苹果的服务业务保持在创纪录水平，但面临的压力日益增大。该业务的核心部分——苹果App Store（应用商店）——面临监管压力和手游低迷，这拖累了服务业务的增长。
Apple’s services business remains at record levels, but it’s facing growing pressure. The central part of that business, Apple’s App Store, has faced regulatory pressure and a slump in mobile gaming, which have hurt services growth.
然而，在周一的财报电话会上，苹果暗示可能会通过第三方应用来提振服务收入。这究竟意味着什么？遗憾的是，目前尚不完全清楚。
However, on Monday’s earnings call, Apple signaled that it may look to boost services revenue through third-party apps. What does that mean, exactly? Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear.
在探讨人工智能如何可能“随着时间推移促进收入增长”时，苹果首席财务官凯文·帕雷克表示：“在产品方面，我们认为人工智能为客户提供了升级和更换设备以获取最新功能的有力理由，我们也认为在第三方应用和合作伙伴关系以及第一方机会方面都存在机遇。”帕雷克并未详细说明通过第三方应用可能获得哪些类型的机遇。不过，路透社周一报道称，投资者在猜测苹果是否能通过App Store分发第三方AI代理，并从中抽取其产生的收入分成。
When discussing how AI could potentially “contribute to revenue growth over time,” Kevan Parekh, Apple’s chief financial officer, said: “On the product side, you know, we feel AI offers a compelling reason for customers to upgrade and switch in order to get the latest capabilities, and we also feel there’s opportunities across third-party apps and partnerships as well as first-party opportunities.”Parekh did not elaborate on what sorts of opportunities might be available via third-party apps. However, Reuters reported Monday that investors are wondering whether Apple could profit by distributing third-party AI agents through the App Store and taking a cut of the revenue they generate.
监管和法律变革已在一些市场蚕食了App Store的佣金收入，即使苹果的服务业务整体仍在增长。例如，第三方估算显示，8月份该公司在美国的佣金收入下降了18%，巴西和日本在推出新法规后也出现了下滑。苹果一直严格控制其应用市场内的支付，从所有App Store交易中抽取佣金。但Epic Games（Epic游戏公司）的诉讼最终迫使苹果允许应用将用户引导至外部支付系统。世界各地的其他法律挑战进一步阻碍了该业务。
Regulatory and legal changes have cut into App Store commission revenue in some markets, even as Apple’s services business as a whole continues to grow. Third-party estimates in August, for example, suggested the company had seen an 18% drop in U.S. commission revenue, with declines also in Brazil and Japan after those countries introduced new regulations. Apple has traditionally controlled payments within its app marketplace tightly, taking a cut of all App Store transactions. But a lawsuit by Epic Games ultimately forced the company to allow apps to redirect users to outside payment systems. Other legal challenges throughout the world have further hampered the business.
在财报电话会上，帕雷克提到了苹果App Store面临的困境，并回到公司服务业务可拓展至新领域这一观点。
During the earnings call, Parekh referenced Apple’s App Store woes and returned to the idea that the company’s service business could expand into new territory.
帕雷克表示：“我们还看到一些影响 App Store 表现的因素，在 9 月季度，App Store 的表现与上年同期相似，我们在 App Store 上的付费订阅数量创下纪录，第三方应用实现了两位数增长。与此同时，我们确实看到了此前提到过的移动游戏方面的一些逆风，并预计这些逆风将持续到夏季季度。”
“We’ve also seen some factors that impacted the performance of the App Store, and during the September quarter, the performance on the App Store was similar to the prior year, and we had a record number of paid subscriptions with double-digit growth for third-party apps on the App Store,” Parekh said. “At the same time, we did see some headwinds in mobile gaming that we’ve talked about before, and expect to see those continue into the summer quarter.”
帕雷克补充道：“展望未来，我们预计服务业务在 12 月季度的增长率将在 8% 到 9% 之间。这一展望包含了我们对连续季度逆风的最佳预估，主要来自第三方授权以及我刚才提到的额外半个百分点的外汇影响。” TechCrunch 已联系苹果公司获取更多信息，若对方回复将更新本文。
Parekh added: “As we move ahead, we expect services growth to to be between 8 to 9% [in the December quarter]. This outlook contemplates our best estimates on sequential headwinds, primarily from third-party licensing and the additional half percentage point of foreign exchange I just mentioned.”TechCrunch has reached out to Apple for more information and will update this story if it responds.