Apple Says App Store Changes and Mobile Gaming Softness Affected Services Revenue

Softness in mobile gaming and Apple's changes to the App Store business model in some countries impacted the performance of the ‌App Store‌, Apple CFO Kevan Parekh said during today's earnings call.

Apple's services revenue was $30.7 billion, a 12% increase over the $27.4 billion it earned in the year-ago quarter. Though the category saw growth, revenue came in under expectations, prompting analyst questions that led to Parekh's comments on the ‌App Store‌.

We also had some factors that impacted the performance of the App Store. We did see some headwinds in mobile gaming, and then keep in mind, we also made some changes to the App Store business model in certain countries, and in the U.S., we do continue to operate under a court ruling impacting the link-out transactions. But we're pleased the Supreme Court will hear our appeal.

There have been ‌App Store‌ fee updates in Japan and Brazil as of late, with Apple collecting no fees on link-outs in the U.S. and lower fees from alternative app marketplace apps in the EU. Despite the rule changes, the ‌App Store‌ still set a June quarter revenue record. Apple saw double-digit growth in cloud services, video, payment services, and advertising, with a record level of Apple Pay users.

During the call, Apple also said it now has 1.5 billion paid subscriptions, with transacting and paid accounts hitting an all-time high.

Parekh said it wasn't the ‌App Store‌ alone that impacted services revenue, and Apple also took a hit from foreign exchange. Last year, Apple also had the theatrical release of F1, and no equivalent release this year, making for a tougher compare.

Services growth in the September quarter is expected to be similar to the June quarter when excluding an approximately 2.5 percentage point foreign exchange headwind.