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CEO Tim Cook says he is bullish on India, confirms first Apple retail store opening soon
CEO Tim Cook announced Apple’s financial results for its fiscal 2023 first quarter that ended December 31, 2022. During the earnings call, Cook said that Apple’s quarterly revenue dropped 5 per cent year over year. The company posted quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion. The company posted a revenue drop. Cook said he is very bullish on India.
While the company posted an overall quarterly revenue drop, it did well in India. “Looking at the business in India, we set a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year over year and so we feel very good about how we performed,” Cook said during the earnings call.
Cook also highlighted that iPhone has been doing great in India and said that the Apple Online store played an important role. He also highlighted that iPad and Mac range of products are also doing quite well in India.
Apple CEO confirmed that the company will soon open retail store in India soon. He hopes that it will help strengthen business in the country. “We are investing there (India) by bringing retail there, bringing the online store there and putting out a significant amount of energy there. I am very bullish on India,” Cook said during the earnings call. Cook believes that India is a “hugely exciting market”.
Talking about the quarterly revenue drop, Cook highlighted three factors that hurt the quarterly results: 1) a strong dollar, 2) production issues in China that affected the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max majorly, and 3) the macroeconomic environment. “On the third factor, I would say was just the challenging macroeconomic environment, and you’re hearing that from, I would think, everybody,” Cook told CNBC in a recent interview.
“As we all continue to navigate a challenging environment, we are proud to have our best lineup of products and services ever, and as always, we remain focused on the long term and are leading with our values in everything we do,” Cook said during the earnings call. “During the December quarter, we achieved a major milestone and are excited to report that we now have more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base,” he added.
Apple also shared some pointers on performance expectations. Luca Maestri, who is Apple’s Chief Financial Officer, said that the March quarter revenue would see a similar declining trend as the December quarter. Maestri revealed that the company expects the services to grow but Mac and iPad sales are both expected to decline double digits compared to the year-earlier period. “We set an all-time revenue record of $20.8 billion in our Services business, and in spite of a difficult macroeconomic environment and significant supply constraints, we grew total company revenue on a constant currency basis,” Maestri said. “We generated $34 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $25 billion to shareholders during the quarter while continuing to invest in our long-term growth plans.” Futhermore, the company also revealed that iPhone sales will decline less in the March quarter than compared to the December quarter.
Amid the difficult macro economic conditions, Apple is among the very few tech companies that hasn’t fired employees. Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Twitter and many others have laid off thousands of employees globally and blamed factors like macroeconomic conditions and overhiring as reasons. Unlike other companies, the Apple CEO is taking a pay cut by over 40 per cent this year and not firing employees until now.
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