蘋果大中華區銷售額首次超美國市場

Apple’s growth engine has now shifted unmistakably to China.

現在，蘋果(Apple)的增長引擎已經明白無誤地轉移到了中國。

The company said on Monday that quarterly iPhone sales in greater China, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, had surpassed those in Apple’s home market, the United States, for the first time.

公司週一宣佈，iPhone在包括中國大陸、香港和臺灣在內的大中華區的季度銷售額已經超過了蘋果在美國國內市場的成績。這是歷史上第一次。

While Apple did not disclose specific numbers, the performance powered the company’s revenue, with sales in greater China rising 71 percent to $16.8 billion in the fiscal second quarter compared with the same period last year. Revenue from greater China also exceeded that from Europe for the first time.

雖然蘋果並未透露具體數字，但這一表現提升了公司的營收數據。大中華區第二財季的銷售額升至168億美元（約合1040億元人民幣），同比上揚71%。來自大中華區的營收還首次超過了歐洲市場。

The China results punctuated another strong quarter for Apple. In total, revenue climbed 27 percent to $58 billion, up from $45.6 billion last year, the company said in its earnings report. Profit was $13.6 billion, up from $10.2 billion a year ago.

中國的業績標誌着蘋果又有了一個表現強勁的季度。公司在財報中稱，全球市場而言，總營收同比增加27%，由去年的456億美元增至580億美元。利潤則由一年前的102億美元增至136億美元。

“Everything you look at in China was extremely good,” Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, told analysts in the company’s earnings call. “We’re really proud of the results there and continue to invest in the country.”

“在中國看到的一切都非常好，”蘋果首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)在公司的財報電話會議中告訴各位分析師。“我們對那裏的業績深感自豪，並且將繼續在中國進行投資。”

Apple has long laid the groundwork to reap big sales in China, and revenue growth from the region has steadily gained momentum. The company in late 2013 struck an important deal to sell iPhones through China Mobile, the world’s largest phone carrier. Apple is also expanding its operations in the region, with 21 retail stores and plans to increase that number to 40 by mid-2016.

蘋果很早以前就爲在中國取得巨大銷售額奠定了基礎，而這一地區的收益也在呈穩步提升的趨勢。2013年末，蘋果達成了一項重要協議，從而能夠通過世界上最大的手機運營商中國移動來銷售iPhone。蘋果還在擴大它在該地區的業務規模。目前它在大中華區擁有21家零售店，計劃到2016年年中增加到40家。

Add to all that the fact that the Chinese New Year holiday, typically a big retail season, was in February. The latest iPhones also have much bigger screens than past models, another feature that has been especially popular in China.

此外，春節假期通常是大型零售季，而它今年的時間是在2月。最新款的iPhone還擁有比舊款大很多的屏幕，這個特點在中國市場上備受歡迎。

Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst for Jackdaw Research, said Apple’s performance in China highlighted its advantages against other American technology companies.

穴鳥研究公司(Jackdaw Research)的獨立科技分析師簡·道森(Jan Dawson)認爲，蘋果在中國的表現突顯了它與其他美國科技公司相比的優勢所在。

“It’s hugely important because it shows that Apple continues to be the only major U.S. tech company that is really succeeding in China, in contrast to Google, Microsoft and Amazon,” Mr. Dawson said.

“這非常重要，因爲它表明與谷歌(Google)、微軟(Microsoft)和亞馬遜(Amazon)相比，蘋果依然是唯一真正在中國取得成功的大型美國科技企業，”道森說。

Over all, Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones in the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of roughly 60 million phones. That also far exceeded the 43.7 million iPhones that Apple sold in the period a year ago. Analysts had anticipated that iPhone sales would increase sharply, largely because of the company’s growing presence in greater China. Apple also said it was seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhones from Android smartphones.

總的來看，這一季度蘋果的iPhone銷量共計6120萬部，超過了分析師預估的6000萬部左右的數據，並且遠超蘋果去年同期取得的4370萬部的銷量。分析師此前就已預計，主要由於蘋果在大中華區日益增加的影響力，iPhone的銷售將大幅提升。蘋果還表示，人們從Android智能手機轉而使用iPhone的速度在加快。

Sales of Apple’s iPad declined for the fifth quarter in a row, however. The company sold 12.6 million iPads, compared with 16.4 million tablets a year ago. Over the last year, Apple’s tablet sales have steadily shrunk, partly because people do not upgrade those devices as frequently as they do smartphones. In addition, as smartphone screen sizes increase, some consumers question whether they need both a tablet and a phone.

不過，蘋果iPad的銷售連續第五個季度下跌。公司在這一季度裏共售出1260萬臺iPad，而一年前爲1640萬臺。過去一年中，蘋果平板的銷售狀況穩步下跌，其部分原因是人們對這類設備更新換代的頻率不像智能手機那麼高。除此之外，隨着智能手機屏幕尺寸的加大，有些消費者還會懷疑自己是否需要同時擁有平板電腦和智能手機。

In an interview, Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, said the company was nonetheless happy with the iPad’s performance because the tablet continued to top customer satisfaction ratings.

蘋果首席財務官盧卡·馬埃斯特里(Luca Maestri)接受採訪時表示，儘管如此，公司仍對iPad的表現感到滿意，因爲這款平板產品在消費者滿意度排名中持續位居首位。

Apple also sold 4.6 million Mac computers in the quarter, up from 4.1 million a year ago. Mr. Cook said Mac sales in China rose 31 percent from a year ago.

蘋果公司在這一季度還賣出460萬臺Mac電腦，而去年同期的銷量爲410萬臺。庫克表示，Mac在中國的銷售額同比增長31%。

Apple reported earnings after releasing its Apple Watch, which began shipping to customers in nine countries on Friday. On the earnings call, Mr. Cook said that consumer demand was exceeding initial supply, but that he expected Apple to be able to offer the watch in additional countries by late June.

蘋果此次公佈財報正好在推出Apple Watch之後。上週五，蘋果開始向九個國家的消費者出貨。庫克在財報電話會議上表示，消費者對Apple Watch的需求超過了初期的供應量，但他認爲蘋果能夠在6月底前爲更多國家提供這款腕錶產品。

Mr. Cook said Apple was especially happy with the progress in software applications available for the Apple Watch. The App Store now has more than 3,500 apps compatible with the watch, much higher than the 500 apps initially available for the iPhone when the App Store opened in 2008.

庫克表示，公司對可供Apple Watch使用的軟件應用的研發進展感到特別滿意。App Store現在有逾3500個適合這款手錶使用的應用，遠遠超過2008年推出App Store時最初適用於iPhone的應用的數量——500個。

“We couldn’t be happier about how things are going,” Mr. Cook said about apps for the watch, adding that customer response so far seemed to be “100 percent positive.”

“我們對事情的進展感到再滿意不過，”庫克在提到手錶應用時說。他還表示，到目前爲止消費者的反應似乎是“100%正面的”。

Analysts’ expectations for the watch are modest compared to Apple’s other blockbuster products. Toni Sacconaghi, a financial analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein, estimates that Apple will sell 7.5 million watches in the second half of Apple’s fiscal year, a much smaller number than the tens of millions of iPhones that sell each quarter.

與蘋果其他的主打產品相比，分析人士對這款腕錶的期望值不高。桑福德·伯恩斯坦公司(Sanford C. Bernstein)的金融分析師託尼·薩克納吉(Toni Sacconaghi)預測，蘋果在本財年下半年的手錶銷量將爲750萬塊，遠不及iPhone每季度上千萬的銷量。

The watch is Apple’s first brand-new hardware product under Mr. Cook, who took the reins in 2011, and Mr. Sacconaghi said investors would increasingly be looking at whether the wearable device would become Apple’s next big business.

這款腕錶是庫克2011年掌管蘋果以來公司推出的第一款全新硬件產品。薩科納吉表示，投資者會愈發關注這款可穿戴設備是否會成爲蘋果的下一個熱門產品。

“The iPhone is not going to grow this rate forever in China or globally,” he said. “What’s next, given that Mac is small and iPad is declining?”

“在中國或全球市場上，iPhone的銷售不會永遠以這個速度增長，”他說。“鑑於Mac銷售額較少，而iPad銷售額不斷下降，下一款熱銷產品會是什麼呢？”

It is unlikely that Apple will share sales figures for the watch soon. In a previous earnings call, Mr. Cook said the company would report watch sales in a group with other products, rather than breaking it out into a separate category, to obscure its performance against competitors.

蘋果很可能不會很快公佈Apple Watch的銷售數據。在之前的一次財報電話會議上，庫克表示，公司會公佈手錶和其他幾款產品的聯合銷售數據，但不會對它進行單獨公佈，從而使之不能與競爭對手的市場表現進行比較。

Apple on Monday also said it increased its capital return program by 50 percent, to $200 billion in cash by the end of March 2017. Apple is increasing its share repurchases to $140 billion from $90 billion, and is also raising its dividend to shareholders. The company’s cash and securities pile stood at $193.5 billion as of the end of the quarter.

蘋果公司在週一還表示，公司把資本返還計劃的規模擴大了50%，將在2017年3月底前將向投資者返還2000億美元。蘋果計劃將股票回購規模由900億美元增至1400億美元，還會增加向股東發放的紅利。截至上季度末，蘋果手中握有1935億美元的現金和證券。