Record sales of the iPhone 6S and Mac headlined Apples Q4 earnings report yesterday, with the firm posting EPS of $1.96 on revenues of $51.5 billion. Both figures exceeded analyst’s expectations and related that optimism from retail investors about iPhone sales was on track.
Also being reported by the company was an update on Apple Pay. While Apple didn’t break down specific financial metrics of revenues or usage numbers for the mobile payment system, they did provide an operational update.
According to Apple, they are experiencing double-digit transaction growth on a month over month (MoM) basis. The growth follows a similar strong update that Samsung released with regard to its South Korean launch. The transaction growth appears to show that while the overall public isn’t necessarily clamoring to demand mobile Payments , once they start using it, the benefits make sense and it leads to repeat usage.
Looking ahead to expanded coverage of Apple Pay, the firm announced that they have partnered with Starbucks, and in 2016 the system will be supported in all of the coffee chain’s US stores.
Beyond the US, the key news being released was a deal with American Express which will expand Apple Pay internationally. Through their partnership with American Express, Apple Pay will become available in Australia and Canada by the end of this year, with expected launches in Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong in 2016.
One last note
Prior to Apple’s Q4 financial report, Finance Magnates published a review of how various investing related tools from fintech startups were forecasting the coming results. Providing another data set was Call Levels, a mobile stock price alerting system provided to Finance Magnates aggregated user statistics.
According to the firm, average levels for alerts were in the $111.6 to $112.1 range, compared to a closing price of $114.55 for Apple Shares. The Call Level alerts reveal that users had been bracing for healthy Volatility of about 2-3%, before requesting to be alerted about potentially taking action on the stock’s move. While a small sample size for the overall retail market, the data does provide a glimpse into investor sentiment that selling pressure from investors may become stronger if prices drop below the $111.6 level.
