Apple Watch Sales Estimated at 5.1 Million in Holiday Quarter, Swiss Watch Sales in Trouble

[Cinch]

The iPhone is the one in trouble here. I've been using Apple Watch for more than three months now, and I've noticed the phone is not looked at as often. Apple Watch is great and in some cases better for notification, weather, MSM and email than iPhone. Never mind that Watch is much better at exercise tracking than iPhone.

With new low power WiFi standard 802.11ah on horizon, Apple is sure to take advantage. Can't wait until day when I stop picking up iPhone..okay maybe once or twice a day.

Own an Omega 15 years ago and stopped wearing a year after. Now it looks even older. I prefer Apple Watch for all occasions.

 

[jamezr]

I like how they say Apple doesn't provide AW sales data.....then go on to say what the sales data is.

Apple does not break out Apple Watch sales in its financial earnings results, but rather groups the wrist-worn device under its "Other Products" category with iPod, Apple TV, Beats, and accessories revenue.

Strategy Analytics previously estimated Apple Watch sales at 4 million in the second quarter, and 4.5 million in the third quarter, meaning that Apple sold an estimated 13.6 million Apple Watch units overall in 2015.

 

[Nuvi]

In all honesty the comparison between Swiss watch and smart watch sales figures makes very little sense. Are we talking about cheap Swiss watches or are we actually examining mechanical Swiss watches here? These are very different subjects. The sales of smartwatches will definitely have effect on the sales of cheap Swiss watches but I assume very little effect on mechanical watches. Then again are Swiss smartwatches included in this equation? Anyway, in reality the poor world economy has much more effect on sales of Swiss mechanical watches then smartwatches ever will. Check the price difference, they are worlds apart.

PS. If anyone with Swiss watch like Patek Philippe wants to switch and upgrade their old timepiece to a modern Apple Watch then I might be willing to trade... Remember, you have to be quick since people want these Apple Watches more then they want that old Swiss junk..

 

[timber]

I get the idea everybody thinks of Rolex, Omega, Patek Phillipe or whatever when this swiss watch matter shows up but I guess swiss watchs have more to do with Swatch than with these brands or al least middle of the range brands like Tag.

At this time I think Switch watches are probably benefiting from the Apple Watch being so expensive compared to most of their offers. In time they will feel the heat not only from Apple but from Android manufacturers.

I do think smart watches will wipe out anything below the jewelry/mechanical market (and these aren't for time keeping anyway).

Swiss manufacturers need to do Android watches. Android will probably have a 90% share soon enough (2 or 3 years). That is plenty to work on. They need to work fast, time isn't on their side. Nokia, MS, BB, for example, were slow.

 

[spazzcat]

Three issues with iWatch:
1) 1.2 days battery life needs massive improvement. 1 week minimum.
2) Display must be always on.
3) It is chunky. Needs to be THIN.

Apart from that, the iWatch is second to none.

1)There is two ways you will get a week out of a smart watch, make it size of an iPhone or make the screen e-paper.
2) This will just kill the battery even faster
3) but you want a longer lasting battery...

 

[BvizioN]

I don´t believe this for a second.
.

That's OK, You are entitled not to. Time will tell if the future generations will bother with that stuff.

 

[spazzcat]

IMO the Apple Watch is a toy, sure a nice one. I am looking into getting one to track swimming when a future version is waterproof.
That said I love my Omega Seamaster. It is a classic watch and I can use it at all times.
Like me, I think a lot of people will keep or buy analog timepieces. I don't think the Swiss will be worried. Same was said years ago when cheap digital watches came to the market.
They are just distinct markets. They for sure can coexist.

I'm still amazed that there are several fitness smart devices that are not water proof.

 

[kis]

When it collapses within two years, come back and see me.

Keep dreaming and thanks for trolling.

Dude what Apple device has ever had a battery fail after a few years?

Uhm, all of them?

 

[Abazigal]

People might purchase an Apple watch instead of a Swiss watch for now, but the Apple watch is essentially a disposable. After 2 years, the battery won't work, a new version will be released with new features, and the overall design will change as fashion trends usually do.

But after dabbling in the 'smart watch' arena, many (not all) people will go back to just wanting a classic timepiece that looks good with casual and formal attire, and isn't the same watch as a 16 year old high school student's.

There is room in the world for both of these types of products and they're not really in competition.

And after two years, I would have derived more utility and benefit from an Apple Watch than any dumb watch out there. At this rate, I don't mind changing my Apple Watch every few years just for its benefits alone.

They compete in the sense that most people are going to wear only one watch on their wrist, and are very soon going to have to make a choice - do you want an expensive conventional watch which tells time and does little else, or a mini wrist computer that actually looks pretty good, and has a ton more functionality to boot?

 

[BarracksSi]

Apples and oranges. A manufactured in China, robot assembled, Apple watch is nothing compared to a beautiful Swiss watch. I love my Tag's and would never wear a chintzy Apple watch to an event worthy of a Tag.

Go find out how much of your TAGs are fabricated in China and see if you can repeat your post with a straight face.

I like how they say Apple doesn't provide AW sales data.....then go on to say what the sales data is.

It's an estimate based on the average sales price (also estimated) and the increase in the Other category over last year.

Whether the actual number sold is 3 million or 6 million, it's still a hell of a lot sold of a totally new gadget.

5.1 million last quarter and an estimated 13.6 million units overall in 2015 are excellent number for such a new product. Excellent. It's actually way better than the first year of the iPhone (around 6 million units for its first year). And those numbers look even better when put into perspective towards other type of products on the market today.

For example, in comparison the Xbox One sold 4.81 million units last quarter and 19.84 million units overall in 2015. This means that the Apple Watch sold better during last quarter and it's not very far overall in 2015. And last quarter Microsoft sold around 1.6 million Surface devices. Again, the Apple Watch does better and the Surface platform has been on the market for years.

So quite good, quite good.

Yup.

Boy, if I sold ten million of anything and some yahoo said it was a "flop", I'd figure he was on crack.

 

[Trogladite]

Not a lot to say on this subject, except I have been wearing my aw for six months now. Never use it for playing games. Don' message on it. And seldom use it as "phone". Ie, speak into it.

I do use to see what's happening in the world. Notifications etc. Love the weather app. Timing all sorts of things. Don't have listen for the beeping, taps my wrist. So lets me do noisy jobs while bbqing the chicken etc.

And other stuff too.

Oh I quite forgot, it keeps excellent time too.

And Siri works better on the aw than on my phone.

 

[dogslobber]

1)There is two ways you will get a week out of a smart watch, make it size of an iPhone or make the screen e-paper.
2) This will just kill the battery even faster
3) but you want a longer lasting battery...

Or improve battery technology? Or use energy efficient parts? I don't think it's too excessive to expect a watch display to alway be available. I mean, watches for 100s of years have always displayed the always-in time, so why not the iWatch?
[doublepost=1455890209][/doublepost]

Not a lot to say on this subject, except I have been wearing my aw for six months now. Never use it for playing games. Don' message on it. And seldom use it as "phone". Ie, speak into it.

I do use to see what's happening in the world. Notifications etc. Love the weather app. Timing all sorts of things. Don't have listen for the beeping, taps my wrist. So lets me do noisy jobs while bbqing the chicken etc.

And other stuff too.

Oh I quite forgot, it keeps excellent time too.

And Siri works better on the aw than on my phone.

But do you use it to tell the actual time? No, because the battery was drained! I mean, come on, a 1.2 day battery charge is an utter joke but Apple managed to con the public to buy these underpowered gadgets. The power of Marketing.

 

[Recognition]

I mean, watches for 100s of years have always displayed the always-in time, so why not the iWatch?

um... I don't think there's an option to NOT display the time on a mechanical watch. It can only show the time, all the time, by default. (I don't even know why I'm explaining this!?)

 

[hiddenmarkov]

Swiss manufacturers need to do Android watches. Android will probably have a 90% share soon enough (2 or 3 years). That is plenty to work on. They need to work fast, time isn't on their side. Nokia, MS, BB, for example, were slow.

they started already. Tag has a smartwatch. I will let you google the current price on it. 1500 is what I saw here and there at release.

These keep a high price tag regardless. Its the body construction. Some will argue its the Tag stamping on it. I will argue back maybe it is, but higher end watch makers still put out some nice watch body work as they can't have people going you paid 1500 for that piece of crap and wth happened to tag this watch got released?

For the high price these makers make it so these aren't disposable. Its not going to fit inline, imo with what seems to be people want from this. Performance at cheaper costs.

What was the bypass to avoid the $500 watch? The $300 sport one.

Some are even salivating for a watch 2 announcement at DC or elsewhere this year even. This is not what the swiss makers cater too by and large. Their clients buy once in a while. Its how they keep business actually. It was time to replace my old faithful swiss army watches. One at 15 and 11 years old. They earned their retirement. Can't afford omega, tag, etc....so back to victorianox I went. They did right by me...I do right by them by showing brand loyalty. I like getting the most for my dollar, they meet that in spades.

 

[jclardy]

IMO the Apple Watch is a toy, sure a nice one. I am looking into getting one to track swimming when a future version is waterproof.
That said I love my Omega Seamaster. It is a classic watch and I can use it at all times.
Like me, I think a lot of people will keep or buy analog timepieces. I don't think the Swiss will be worried. Same was said years ago when cheap digital watches came to the market.
They are just distinct markets. They for sure can coexist.

The problem isn't existing, the problem is growth. Where will the traditional watch market grow? The answer is that it can't. Smartwatches are slowly bleeding it out, and they will continue to do so as the technology improves.

Think about this - you have your Omega...and you probably bought it years ago. Omega is no longer getting any money from you. Now look at Apple - they will be getting people to upgrade every 2-3 years. They have people buying bands, charger stands, cables, etc. That is money that someone might have spent on a second traditional watch, but now they have their new "everyday" watch and they save their mechanical watch for special occasions. Sure, the traditional manufacturers will still exist, but they will be in a slow decline for the rest of their lives.

You could say that this didn't happen to the paper book industry, but that is a different situation. The publishers and authors get money no matter the medium (paper or digital.) In the case of watches...your money either goes to Apple/Samsung/Pebble/etc or Omega/Rolex/Breitling/etc, there is no shared source up the chain.

 

[Tunster]

Three issues with iWatch:
1) 1.2 days battery life needs massive improvement. 1 week minimum.
2) Display must be always on.
3) It is chunky. Needs to be THIN.

Apart from that, the iWatch is second to none.

1) Unless someone finds a unicorn battery - we will not get more than 2.5 days out of the iWatch (you must look at yours constantly to barely a day from it)
2) No way. Why have it on when I'm not looking at it? Maybe benefit with a light sensor like iPhone to do more intelligent on/off switching?
3) It's not more chunky than the luxury watches. You can't make it much thinner as battery life will dip. I'm pretty happy with the design. Only thing they could do is make the screen straight and flush against the metal frame instead of curved.

You're part of the problem for unrealistic expectations. It'll get better for sure, but like the original iPad to iPad 2; there's probably a lot of tech/improvements Apple held back onto make sure there's room for an Apple Watch 2 later this year.

 

[jimbobb24]

I think watches are flash in pan and will not have repeat buyers. I got one for work and would consider buying if about $100 dollars given the functionality. I would not buy a new one. In contrast I have bought 5 iPhones and 4 iPads. Watch just does not do enough to justify purchase again. My first iPad and iPhone were amazing from the start and new models keep getting better.

I also noticed reading through this thread that a lot of people here are loaded 1%'ers with thousand dollar watches. So if you have any tips on how I can become one of you I am all in for advice.

 

[stanhope]

Even the pope's bodyguard has an apple watch....in Heaven has spoken LOL

 

[jimbobb24]

Mechanical watches ALREADY are in trouble, as sales clearly show. In the future, soon, it will become very hard to pick jewelry (like our mechanical watches) over smartwatches, as the latter category will offer so much, from super quick payments to, say, an alert of an incoming heart attack (make no mistake, saving/improving lives is Cook's final goal).

Becoming a medical device is, thanks to most governments, a huge headache. Huge taxes also get added in US thanks to Obamacare/ACA.

 

[JackieInCo]

People might purchase an Apple watch instead of a Swiss watch for now, but the Apple watch is essentially a disposable. After 2 years, the battery won't work, a new version will be released with new features, and the overall design will change as fashion trends usually do.

But after dabbling in the 'smart watch' arena, many (not all) people will go back to just wanting a classic timepiece that looks good with casual and formal attire, and isn't the same watch as a 16 year old high school student's.

There is room in the world for both of these types of products and they're not really in competition.

I kind of did this. I bought a Gear S watch to go with either my Note 4 or Note Edge phones last February. I lost interest in the watch after just three months and started wearing my either one of my old G-Shock watches just because they always show the time with no need to press a button or flick my wrist.

Two weeks ago, I bought a Note 5 so I started wearing the Gear S again.

I also have a 6S and a 6S+ but I really never was interested in the Apple watch to go with either one.

 

[hiddenmarkov]

To be honest, smart watches are still a niche product category and I believe the fact Swiss watch sales are declining has more to do with the fact that young people are increasingly uninterested in wrist watches. I haven't used a wrist watch since I got my first cellphone with a built in clock.

This true too. Only reason I started to wear watches again was I started swimming laps at the nearby pool at lunch. I'd say my eye sight is horrible, but that would be an understatement. I could not see the clock on the wall when on the far lanes so needed to see time more in my face style. My concern was more wrapping up the laps to have time to change and scarf down a quick lunch and not be over my lunch break. If not blind as a bat without my glasses I'd probably have no watch tbh.

Mechanical meets my needs for this. Don't need GPS tracking distance. 2 walls, 25 meters of water between them. Basic math says hi here. 4 wall taps...100 meters. Calorie burn tracking....not that much into that. I just don't want to eat that salad that one day once in a while..fast food it is with no guilt. Life can be too short to deprive yourself of the fun foods once in while. Know this all too well for a few (sad) reasons in my personal life.

Sure as hell don't need messaging in the pool. Thats my hour or so of me time. For an hour life gets simple....swim and tap walls till goal met or I die off trying lol. real world can wait an hour.

 

[Mainsail]

On the issue of obsolescence, I think Smart Watches will have a reasonably long life cycle compared to most electronic devices. Technology will definitely improve performance (e.g. speed, battery life, size and weight), but the feature set will probably evolve more slowly because there are ergonomic limits to what you can effectively do with a small device strapped to your wrist.

I am sure there are folks who will want to update their watch every year, but for most people, I would think every 3-4 years will be more typical....probably twice their smart phone's period between replacement. The iPhone watch App will be able to ensure compatibility between older watches and newer phones....although, Apple may need to eventually create multiple apps to support the watches as they evolve.

 

[Trogladite]

If all you want is to tell the time. Just look where the sun is. If it has gone down then it is obviously passed your bedtime.

The rest of charge our phones at night, and pop the watch on the charger on the bedside table.

When I am away from power for a few days I use a battery charger for the phone and put the watch into reserve if I think Imneed to.

Have car charger too, but it has never been used. So what's the problem?

 

[andreyirra]

This comparison seems a bit off. I mean, should Rolls Royce and Aston Martin be worried that their market share is small compared to BMW and Mercedes because they sold a lot of 5 Series and CLKs (who in turn should worry about Ford selling a lot of F-150s and Fiestas)?

I know that smartwatches (and apple in particular) are trying to position themselves as luxury purchases, but they're not the same market as Swiss watches.

People who want an analogue timepiece with a mechanical movement are always going to be out there. They might even also buy a smartwatch!

But here is the thing. Most people I know won't go buying luxury watches every 2 years. They have 2 or 3 and have some coming from a inheritance.

Let's say they buy 2 mechanical watches in a decade. In the meantime an Apple Watch fan would have bought 5 of them given a 2 years renew cycle. If you add the prices of the 5 watches at 500 dollars that guy would have efectively paid 2500 dollars or the equivalent of entry level swiss watches. There is the competition.

 

[WaxedJacket]

I haven't worn a watch since about 1998 and only recently did I buy an analog Swiss Rail Mondaine watch. I guess I'm in the minority here but I have no need for a smart watch. If anything, I'd like an analog watch with monitoring sensors to pair with my phone. In no way do I want to check updates or reply to messages on a tiny watch screen. I just want to know what the time is.

In fact, the reason I got the watch was so I didn't have to keep pulling out my phone to see the time