Apple CFO: Apple Saw 'Significant Momentum' In The Enterprise In Q1

Despite Apple's slowing growth in iPhone shipments in the fiscal first quarter, CFO Luca Maestri focused keenly in his remarks to investors Tuesday on one growing segment for the company: the enterprise.

According to Maestri, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple has added 25 partners to its mobility partner base during the first quarter, ended Dec. 26, as part of its drive into the enterprise market, which means the company now has 90 partners deploying solutions to businesses.

"We're continuing to grow our mobility partnerships," Maestri told investors during the earnings call. "Our enterprise business is expanding. We've expanded our partnership with IBM to create 48 new iOS apps and have seen significant momentum since announcing our partnership with Cisco, which has given us new abilities for optimizing Cisco ... on iOS apps and devices.’

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Apple has spearheaded its drive into the enterprise through partnerships with vendors, including IBM and Cisco, as well as channel partners. During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in October, CEO Tim Cook said the growth in Apple's enterprise segment rose 40 percent year over year, to $25 billion in revenue.

Although Maestri expressed optimism about enterprise solutions and services, Apple reported lower-than-expected iPhone sales -- 74.8 million -- in its latest quarter. The first-quarter shipment levels for the iPhone were only 0.4 percent higher than the same quarter last year, the lowest shipment levels since the product was launched in 2007. Apple released its upgraded iPhones -- the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus -- in September, and its new tablet, the iPad Pro, in November.

The company's iPhone sales powered $18.4 billion in profit on a nearly 1.7 percent increase in sales, to $75.9 billion, for the quarter. Those results fell below expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who had forecast $3.23 a share on sales of $76.6 billion. Apple shares slipped 2 percent in after-hours trading.

iPad sales dropped 25 percent from the same quarter a year ago, while Mac sales dropped 4 percent from the same quarter last year.

Cook blamed "a challenging global macroeconomical environment" and slowing economic growth in major markets, including China, for the company's results, saying he remains bullish on Apple's future.

"We've faced economic challenges in the past and we've always come out stronger on other side," he said.

Despite its struggles in the device segment, channel partners applauded Apple's efforts to bring its consumer-focused products -- including the iPhone, iPad and Macs -- to the enterprise market.

One Apple authorized reseller partner, who asked not be named, said Apple has invested further in the channel in the past quarter as the company looks to better deploy enterprise solutions and products.

"Apple is making more of an effort to educate the channel around its partner ecosystem -- they are doing a better job making connections between authorized resellers and software providers building iOS devices," said the partner.

"In terms of products, we're not seeing a big uptick in tablet sales," the partner said, "but there is interest peaking in the iPad Pro and growing interest in Apple’s MacBook platform as organizations come to us looking for help in managing, supporting and deploying MacBooks.’