Wednesday, Aug 02, 2017

Quarterly results from Apple Inc., the US-headquartered technology giant, powered the Dow Jones to new heights on Wednesday, a day after it announced that Apple Pay, its mobile payment software, would expand further internationally before the end of 2017.

The MSCI Tech index grew by 0.9 per cent, whilst the Dow Jones industrial average soared on Wednesday evening as it hit the 22,000 mark for the first time, bolstered by Apple’s results.

On Tuesday, Apple released its earnings report, recording higher-than-expected profits and revenues, boosted by the sale of 41 million iPhones in the third fiscal quarter.

The company’s results were also strengthened by the increase in sales of services and digital content such as apps.

On an earnings call with analysts on Tuesday, the company said that Apple Pay would go live in the UAE, Denmark, Finland and Sweden before the end of this calendar year.

“Apple Pay is by far the number one NFC payment service on mobile devices, with nearly 90% of all transactions globally,” said a spokeswoman for Apple in a statement to Gulf News.

NFC refers to near field communication: Technology through which two devices can communicate when brought within four centimetres of each other.

Stating that one in four Apple Pay transactions take place outside of the US, Apple said that “momentum is strongest in international markets, where the infrastructure for mobile payments has developed faster than in the US.”

Apple is not the only one looking to introduce its digital payment service to the UAE, however,

Within the next few months, the UAE Banks Federation (UBF) has announced that it will be introducing the Emirates Digital Wallet, which will, according to Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, “dramatically change the way we pay for things, providing consumers and businesses a simple and convenient way to receive, store and transfer money.”

Al Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq, said in a recent Gulf News column that “the launch of Emirates Digital Wallet coincides with a phase of breakneck innovation in the banking sector, with the UBF, working closely with the Central Bank, setting initiatives to increase digitisation of banking services and contribute to the UAE’s Smart Government initiative.”

Mobile pay is on the rise globally, with Apple Pay growing by over 50 per cent in the US alone in 2016, according to analytics company TXN.

Apple, in its earnings report, also highlighted how 60 per cent of its revenue came from outside the US.

The world’s most valuable company has come under increased scrutiny from investors and analysts lately as concerns grow that the iPhone can no longer be relied upon to deliver Apple sufficient growth.

Despite attempts to diversify its product line, the iPhone still made up around 60 per cent of Apple’s sales in the past quarter.

Fans of the company are currently looking ahead to the iPhone 8, the company’s 10th anniversary device, expected to be released later this year.

Staff Report

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