Apple Watch Captured Estimated 75% Smartwatch Market Share in Launch Quarter

[5105973]

Although it probably is, have you tried others?

As I said in my previous post, if you're a woman with average sized wrist for a woman, you can't even get a lot of "the others" to fit comfortably on the wrist. Never mind the aesthetics and unquestionably masculine design of all but the Moto 360, which is unisex but huge.

Looking at forum responses, the Apple Watch and the concept in general of a wearable has been quite a hit with a lot of ladies and has the potential to gain even more acceptance as the word spreads among women how the watch can free them from digging around in bags and purses for their iPhones, and as greater customization options and accessories appear. It was short sighted, sexist and ignorant for "the others" to not even try to appeal to the female segment of the market.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

What an almost irrelevant statistic.

Irrelevant because even at an estimated $5.3 Billion, it's just a blip in the worldwide economy and/or the consumer electronics business? Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the "Apple Watch is a failure" narrative? Irrelevant because investor sentiment means more than actual results...?

 

[JackANSI]

Irrelevant because even at an estimated $5.3 Billion, it's just a blip in the worldwide economy and/or the consumer electronics business? Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the "Apple Watch is a failure" narrative? Irrelevant because investor sentiment means more than actual results...?

Irrelevant because without real numbers from Apple, this report is just an "opinion"...

 

[The Game 161]

Not doing too bad then hey

 

[ghostface147]

The watch isn't for me in any way, shape or form. However so early and already dominating the market......

 

[Plutonius]

Is couple of billion dollars of turnover in 1 quarter, and higher 1st quarter sales than the iPhone 1 enough for people to stop saying it's a flop?

Of course it is but the people saying it are either Apple's competitors or people shorting Apple stock .

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

I come to MacRumors for the comments.
It just makes my day.

 

[NMBob]

Clueless "analysts" continue to talk about what a "flop" the Apple Watch is

This was just at the bottom of the Slashdot page this morning:

"The economy depends about as much on economists as the weather does on weather forecasters.--Jean Paul Kauffmann"

You could throw in "analysts" for "economists" and it would be even truer.

 

[V.K.]

So if Apple sold 4M watches in Q3 then iPods and Beats really took a nose dive? Increase in "other" revenue QOQ was around $950M. A $400 ASP would be $1.6B meaning a $650M decline in iPod/Beats revenue.

The ASP should be higher. According to Slice it's around 485$ for watch+bands. one can doubt their absolute numbers but I don't see any reason to disbelieve their ASP estimate as they did have a huge sample. in view of this estimates around 3 million are more realistic. if they had sold 4 million at 485$ ASP just the Watch revenue would be almost 2 billion. Given that the whole Other category revenue is 2.6 billion that's pretty much impossible.

 

[PotatoLeekSoup]

I'm not surprised that Apple is dominating. Samsung and other Android watch makers made it clear they didn't give a crap about women at all when they designed their watches. Or any people with smaller wrists. Even my 6ft 2 husband can't find some of their offerings comfortable or able to fit in with his business attire.

I don't think they offered accessibility options for people who prefer their watches on the right wrist either.

And women have greater utility for this that men may not: purses that hold their watch, making accessing it slightly more involved than a man producing his iPhone from a pocket.

 

[jasonklee]

Irrelevant because even at an estimated $5.3 Billion, it's just a blip in the worldwide economy and/or the consumer electronics business? Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the "Apple Watch is a failure" narrative? Irrelevant because investor sentiment means more than actual results...?

Don't, my friend...Just don't.

 

[__dontpanic__]

Irrelevant because even at an estimated $5.3 Billion, it's just a blip in the worldwide economy and/or the consumer electronics business? Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the "Apple Watch is a failure" narrative? Irrelevant because investor sentiment means more than actual results...?

It's irrelevant because all it tells us is that Apple captured 75% of the market in a quarter where there wasn't any real competition from the competitors. Let's face it, the smartwatch market is still only an early adopters market - it hasn't hit the mainstream yet. And all the major Android competitors had been out for some time, so sales had no doubt slowed since they launched. Plus, given that there was no real iOS alternative (excluding the Pebble which I don't regard as a true smartwatch) prior to the Apple Watch, it's hardly surprising that they did a solid first quarter. The real test will be in the coming months and years as new products get launched and the product category matures. For now, these numbers are nothing but fodder for fanboy circlejerks.

 

[DakotaGuy]

I still wear a watch, but all my 20 something friends tell me no one wears a watch anymore except 40+ year old people. Is Apple going to put a watch on all these young people at the price they are asking? I guess we will find out in the next year or two. I'd love to see the age groups buying the majority of these Apple watches.

 

[Lazy]

From the article:

"Many analysts have adjusted their Apple Watch sales estimates following the company's earnings report on Tuesday, with the consensus now ranging between 2.2 million and 3 million units sold"

Elsewhere on MR I read that iPad sales were 3 million in the first 9 weeks, and Cook said watch sales exceed iPad sales in the same time period. I.e. he said they were at least 3 million. And 2.2 to 3 million is these guy's new range? Huh?!?

 

[navaira]

Truth is, Apple is now in a position where it could release an iPotato and it would sell bucketloads because it's Apple. Samsung, on the other hand, is still receiving a nice payback for buying reviews and making its devices perform better in tests than in real life. I have no interest in a smartwatch, but I enjoy reading about Apple Watch, perhaps one day I will feel the need to own one, right now I don't, but that may change. But I will first bite my head off then eat it before I buy another Samsung product.

Let's hope Apple don't lose the reputation they've built by releasing half-baked beta version products (I'm looking at you, Apple Music). It was obvious from the moment Apple Watch was announced it would absolutely smash the competition. I'm looking forward to AW 2.

 

[FieldingMellish]

The apple watch is for people with time on their hands.

Yet another device to troubleshoot, update, search out apps for, ensure is fully synchronized with the phone, iPad and Mac, so that they can glance at it rather than engage in the laborious process of pulling out the phone, which for many will be out and in use much of the time regardless.

 

[Reds622]

No one had any doubts that Apple would dominate the market.. People had, and continue to have, strong doubts as to the sustainability of the market the Apple watch is dominating.

Also, makes me a little uneasy that the first big product since the iPad is a pretty obvious money grab, intended as an easy way to improve Apple revenue by making an expensive accessory that has a high gross margin. Amazing that they were able to make a less functioning iPhone, substantially less functioning, with a smaller screen that costs, for some models, substantially more money, and so many just slurped it right up. I guess some people really will just buy anything new.

Cue the justifications screaming in: it's worth it to be able to get notifications without pulling my phone out, it's worth it to be buzzed every 30 minutes to stand up, it's worth it to have a device that pretty much has no added functionality over a more powerful device a person always carries with them anyways. Sounds like pretty expensive "convenience," to me anyways.

 

[MR.Raul]

Not even 99%...

 

[crsh1976]

Well, not to cry wolf or anything, but everything is based on a guestimation of 4 million units sold and we have no idea how close or far from reality that is.

 

[robeddie]

Yes, I'll stop calling it a flop ... for now. But let me get back to you in a year or two when we have more than the first few months, and the inevitable rush to buy a new apple gadget is no longer in play.

 

[kdarling]

What an almost irrelevant statistic.

Yes, it's no surprise that the Apple Watch dominates the iPhone companion watch market.

After all, what's its competition? Pebble, mostly. Some Martian.

If Apple let other watches have access to the same secret APIs, then sales comparisons would make sense.

 

[ScottHammet]

That's one way to look at it I suppose.

I look at it this way: The wearables market is still in it's infancy, and struggling to take off. Apple shows up, late to the market, and absolutely dominates it. Not by a little, but by a lot. Within months. Sure, it's not a huge market, but now it has the potential to be one.

I agree. Pebble had a two year head start, and they don't even register as a stand-alone player...they're buried somewhere in "Other".

 

[samcraig]

Irrelevant because even at an estimated $5.3 Billion, it's just a blip in the worldwide economy and/or the consumer electronics business? Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the "Apple Watch is a failure" narrative? Irrelevant because investor sentiment means more than actual results...?

See below

It's irrelevant because all it tells us is that Apple captured 75% of the market in a quarter where there wasn't any real competition from the competitors. Let's face it, the smartwatch market is still only an early adopters market - it hasn't hit the mainstream yet. And all the major Android competitors had been out for some time, so sales had no doubt slowed since they launched. Plus, given that there was no real iOS alternative (excluding the Pebble which I don't regard as a true smartwatch) prior to the Apple Watch, it's hardly surprising that they did a solid first quarter. The real test will be in the coming months and years as new products get launched and the product category matures. For now, these numbers are nothing but fodder for fanboy circlejerks.

Mostly... I'd add emphasis on the infancy of this market. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. There's barely a market right now. So marketSHARE is relatively irrelevant. Just like I would have said that when the iPad came out - the tablet market and more specifically marketSHARE would be irrelevant.

No kidding.

It's no surprise that the Apple Watch dominates the iPhone companion watch market.

After all, what's its competition? Pebble. Martian. And cheaper notification watches.

If Apple let other watches have access to the same secret APIs, then sales comparisons would make sense.

This too....

 

[Derived]

Irrelevant because without real numbers from Apple, this report is just an "opinion"...

That's the Mac Rumors MO - if it fits your insane, silly "theory" - it's undebatable fact. If it doesn't fit your narrative, then it's "irrelevant, pointless, not important, not real news", etc.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Irrelevant because without real numbers from Apple, this report is just an "opinion"...

I think that's equivalent to "Irrelevant because it doesn't fit with the 'Apple Watch is a failure' narrative."

We're constantly bombarded with expert estimates, expert opinions, and market research numbers, so should all be considered irrelevant? A life without pre-election opinion polls, weather forecasts, manufacturing goods (and growing crops) in anticipation of expected demand...

Real numbers are, by their nature, retrospective, and there is much that occurs in this world that is not measured. How does one cope with the future, or try to address the present, in the absence of real numbers?

I've yet to see anyone go through life relying solely on hard numbers. On the other hand, picking and choosing among statistics so that they agree with a particular viewpoint seems to be a universal trait.