Apple's Services Revenue Up 19% Year-Over-Year in Q1 2019, Hits New All-Time High

Tuesday January 29, 2019 2:27 PM PST by Juli Clover
Apple's services category, which includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and AppleCare is an increasingly important revenue driver for Apple amid stagnating iPhone sales, and services growth is once again hitting an all time high.

During the first fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple's services segment brought in $10.9 billion in revenue, up from the $9.1 billion services earned in the first quarter of 2018.


In all five of its geographic regions, including China, Apple saw new December quarter revenues record for the services category.

Apple hit a December quarter record for AppleCare, and nearly 16 years after launching iTunes Store, it saw its highest quarterly revenue ever thanks to Apple Music. The App Store also saw record results propelled by record sales on Christmas and New Years.

Over 1.8 billion Apple Pay transactions were made during the quarter, 2x more than the previous quarter, and Apple News set a new record with more than 85M monthly active users.

Apple has more than 360 million paid subscribers across its services, an increase of 120 million compared to the year-ago quarter. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that the company expects the total number of paid subscribers to surpass half a billion in 2020.

Apple is aiming to reach $14 billion in services revenue per quarter by 2020, and it is well on its way towards reaching that goal.

Apple is working on bolstering its services category in 2019, breaking into the television industry. Apple is has more than two dozen original television shows in the works right now, which will be distributed through a TV streaming service set to debut early in 2019.

An Apple News subscription service is also in the works and could come out around the same time, with Apple planning to offer access to magazines for a monthly fee, and there have been rumors Apple is considering a gaming subscription service as well.

Tag: earnings
23 comments


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martyjmclean
3 weeks ago
Let’s hope Apple doesn’t see this growth as “Services are perfect the way they are”. iCloud needs some serious catching up to Google Drive, the Stores backend needs rebuilding, Apple Music needs Spotify level algorithms and playlists, and not to mention Apple Pay Cash etc needs to be available outside the US.
Rating: 4 Votes
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d0nK
3 weeks ago
Balls to services.
I need a new mbp without the incredibly crap butterfly keyboard attached to it.
Chop, chop Apple.
Rating: 2 Votes
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pika2000
3 weeks ago
And thus Apple need to do something more. I mean iCloud has not offered anything new or refreshing for a while. iWorks on iCloud don’t get mentioned in keynotes anymore. Instead, Apple is chasing Netflix, a model where there are actually a lot of capital involved (getting rights to the various movies and shows are not cheap). Why not beef up iCloud first to the point that Apple user won’t be interested in Office 365 at all.
[doublepost=1548827842][/doublepost]

Think about it.

Apple Services in 2019 is worth more than the entire Apple company in 2009. This is before Apple even launches the TV service and Apple New subscription, both coming this year. Apple is branching into health, a trillion dollar market and ApplePay is spreading, financial services is also a trillion dollar market. Meanwhile, Apple Watch is growing exponentially, AirPods own 80% of the entire wireless earphone market and AR Glasses are launching next year.

Apple will be fine.

But I want my $500 Mac Pro, iPad with mouse running Windows, and $200 iPhone XIII. So Apple is doomed, doomed I tell ya.
/s
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
laz232
3 weeks ago

So it’s not the end of the world for Apple? So much gloom and doom lately lol


The point is that I don't care if a company with the name "Apple" exists* - I want that company to create tools (real computers - in my case laptops), that enable me to do my work (and play) in an as effective and enjoyable way as possible.
Music subscriptions and lame TV shows are not that company, nor are expensive phone, or watches or watch bands.

I think that is the reason that a lot of people are upset - we don't care if Apple makes a trillion dollars, if they are not creating the computers that got them to where they are in the first place - we would rather have a really good $100M company than a $100B behemoth that just markets crap to the masses.

*after all, the name IBM is still around too - they are no longer relevant for most people
Rating: 2 Votes
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Relentless Power
3 weeks ago
To me, this is where the ‘real’ growth is. Services is a major contributor to Apple, with Apple Music, Apple Pay expanding continuously, iCloud services, and of course the App Store, etc. Obviously hardware is Apple’s focus, but services is on the rise for a very good reason, and has been the trend with their past few earning calls.
Rating: 2 Votes
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FSMBP
3 weeks ago
Gee I wonder why they haven’t upped their 5GB iCloud storage...not saying they should offer 30GB free, but 15GB is reasonable.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
ipedro
3 weeks ago
Think about it.

Apple Services in 2019 is worth more than the entire Apple company in 2009. This is before Apple even launches the TV service and Apple New subscription, both coming this year. Apple is branching into health, a trillion dollar market and ApplePay is spreading, financial services is also a trillion dollar market. Meanwhile, Apple Watch is growing exponentially, AirPods own 80% of the entire wireless earphone market and AR Glasses are launching next year.

Apple will be fine.
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
truthertech
3 weeks ago

Very good comment.
As an apple employee I would,ask myself. What am i doing here?
I mean there is 0 innovation , just a huge giant brand

I wonder how their employees even motivate themself every day



When Apple is spending over a billion dollars a month on R and D, more than most all of the companies in the entire world, Apple would be better off without any employees clueless as the one you describe.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Scottsoapbox
3 weeks ago
I wonder how much of this is Verizon paying for free Apple music for "unlimited" customers. #AccountingCanBeCreative
Rating: 1 Votes
Avatar
Romeo_Nightfall
3 weeks ago

The point is that I don't care if a company with the name "Apple" exists* - I want that company to create tools (real computers - in my case laptops), that enable me to do my work (and play) in an as effective and enjoyable way as possible.
Music subscriptions and lame TV shows are not that company, nor are expensive phone, or watches or watch bands.

I think that is the reason that a lot of people are upset - we don't care if Apple makes a trillion dollars, if they are not creating the computers that got them to where they are in the first place - we would rather have a really good $100M company than a $100B behemoth that just markets crap to the masses.

*after all, the name IBM is still around too - they are no longer relevant for most people


Very good comment.
As an apple employee I would,ask myself. What am i doing here?
I mean there is 0 innovation , just a huge giant brand

I wonder how their employees even motivate themself every day
Rating: 1 Votes
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