1/29/20 - Apple Emerges From Sales Slump With Record Revenue

From the Simplr studios in San Francisco, this is your daily briefing.  

Introduction

This is Today in Five, for today, Wednesday, January 29th. Here are today’s headlines in digital disruption.

Apple reported a jump in revenue after experiencing slowing iPhone sales the prior year.  

First, here are the latest headlines.

Pinterest Introduces AR-Based Service

Pinterest is introducing a new augmented reality-based service called Try On. Customers can open the Pinterest camera in search and find different lipstick shades to try on virtually, and swipe up to shop. They can try on various products virtually, save items for later, or buy directly through the retailer’s site. The Try On tool doesn’t use digital skin smoothing or image-altering effects, making the AR experience more realistic. Per an announcement, the company said they integrated the tool with a skin tone range feature to help find lip shades that match various skin tones and make the experience more inclusive. Estée Lauder, Sephora, bareMinerals, Neutrogena, and Urban Decay are among the first beauty brands that people can buy from with Pinterest’s new shoppable AR feature.  

1-800-Flowers Enhancing Omnichannel Experience

1-800-Flowers.com is rolling out enhancements across its digital, mobile, and voice channels. The specialty gift retailer is attempting to streamline its omnichannel shopping experience as Valentine’s Day approachings. The new features they’re unveiling include an intelligent virtual assistant, which combines AI and human interaction. The President of the company said, “As customers prepare to find the perfect gift for their Valentine, we are pleased to introduce new and unique ways to interact with 1-800-Flowers.com while providing a significantly enhanced shopping journey.”  

Former Victoria's Secret Vet New J. Crew CEO

J. Crew is tapping a former Victoria’s Secret vet as CEO. J. Crew Group, which runs the J. Crew and Madewell brands, announced that Jan Singer will join the company as CEO of the J. Crew brand and a member of the board, effective early February. According to a company press release, she will be responsible for, “all aspects of the J. Crew and J. Crew Factory brands and businesses.” Singer has more than 25 years of experience, most recently serving as CEO for two years at Victoria’s Secret. She was also previously CEO of Spanx and a Nike executive.  

Apple Emerges From Sales Slump With Record Revenue

After experiencing a slump in iPhone sales last year, Apple has risen again. The tech company posted record revenue and a return to profit growth in the latest quarter behind strong sales of its flagship smartphone as well as apps and AirPods. The tech giant reported revenue rose 9 percent in the December quarter to $91.82 billion dollars, driven by growing sales of devices and services connected to the iPhone such as smartwatches and streaming-TV subscriptions. Sales of iPhones, which account for more than half of its revenue, rose 8 percent to $55.96 billion dollars. Executives at Apple said they expect the sales growth to continue in the current quarter.

The company’s latest numbers marks its return to form, after failing to report a quarterly revenue record last year for the first time since the iPhone’s 2007 release. Last year, the company also slashed its guidance for the first time in more than 15 years. Apple pulled its way out of the slump by introducing new services and accessories that would appeal to the owners of the 900 million iPhones worldwide. The addition of a credit card and video-subscription service helped increase sales of services 17 percent in the latest quarter, the company said. The introduction of AirPods Pro also helped fuel a 37 percent surge in the company’s wearables business, which also includes smartwatches and iPods.  

Mr. Cook said in a statement that the number of active Apple devices worldwide rose 1.5 billion from 1.4 billion a year ago. The 7 percent increase represents a slow down in growth from prior years but indicates that Apple is still continuing to increase its customer base as it aims to sell more services.  

Closing

Find out how Simplr can cut your customer service response time through cutting-edge technology and on-demand talent at simplr.ai. That’s S-I-M-P-L-R.ai.  

Thanks for listening to this latest episode of Today In Five. We’ll see you tomorrow.