Apple may not break out Apple Watch, iPod and retail sales starting Q1 2015
During its quarterly conference call for the fourth quarter of 2014, Apple announced it will introduce new financial reporting methods that lump Apple Watch and iPod with Apple TV and other accessories, with CEO Tim Cook suggesting the move is a good way to shield details on the upcoming smartwatch from competitors.
According to Apple's comments, the anticipated Apple Watch will be lumped together with iPod, Apple TV and accessory sales from Beats in a new category called "Other" when the company reports its financials in the first quarter of 2015. Major product lines like the iPhone, iPad and Mac will continue to be reported as separate categories.
While the exact method of reportage remains to be seen, at this point it seems Apple will not break out initial Apple Watch sales numbers.
The iPod product line has apparently lost its place at the table after entering free fall with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. While strong, Apple TV sales are also not being moved in numbers significant enough to break out sales into its own segment.
"It says nothing about our expectations about the product," Cook said, adding that things could change in the future. "I'm not very anxious in reporting a lot of numbers on Apple Watch and giving a lot of detail because competitors look for it."
In addition, retail sales are to be combined with regional sales, meaning the current Retail segment breakout is going away. Apple also intends to incorporate Apple Pay into the Services category, alongside iTunes, software and other services.
According to Apple's comments, the anticipated Apple Watch will be lumped together with iPod, Apple TV and accessory sales from Beats in a new category called "Other" when the company reports its financials in the first quarter of 2015. Major product lines like the iPhone, iPad and Mac will continue to be reported as separate categories.
While the exact method of reportage remains to be seen, at this point it seems Apple will not break out initial Apple Watch sales numbers.
The iPod product line has apparently lost its place at the table after entering free fall with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. While strong, Apple TV sales are also not being moved in numbers significant enough to break out sales into its own segment.
"It says nothing about our expectations about the product," Cook said, adding that things could change in the future. "I'm not very anxious in reporting a lot of numbers on Apple Watch and giving a lot of detail because competitors look for it."
In addition, retail sales are to be combined with regional sales, meaning the current Retail segment breakout is going away. Apple also intends to incorporate Apple Pay into the Services category, alongside iTunes, software and other services.
Comments
Wimp! Even Amazon reports its Kindle sales.
Oh, wait.
I don't care.
I think it is a smart business decision.
Now take my money please and give me my watch already.
1) I don't know, that sounds like a BS answer to not being confident on how ?Watch is going to play out.
2) JLG just touted Apple for their breaking out their unit sales and revenue.
1) I don't know, that sounds like a BS answer to not being confident on how ?Watch is going to play out.
2) JLG just touted Apple for their breaking out their unit sales and revenue.
Gassee will likely complement them on their Watch plans, however. Apple is a very different company now, lets say the Watch sells a million units in its first quarter: that'd be great...except every half-wit analyst would proclaim that Apple is doomed because they didn't sell sixty million, the Watch is a failure, etc. Better to be cautious with numbers at first.
He just published that yesterday for today's Monday Note..
He just published that yesterday for today's Monday Note..
Maybe I should clarify my point a little better. Apple is a different company today than they were in 2007 or 2010. Back then, if they'd launched a new device and reported one million in sales for a new product, it was okay. Today it would set the internet on fire.
So it's okay, to me, to start off by potentially hiding detailed numbers.
Read : we don't have faith in it.
I feel transparency is better for Apple, and no reasonable person — which of course means no analysts or people with two-z's in their username — will comment that 1 million unit sales per quarter isn't a lot, but we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars and we'll still be able to get a general idea based on how their Accessories category changes from QtQ and YoY.
How many $350 and up watches does the Swatch Group sell per quarter? Their entire market cap is $23B, and their gross revenue and net profit for all of 2013 are $8.8 billion and $1.9 billion, respectively. (Is any other watch maker bigger than Swatch Group?) Rolex did about half that in revenue for all of 2013. Only 1 million units per quarter out of the gate at an average of $350 per unit (the lowest possible) is $1.4 billion, which I think is huge.
... and we'll still be able to get a general idea based on how their Accessories category changes from QtQ and YoY.
That's a good point, but tricky, as there are still three major variables in that calculation (the ?Watch itself, the continuing slow death of the iPod, ands the impact of either significantly changing ?TV or not)...
Plus, the huge whoosh of Beats sales without Bose holding them back! /:
......... Cook said, adding that things could change in the future. "I'm not very anxious in reporting a lot of numbers on Apple Watch and giving a lot of detail because competitors look for it."
Very true, another thing competitors will be looking for is what material is being used and how its being manufactured.
That will be kept secrete for as long as possible, maybe February or March before those facts see the light of day.
Well I don't agree. Apple should only report what SEC requires. And if they want to tout launch weekend iPhone, iPad ?Watch etc. sales via press release fine. Nobody else releases sales figures why should Apple. So after a really good quarter the media concern trolls can focus on lackluster iPad sales? I say the less information the better.
1) I don't know, that sounds like a BS answer to not being confident on how ?Watch is going to play out.
2) JLG just touted Apple for their breaking out their unit sales and revenue.
I read that as "JGL just touted..." and got very confused. He's a very talented guy, but I figured he'd stick to acting and producing...
No, read: we don't need the competition to know sales figures and ASPs.