15 interesting points from Apple’s Q3 2016 earnings call

Apple Store China Chongqing MacX photo 001

Apple announced the financial results for its fiscal third quarter of 2016 this afternoon, and although they beat Wall Street estimates, the numbers are pretty rough. iPhone sales are down 7 million units, and revenue is down $7 billion from the year-ago quarter.

Following the release of its earnings, CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri hopped on a conference call to talk about Apple’s performance over the last few months, and offer up some insights into its future. Here are your 15 most interesting points from that call.

  • Tim Cook: App Store revenue up 37%, at an all-time high
  • iTunes Store set a new record for customer transactions
  • Services now account for 11% of Apple’s overall revenue
  • Apple expects its ‘services’ category to be the size of a Fortune 100 company by 2017
  • iPhone SE demand outstripped supply through June quarter
  • iPhone SE is popular in both developed and emerging markets
  • Switchers again accounted for record high percentage of iPhone buyers
  • iPhone install base has grown by 34% over the past year in China
  • iPhone sales in India up 51% year-over-year in first three quarters this year; one of Apple’s fastest-growing markets
  • 3 out of 4 contactless payments made with Apple Pay
  • There are more than 11 million contactless POS in participating Apple Pay countries
  • Apple Pay is now available in 9 markets, including 6 out of Apple’s top 10 markets
  • Apple now has $231.5 billion in cash and marketable securities
  • Apple returned $13 billion to shareholders last quarter
  • Apple made 3 acquisitions in Q3

If you want to listen to today’s earnings call, a replay will be available here for a limited time.