The difference is, with a new product like this, sales should be picking up. Early adopters pick them up first, and evangelize to the masses who either through word of mouth, or direct demonstration decide they want one for themselves. Then, over time, after it's reached it's peak, or close to, you see upgrade numbers each year, like you described. Only what's happened here is different. There was an initial surge among early adopters, but the masses didn't follow. This isn't a "have to have" product. People aren't realizing that this fits into their lives like their phone did. Need I remind you also, that people around here were literally talking about how this was going to completely replace our phones - hah. No.
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Apple Watch Demand Slides Significantly in June as Launch Momentum Wanes
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the only people who can truly say if the Watch was a success or failure is Apple.
It will come down to profitability for them. if they are earning profit, even on the lower numbers, and have budgetted for those sales, than it might very well be considered succesfull.
if they're losing money and are truly surprised by lower sales, than maybe its a fail.
but unles any of us are privy to that budgetting information, I don't think any one of us can deem it a success or failure. For all we know, Apple only intended to sell 2 million of them initially, and we've blown way past that
It will come down to profitability for them. if they are earning profit, even on the lower numbers, and have budgetted for those sales, than it might very well be considered succesfull.
if they're losing money and are truly surprised by lower sales, than maybe its a fail.
but unles any of us are privy to that budgetting information, I don't think any one of us can deem it a success or failure. For all we know, Apple only intended to sell 2 million of them initially, and we've blown way past that
Its just too expensive even for an Apple product. The Moto is getting similar reviews and thats a fraction of the price. When the iPhone came out and changed the very fabric of space time. The Apple watch came out and.....meh.
They need to shave at least $100-200 off it. Make it less actionable, instead of "Notice me, play with me, interact with me". Just tell me the time, if I need to pull my phone out, and count my steps. With a clear clean design we expect from Apple.
They need to shave at least $100-200 off it. Make it less actionable, instead of "Notice me, play with me, interact with me". Just tell me the time, if I need to pull my phone out, and count my steps. With a clear clean design we expect from Apple.
48 hour battery life would let you use it heavily all day long, and all through the night if need be, without the need to coddle it to get a full days use. So really 48 hour battery is really just super good one day battery life.
Exactly. Apple needs to get over themselves and price the watch reasonably. I mean, $500 extra for a black stainless link band? I buy $60 watches with stainless metal bands that look great.
I'm not sure I buy it's 'a great gift idea'......
I can imagine a lot of the blank 'oh great honey, thanks' looks.....
I knew I predicted this right, just didn't think it would be so soon.
They released an under featured, under powered, expensive product that no one really needs, and lousy battery life, plus you need an expensive iPhone to use it!
And the biggest problem facing Apple, is the really smart consumers know this is the R&D product, the one with the real features is the next version.
It looks like they got the early adopter sheep and that is about it.
The main thing is that they released it, so they can get on with the real version.
They released an under featured, under powered, expensive product that no one really needs, and lousy battery life, plus you need an expensive iPhone to use it!
And the biggest problem facing Apple, is the really smart consumers know this is the R&D product, the one with the real features is the next version.
It looks like they got the early adopter sheep and that is about it.
The main thing is that they released it, so they can get on with the real version.
It seems like Wall Street analysts came up with some ridiculous sales predictions not based in reality one bit and probably not even close to Apple's internal forecasts.
Who said gen 1 Apple watch was going to replace the iPhone? Certainly not anyone being serious. Look at the sales trajectory of iPod and iPhone. It took quite a while for iPod to really take off and with iPhone it didn't really start taking off until the 3GS and more so the iPhone 4 and end of AT&T exclusivity. We haven't even been through a holiday quarter yet. And there's been very little marketing from Apple right now. Let's see what the picture looks like this fall when the new software comes out and we probably get some new band options and Apple picks up the marketing around it.
You may be onto something. Apple carefully restricted sales.
Not sure if it was to make sure everyone had an "Apple Experience" or they thought the demand would be too high.
Otherwise you would have seen them at Target and Best Buy with gift card offers.
It will be interesting to see if those stores start selling them.
I am more likely to pick one up walking through Best Buy, seeing them offer ($100 off if you trade in your OG iPad) and I can walk out of the store with one.
Not interesting in making an appointment, driving 20 miles to my nearest Apple Store and having to drive back if I don't like it.
Seems like the probably sold around 4.5 million of their customers on the watch concept in the first 9 weeks with supply issues for most of that time.
What can it do? Weather? Nope, Stocks, nope.... O I can play music as long as I have a pair of blu tooth headphones.. Last time I checked it didn't come with head phones..... Or I can just buy an iPod(o they discontinued the model that worked just like the watch for a fraction of the price)
I tend to not frequent the site anymore, especially not the news page (comments section) because it's just a bunch of people bickering back and forth. You have the Apple apologists that will tell you why any statistic is normal and Apple is God, and then you have the folks that come here to just try and piss Apple fans off.
The reality is, without Apple giving us numbers, these are about the best we are going to get. The amazing thing about these numbers (that makes them different than some silly comparisons, like Jurrasic World ticket sales, lol) is that the intial sales were literally all preorders. Now that the product is actually available in stores "nobody" wants it. That is rather telling, because it is super fans that tend to preorder things (nothing wrong with that, but it is the honest truth). If these numbers are accurate, this is a STARK drop in sales. Apple loyalists (and I don't use that as an insult) picked this up, but the general public doesn't seem to be doing the same. Thing is, for product success, you want the general public to buy these things, otherwise developmen just kind of drops off (Apple TV anyone?)
The reality is, without Apple giving us numbers, these are about the best we are going to get. The amazing thing about these numbers (that makes them different than some silly comparisons, like Jurrasic World ticket sales, lol) is that the intial sales were literally all preorders. Now that the product is actually available in stores "nobody" wants it. That is rather telling, because it is super fans that tend to preorder things (nothing wrong with that, but it is the honest truth). If these numbers are accurate, this is a STARK drop in sales. Apple loyalists (and I don't use that as an insult) picked this up, but the general public doesn't seem to be doing the same. Thing is, for product success, you want the general public to buy these things, otherwise developmen just kind of drops off (Apple TV anyone?)
you could replace "Apple" and "Apple watch" in your statement with "google and and Googlewear".
and the statement would still be true
You could replace google and google watch with Microsoft, and Microsoft band.
and the statement would still be mostly true (mostly, as Windows phone is tiny)
the fact is, there is a disconnect completely between wearables and their main devices in all manufacturers.
you cannot use this as an indication of success. You and I do not know what the manufacturers consider success of these products
Even by your own logic this doesn't make sense. Slice estimated 1 million preorders and 1.8 million post-launch orders. If the super fans did the preorders, that means almost double the number of non-super fans ordered the product. In 9 weeks in one country.
And that's if you take Slice's data as fact.
Recipe for success for the Apple Watch 2:
Step 1. Make the housing thinner and sense they are using OLED why not give it a slight curve over your wrist.
Step 2. Make the battery life much longer. You should be able to go 3-5 days without charging and sense the battery life is longer, why not add some sleep measuring features.
Step 3. Give the watch more built in apps that are still useful when it is out of range of an iPhone. Watch OS2 should help with this.
Step 4. Very important: Lower the price of the sport model to $200 for the 38mm and $250 for the 42mm. While they're at it, they should also lower the ridiculous band prices. Replacement sport bands should be no more than $20.
Even with everything I've listed so far, the Apple Watch 2 would still be a poor value at the current $400 price point. As I said in an earlier post, smart watches are a tech that no one really needs nor asked for. The benefits of owning an iPhone are too numerous to list. However, the real main benefit of owning an Apple Watch is not having to take out your iPhone as often. Sure, there are other features like fitness but when it really comes down to it, the Apple watch is overpriced for what it does.
Step 5: Make the Apple Watch available everywhere (Bestbuy, Target, Frys, etc) and watch it fly off shelves.
Step 1. Make the housing thinner and sense they are using OLED why not give it a slight curve over your wrist.
Step 2. Make the battery life much longer. You should be able to go 3-5 days without charging and sense the battery life is longer, why not add some sleep measuring features.
Step 3. Give the watch more built in apps that are still useful when it is out of range of an iPhone. Watch OS2 should help with this.
Step 4. Very important: Lower the price of the sport model to $200 for the 38mm and $250 for the 42mm. While they're at it, they should also lower the ridiculous band prices. Replacement sport bands should be no more than $20.
Even with everything I've listed so far, the Apple Watch 2 would still be a poor value at the current $400 price point. As I said in an earlier post, smart watches are a tech that no one really needs nor asked for. The benefits of owning an iPhone are too numerous to list. However, the real main benefit of owning an Apple Watch is not having to take out your iPhone as often. Sure, there are other features like fitness but when it really comes down to it, the Apple watch is overpriced for what it does.
Step 5: Make the Apple Watch available everywhere (Bestbuy, Target, Frys, etc) and watch it fly off shelves.
Notice how the iPod took off slow, then a little faster with the iPhone and even faster with the iPad? That's because we entered a new era of technology that people had to get used to. Now we expect and want it, and yet nobody is interested in the watch. But sure, let's have a conversation when new software comes out and we've gone through a holiday quarter. I'm betting things don't change much.
Who said gen 1 Apple watch was going to replace the iPhone? Certainly not anyone being serious. Look at the sales trajectory of iPod and iPhone. It took quite a while for iPod to really take off and with iPhone it didn't really start taking off until the 3GS and more so the iPhone 4 and end of AT&T exclusivity. We haven't even been through a holiday quarter yet. And there's been very little marketing from Apple right now. Let's see what the picture looks like this fall when the new software comes out and we probably get some new band options and Apple picks up the marketing around it.
I think they genuinely had issues getting it out by their self-imposed "Early 2015" deadline. In retrospect, they might have been better off keeping it under wraps for another year and then releasing it with the iPhone 6S. But then there would have been supply chain leaks.
Mobile phones were an established market, and the instant success of the iPad caught many off guard, including Apple. I don't think they were expecting the demand to be quite as high as it was. The wearables market in 2015 is a bit like where the MP3 player market was in 2001.
There's so many excuses and conclusions as to why the sales of the Apple Watch are tanking. But, the simplest answer is usually the right one;
It's a gimmick and nobody cares for it.
It's a gimmick and nobody cares for it.