蘋果公司和華爾街分析師的季度業(yè)績(jī)電話會(huì)議經(jīng)常乏善可陳,，既無新聞也無熱點(diǎn)。但上周四晚的會(huì)議例外,，因?yàn)樘O果首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆·庫克和財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)盧卡·馬艾斯特利給投資界爆了一點(diǎn)兒料,。這個(gè)“意外”把股東們嚇了一跳，而且一度將蘋果的市值壓到了一萬億美元以下——這是今年8月突破萬億后蘋果市值首次跌破,。

上周四晚上,，蘋果首先披露了財(cái)務(wù)數(shù)據(jù),，表現(xiàn)仍然強(qiáng)勁，但蘋果也警告說假期旺季銷售可能不及華爾街預(yù)期,，讓投資者感到失望,。

大約一小時(shí)后，財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)盧卡·馬艾斯特利扔出的“炸彈”放大了人們的失望情緒,。逐條宣讀了下一季度蘋果在財(cái)報(bào)披露和會(huì)計(jì)方法上即將做的調(diào)整后,，馬艾斯特利冷冰冰地補(bǔ)充說，蘋果已經(jīng)決定不再披露iPhone,、iPad以及Mac電腦的季度銷量數(shù)字,。

馬艾斯特利向分析師念出了稿子上的話：“正如我們反復(fù)重申，公司目標(biāo)是提供豐富人們生活的偉大產(chǎn)品和服務(wù),，以及無以倫比的客戶體驗(yàn),，希望用戶高度滿意、熱愛產(chǎn)品并且深度參與,。實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)之后,，業(yè)績(jī)也會(huì)非常亮麗。近年來我們的業(yè)績(jī)表明,，任何一個(gè)季度的產(chǎn)品銷量都不一定能代表公司真正的實(shí)力,。”

由于預(yù)期不佳,，蘋果公司股價(jià)在盤后交易已下滑了3%左右,。此言一出，跌幅迅速擴(kuò)大,，一度達(dá)7.5%,，原因是外界擔(dān)心縮了水的數(shù)據(jù)或許另有所指。

分析師相當(dāng)不滿,，他們說投資者或許會(huì)認(rèn)為政策調(diào)整是為了避免承認(rèn)iPhone銷量下降,。花旗集團(tuán)分析師吉姆·蘇瓦對(duì)庫克和馬艾斯特利說：“不公布iPhone銷量可能會(huì)引發(fā)諸多負(fù)面反應(yīng),。聽上去你們還會(huì)繼續(xù)披露收入,，但可能會(huì)有人擔(dān)心不公布數(shù)字意味著iPhone銷量一年不如一年?！?/p>

庫克和馬艾斯特利回應(yīng)了蘇瓦,，但之后略顯唐突地結(jié)束了電話會(huì)議。庫克解釋說：“有點(diǎn)像你在超市把購物車推到收銀臺(tái),，然后收銀員問：‘里面有多少件東西,？’比起購物車?yán)镂锲返恼w價(jià)值，數(shù)量并不是很重要?！?/p>

過去一年中iphone的銷量陷入停滯——和此前一年相比,，銷量?jī)H上升了0.4%。但通過提高售價(jià)以及推出更貴的新款手機(jī)iPhone X,，蘋果讓消費(fèi)者花了更多錢,，收入也實(shí)現(xiàn)迅猛增長(zhǎng)。一年來,，iPhone收入提高了18%,，接近1670億美元。

該策略仍在繼續(xù)——上個(gè)月推出的新iPhone更為昂貴,，首次亮相的高端型號(hào)iPhone XS Max的價(jià)格則更上一層樓,。上周蘋果故技重施,，提高了新iPad Pro,、MacBook Air和Mac mini的起售價(jià)。

馬艾斯特利提出的一條理由無可爭(zhēng)辯,。他說,，“幾個(gè)最主要的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手都不公布銷量數(shù)據(jù)?！钡拇_如此,，亞馬遜和谷歌等公司從未披露過季度銷量，也不公布各類產(chǎn)品帶來的收入,，而蘋果雖然不再透露銷量,，仍將公布收入數(shù)字。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Apple’s quarterly conference calls with Wall Street analysts can be tepid affairs, with little news or excitement. But that wasn’t the case on last Thursday evening, as CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri dropped a bit of a bombshell on the investment community. The surprise spooked shareholders and briefly pushed the Apple’s stock market value below $1 trillion for the first time since it crossed that symbolic threshold in August.

Initially on last Thursday, Apple reported yet another quarter of strong financial results, though its warning that holiday season sales wouldn’t be as strong as Wall Street hoped disappointed investors.

That disappointment was magnified an hour or so later when CFO Luca Maestri dropped the bombshell. Reading off a list of reporting and accounting changes Apple would make in its next quarterly report, Maestri dryly added that the company had decided to stop disclosing exactly how many iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers it sold every quarter.

“As we have stated many times, our objective is to make great products and services that enrich people’s lives and to provide an unparalleled customer experience so that our users are highly satisfied, loyal and engaged,” he told the analysts, reading from the script. “As we accomplish these objectives, strong financial results follow. As demonstrated by our financial performance in recent years, the number of units sold in any 90-day period is not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business.”

Apple’s stock price, which had already slipped about 3% on the weak forecast in after-hours trading, quickly dropped as much as 7.5% on concern over what the reduced disclosure might signal. Though later, the drop moderated a bit and Apple’s value was sitting just above $1 trillion.

Analysts sounded less than pleased, saying investors may see the policy change as a way to avoid admitting that fewer iPhones are being sold. “You know, there will probably be a lot of pushback about not giving iPhone unit data,” Citigroup analyst Jim Suva said to Cook and Maestri on the call. “It sounds like you’re still going to give revenue data, but some people might fear that this now means that the iPhone units are going to start going negative year over year.”

Cook and Maestri pushed back, but ended the call somewhat abruptly after giving their responses to Suva. “This is a little bit like if you go to the market and you push your cart up to the cashier and she or he says ‘how many units you have in there,'” Cook explained. “It doesn’t matter a lot how many units there are in there in terms of the overall value of what’s in the cart.”

Over the past year, the number of iPhones sold has stalled—it rose just 0.4% compared to the same 12-month period a year earlier. But by raising prices and adding the new more expensive iPhone X model, Apple has convinced customers to pay more and showed strong revenue growth in the business. Over the last year, iPhone revenue increased 18% to almost $167 billion.

That strategy is continuing, as Apple’s new iPhones introduced last month came at higher prices and the company debuted an even more expensive top-end model, the iPhone XS Max. Then last week, Apple copied the strategy and raised starting prices for its new iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models.

One of the CFO’s rationales is indisputable. Masetri noted that “our top competitors do not provide unit sales information.” That’s true. Companies like Amazon and Google never reveal exactly how many gadgets they’ve sold in a quarter, or even the revenue generated by such products, as Apple will continue to do even after the surprise shift.