00:00 Speaker A
That’s a good result. They lived up to my pretty high expectations. We’re talking about how the 20% growth in iPhone is driving a lot of other revenue, services, and peripherals. But it was clean on the iPad side, it was clean on the Mac side, it was clean on the service side, and the margins stayed there.
00:23 Speaker B
I think the important thing is to continue to execute well on our major product cycles. iPhone remains healthy. Well, the installed base continues to grow. I think the combination of Pro and Pro Max is a healthy one. The service business remains strong. When you combine all of these things, you have a vibrant ecosystem. Ah, it’s definitely a side effect of them. Um, memory is going to be a little bit of a headwind, but I think the company is operating well.
00:58 Speaker C
What do you think about this Greater China number? How do you think Apple’s business will develop in the future?
01:04 Speaker A
This is encouraging, as this business has been declining over time in terms of a percentage of Apple’s overall business. It is highly unstable and susceptible to tensions between the US and Chinese regimes. Whenever China wants to increase its aggression against the United States, this is one of the tools they have. So a good result shows that the Chinese are not pulling that lever right now. However, volatility will still increase in the long run. It’s a huge market, so Apple needs to be there.
01:43 Speaker C
When it comes to this company’s AI strategy, what are the problems and what are the solutions?
01:50 Speaker A
Apple’s strategy was to get all the other big technology companies to invest in building data centers and to invest tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in Frontier Labs. So they can sit back and let everyone develop their AI and wait to see who wins, integrates Gemini, and how much they want to integrate others. Their only big question is: Will there be a compelling iPhone 18 product that can continue this upgrade cycle? Because if you don’t, you may be disappointed next year.
02:35 Speaker A
That’s the big question now. Yes, AI is important, and Siri is important, but what really matters is how attractive the iPhone 18 is.
02:44 Speaker C
Perhaps there is a shadow over all of this. There have been major changes in Apple’s leadership, haven’t there? John Ternus will take over from Tim Cook in September. Is Turnus the right person in your opinion? Secondly, what do you think his priorities will be and should be?
03:00 Speaker B
I think John Tarnas is the right guy for aa. Given his background in product and hardware, I think he’s well-positioned to drive strong execution and launch well in his portfolio. Part of Tim Cook’s success is that he brings and develops strong talent throughout the organization. I think John Tarnas is an example of a successful leader under Tim Cook. I think he’ll rise up and become a very successful CEO.
03:41 Speaker B
I think what John brings is a laser-like focus on the product portfolio and really continuing to drive progress there. The other thing that Tim Cook has done well, and I think will be a major priority for John Ternas, is keeping the developer ecosystem healthy. If you think about what Apple has done there since they opened the Ice, App Store about 20 years ago, they’ve paid over $550 billion to developers. etc.,
04:39 Speaker B
I think making sure that that ecosystem is vibrant and that Apple intelligence provides tools that empower developers will be a priority for John Ternus.
