“No company gets attention like Apple. No company,” says Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick—whether it be from the development of new products like the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, or from news of the company’s profits and sales. On Tuesday, the tech colossus reported its fourth-quarter earnings, announcing some formidable figures, including a whopping 21-percent jump in iPhone revenue. It’s no surprise that that increase was due in large part to high demand for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. But what did surprise some is the fact that that surge was matched by a 21-percent increase in revenue from none other than the Mac.
“Nobody talks about Macintoshes,” said Kirkpatrick, also a contributing editor at Bloomberg, on “In the Loop with Betty Liu” Tuesday morning. “But if Mac sales are up 21 percent this quarter, that says something new. They have broken out of a range they’ve been in, and I think it’s a very big deal.” By converting PC users and taking a bigger share of computer sales, Apple can benefit from an area that may not be sexy, but is “very high margin and very high price,” Kirkpatrick said, adding, “I think that could be the growth business for Apple that people aren’t paying attention to.”
What’s foremost on pundits’ minds at the moment is Apple Pay, the company’s new contactless payment technology, which Kirkpatrick believes could see success. “There have been so many efforts to try to do contactless payment,” Kirkpatrick said, citing attempts by credit card companies and Google. “It may be that Apple’s extraordinary brand … may actually do something for payments that nobody else could do, and I hope it’s true. I would love to see payments get easier. We all would benefit.”