by 
Yesterday, Apple held its quarterly earnings call for the first quarter of 2014. Thanks to the holiday shopping season, coupled with the redesigned iPad Air, the iPad mini with Retina, the iPhone 5s, and to a lesser degree, the iPhone 5c, Apple had a record-breaking quarter across the board. These conference calls are usually a bit telling. Even though the company’s executives try to keep mum about future products, they eventually let something slip that the rest of the world interprets. This call was nothing new.
Some interesting things that Apple noted at the beginning of the call:
Apple was up $12 billion in cash from last year with $158.8 billion.
Last week’s launch of the iPhone on China Mobile was Apple’s biggest sales weekend in China, ever.
80 percent of all iOS devices are running on iOS 7, officially making it the most popular operating system in the world.
After the basics are announced, the Apple bigwigs open up the call to questions. This is where things get interesting. CEO Tim Cook actually managed to avoid almost every future-product question, but the analysts on the other line are relentless and some tidbits of information did fall through.
One comment of note had to do with Apple’s Touch ID technology. Currently, in addition to making it possible for iPhone users to more securely lock their device, the feature has made one-touch mobile payment verification possible via iTunes.
According to a vague comment from Cook, Apple may be looking into ways that mobile payments could be implemented for retailers both online and in-store.
“The mobile payments area in general is one we’ve been intrigued with,” said Cook. “It was one of the thoughts behind Touch ID.”
According to Cook, iOS users are big fans of the convenience of Touch ID when it comes to purchasing media from iTunes. “We’re seeing that people love being able to buy content, whether it’s music or movies or books, from their iPhone, using Touch ID.”
Although no one would comment on future products, Cook did note that there is opportunities in the mobile payment arena that Apple could take advantage of. Touch ID is just the jumping off point for something that could become a common feature in the future; one-tap purchases online and in-store.
» Related posts:
Apple Schedules 3Q Earnings Call – Will it Meet Estimates?
Apple’s Quarterly Earnings Reveal Solid Growth – 33.8 Million iPhones and 14.1 Million iPads Sold this Past Quarter
Apple Inks Deal with China Mobile to Bring iPhone 5s and 5c to its 760 Million Customers
