74%) iPad sales last quarter a success, but its surprise performance was a silver lining.

Other Products

Even better news came by way of Apple's Other Products division. During the latest quarter, revenue in the unit rose 31% to $2.9 billion, the first gain in a year.

In a note to investors, BMO Capital Markets' Long said that the higher revenue was actually better than Apple's data suggests. In his own analysis, Long said that if the Apple Watch was excluded from the Other Products revenue, the division's year-over-year sales have declined for nearly three years. The unit has grappled with declining iPod sales, among other problems, the analyst's data shows. But Apple Watch's strong sales have lifted its performance.

Long had anticipated that total revenue in Other Products would be $2.6 billion in the latest quarter, lower than the actual $2.9 billion reported. He attributed the better-than-expected performance partly to Apple Watch, but he also said that Apple's AirPods had a strong quarter. Beats, Apple's headphone-making subsidiary, also did well, according to Long.

Still, even with better-than-expected performance in the iPad and Other Products divisions, the combined revenue of the two divisions is nearly $6.8 billion, or only 13% of Apple's overall revenue. Softness in the iPhone division, which accounts for nearly 63% of the company's business, has far greater impact.