Apple wants to step after the worse than expected run Christmas business, according to a media report on new hires on the brakes. This would affect some areas, said CEO Tim Cook, according to a report by the financial service Bloomberg in a performance before employees. However, he does not consider a complete hiring freeze the right solution.
Key areas such as the work on artificial intelligence would also continue to grow strongly. Apple’s workforce grew from 123,000 to 132,000 full-time positions at the end of September last fiscal year.
Sales forecast missed significantly
Apple had announced earlier this month that the group had missed its own sales forecast in the Christmas quarter significantly. The iPhone group has lowered its revenue estimate for the past three months to $ 84 billion (around € 73 billion), compared with $ 89 to 93 billion in November. The strong correction goes mainly to the weaker iPhone sales in China, it said.
Eleven million iPhone batteries replaced
Cook had appeared in front of the employees shortly after the forecast cut. Little information has been leaked from the meeting so far. Only the well-connected tech blogger John Gruber reported that Apple has exchanged eleven million iPhone batteries, according to Cook, last year, while the group usually go out of one or two million.
Apple had also mentioned as one of the reasons for the weaker performance in the Christmas business, that some customers had made use of the offer for cheap battery replacement, instead of buying a new phone.
The group had the price for the replacement of the batteries at times drastically reduced, after it had become known that the performance of iPhones with aging batteries was partially throttled by software. Apple said it had been necessary so that the devices do not turn off under heavy load, critics accused the group, however, to urge users to buy a new cell phone.
