Apple Watch U.S. Online Sales Estimated at 3 Million Through 3 Months

[StyxMaker]

They used the word phenomenal..... Must be really special ...

You of all people should know it's in thier DNA... This comes to mind to illustrate my point...

You've demonstrated that Apple, like all companies, loves to use superlatives to describe the products they are selling (which is, pretty much, a duh). It doesn't answer the question, we're they lying when that told the employees sales were going well.

 

[sofila]

People like you have aged since then. You're like the guy who was the first on his block to get a VCR, but resisted getting a DVD player because he didn't see the point. Now people like you are complaining that you want to actually own a license to play digital copies of your music rather than stream any music from the cloud at any time.

Until you continue to pay the monthly bill. Just stop once....and all your music is gone. Puff

 

[frisken]

How on Earth does this report hold any substance? Has anyone actually looked into how Slice Intelligence actually get their numbers?

 

[macUser2007]

So, Fitbit outsells Apple Watch.

I guess it's because Fitbit is actually a useful device....

(Although I am curious to see what the next generation Moto 360 will be.)

 

[Rogifan]

Horace Dediu makes some good points on how reliable this Slice data is.

http://www.asymco.com/2015/07/13/selling-watch-sales-data/

There is no reliable information on Apple Watch sales. None of the analysts which follow Apple or the phone, computer or watch markets have any insight into this. The only source of information is Apple itself and they have made it clear that they don’t intend to provide watch sales data for competitive reasons. I did not and do not expect any information from Apple on watch sales. They have placed the product within the “Other” category specifically to make unit data hard to discern and have explained why they do so.

The only estimate we have heard of is from a company that has no track record in market research and relies entirely on sampling of email receipts. I urge extreme caution when dealing with this type of data. We don’t know how representative these receipts are and how they are sourced or sampled. The methodology is not only unclear but it’s one not practiced by any other analyst. You would think that receipt sampling would be a phenomenal source of information about a lot of other products and yet we hear nothing about how predictive it is for anything except this particular new product as claimed by a company which never made any such prior claims.

 

[sracer]

This product has been on the market for roughly three months with ZERO credible sales information. How can anyone make informed statements with so little credible information? The people using Slice Intelligence to say this product is a flop are just engaging in confirmation bias.

I suspect that if Slice's numbers had been favorable to Apple that some people who are critical of Slice would have a different opinion of the accuracy of their numbers. Bias swings both ways.

 

[Lancer]

I'm surprised there are so many people out there willing to get the top model, would be interesting to see where they are going on a map, my guess is the bulk in the LA area. I'm probably more surprised there isn't a bigger gap between the other 2 models.

 

[Rogifan]

I suspect that if Slice's numbers had been favorable to Apple that some people who are critical of Slice would have a different opinion of the accuracy of their numbers. Bias swings both ways.

Maybe with some people. Not with me. But hey it makes for good click-bait. That Fast Company Why Apple Watch is a Flop story was cross posted on Engadget and received over 600 comments. That's gamergate territory. Amazing how so many people who supposedly couldn't care less about Apple Watch have an opinion on it and are actively waiting it to fail.

 

[sickducker]

Yikes. The numbers are actually higher than I expected, if true.

For such an expensive and niche product, that's a LOT of money going into Apple's coffers.

Apple's marketing prowess is formidable. Their diversification from a computer company into a mainstream (and now fashion) company should not be underestimated.

I hope that they still have a division focused on real computers, but that seems less and less likely, given their current offerings.

Still, congrats are merited for Apple.

But I'm still not, and never will be, interested in an Apple watch. It's official: I'm old.

Apple has always combined technology with liberal arts and humanities. There will never be and there never was a division focused on real computers.

 

[rimcrazy]

Well, as much as I am quite the Apple fan, I was very skeptical of the Watch both before and after it came out. Then, my wife's second FitBit took a major crap and fell apart. She uses the clip on model of the FitBit. At $200 a crack I've had it with throwing good money after bad. This last one was less than one year old and the case simply self destructed. I'd seen demo's on the Apple Watch and for what my wife wanted it would track similar info and I'd already bought one in broken FitBits so I got her a 38mm sport model. After a week seeing what it does and can do I went in a got me a 42mm version (my fingers are too fat for the 38mm version).

For me I really like it. I'm hard of hearing and work by myself with my phone on mute 99% of the time. Because of that I also miss calls a lot. No more. My watch tells me I have a call coming in and I can screen the call. I can see messages as well. I'm forever burning things on the grill when I cook, much to the chagrin of my family. Having a timer right on my wrist that tells me it's time to flip the steaks is a godsend and so far I've stopped boiling over the soup on the stove. I've started to try and get back into shape and tracking my health data along with my fitness and diet info in the health app along with what my watch provides has helped. In working by myself at times I'm up on ladders and such. If I fell and I really don't keep my cell phone on me, I could be quite screwed if I got hurt. With the watch, while not a guarantee of safety, assuming I can still move my arms, I can make a call on my phone from my watch as long as I'm in WiFi range, which, 99.9% of the time I am, so the Watch is my "I've fallen and I can't get up" annunciator.

This last weekend was the topper. My wife was driving her care with our granddaughter up to our place in northern AZ and I was following behind. About 1/4 of the way into the trip she pulls off the road. I figure our granddaughter needed an unscheduled pit stop. Not quite. My wife's having an attack of some kind. I'm not sure what was wrong but with the watch on I was able to immediately tell what her heart rate was. Her pulse was quite high for her. She was stable but obviously in some kind of stress. I had her start a workout on the watch so it would log her heartrate like she was working out. I drove her to the hospital and got her into the ER. Because we had logged her heart I was able to show the ER doctors exactly what was going on for the past 15 mins or so in our trip to the ER. Not earth shattering and I don't know over all if it was important or not to the doctors but it helped me tremendously as I could at least monitor something relative to her condition and log it for an extended time and do it all effortlessly. So yea, for me I'm sold on them.

As just a watch, you really can't justify it both in looks or price but when you roll up all that can be done now and what I suspect even more in the future, IMHO its a good deal. It works for me.

 

[MH01]

Point is if the Watch isn't selling all the adjectives in the world won't change that. So if Apple is misleading employees by telling them demand is greater than expected and continuing to grow, they can only get away with it for so long before reality kicks in.

Well given apple is not going to release the figures, the adjectives will keep coming. You stated that Cook said they will not release the numbers right?

 

[StyxMaker]

No, it doesn't. It's not a fad.

Remember when the naysayers were declaring the iPhone a fad?

 

[coolfactor]

How does: Apple Watch online sales in the United States

=

Apple Watch Sales Estimated at 3 Million Through First 3 Months

Sometimes people in the US forget there is a world beyond their borders.

 

[coolfactor]

This whole wearables FAD/Gimmick needs to die.

And while we're at it, this fad called electric lighting needs to die, too. So does the wheel.

 

[mbh]

Is that really any different that the desperate urgency to paint the watch as a success?

I disagree with your premise. This is the old "both sides do it" argument. Whenever there is an Apple Watch posting there are immediately several posters regurgitating their old "Apple Watch is a failure" memes. Go look for yourself. How many minutes after each Apple Watch article until someone is vigorously declaring it a failure for whatever specious reason? Not many. That's not normal.

 

[MH01]

You've demonstrated that Apple, like all companies, loves to use superlatives to describe the products they are selling (which is, pretty much, a duh). It doesn't answer the question, we're they lying when that told the employees sales were going well.

Given they have sold more wearables in 4 months than all the other companies combined, the PR/markerting departments have lots to work with

I was actually replying to a post that a launch party has nothing to do with sales, it's a reward for getting the product out. It was the other poster that said employees were told sales were phenomenal, hence my YouTube link.

Also apple takes superlatives to a whole new level it's cultural.

 

[MH01]

Remember when the naysayers were declaring the iPhone a fad?

I remember the naysayers claiming every apple product to be a fad.....do you think the Apple watch will be the next iphone?

I consider it to be an optional accessory at best, that a small percentage will buy, is that a fad ? Dunno.

 

[CFreymarc]

The Watch is likely going to have a seasonal purchasing pattern. We can analyze trends early next year. Right now it's too early seeing as we don't yet have a full quarter of product availability or a holiday quarter.

Finally some sanity in this group. Dubbing in all this mobile device purchase trends into the watch / wearable market is just a force of professional habit.

One of the founders of Palm (Donna Dubinsky) called Microsoft and the rest of the PC market moving into the early mobile device scene, "A basketball team on a golf course." While they are good at what they do, the have no idea the market they are selling into is different.

Watches in general have two annual spikes in sales: late-April/early-May (dads & grads) and the Christmas season. I am sure we will see the same with the Apple Watch. A year from now, there will an Apple Watch table toward the back of the Apple stores away from the front of the store.

 

[CFreymarc]

I remember the naysayers claiming every apple product to be a fad.....do you think the Apple watch will be the next iphone?

I consider it to be an optional accessory at best, that a small percentage will buy, is that a fad ? Dunno.

Go back into the archives here and look at the now ridiculous comments that the iPhone would crash and "real companies that know what they are doing" such as Palm, Nokia, Ericsson and RIM would beat Apple to death in the marketplace. Look at where they all are now!

 

[MH01]

Yikes. The numbers are actually higher than I expected, if true.

For such an expensive and niche product, that's a LOT of money going into Apple's coffers.

Apple's marketing prowess is formidable. Their diversification from a computer company into a mainstream (and now fashion) company should not be underestimated.

I hope that they still have a division focused on real computers, but that seems less and less likely, given their current offerings.

Still, congrats are merited for Apple.

But I'm still not, and never will be, interested in an Apple watch. It's official: I'm old.

It's not an age thing, so don't be hard on yourself !! You are just not a hipster

Most people that I have actually own one were older, most probably due to the cost.

 

[richpjr]

I disagree with your premise. This is the old "both sides do it" argument. Whenever there is an Apple Watch posting there are immediately several posters regurgitating their old "Apple Watch is a failure" memes. Go look for yourself. How many minutes after each Apple Watch article until someone is vigorously declaring it a failure for whatever specious reason? Not many. That's not normal.

It may not be normal, but reading this thread shows that it really is a both sides do it situation. Sure, people get annoyed with trolls. But there are a lot of posts by very thin skinned fans. Nothing wrong with having differing opinions, but I see an awful lot of "not normal" defense of all things Apple too.

 

[MH01]

Go back into the archives here and look at the now ridiculous comments that the iPhone would crash and "real companies that know what they are doing" such as Palm, Nokia, Ericsson and RIM would beat Apple to death in the marketplace. Look at where they all are now!

The iPhone was a revolutionary device. I know, I bought the first one as I fell I love with it. That's the iPhone though. I've owned every version.

So back to the Apple watch, are you suggesting it will follow the iPhone path?

If you look at the archives these are ridiculous comments that the apple watch will see the end of the Swiss watch industry.... Point is for every Apple product launch there are ridiculous comments from the pro and anti camps.

 

[britboyj]

How the hell do these guys get sales data? What's their methodology?

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Let's be generous and round up to 2,000. Then double for worldwide. 16,000 a year—$160 million! Piddling. What on earth is the point?

It's a vanity project. They would have been better to have made 500 as actual limited editions. Perhaps this is what they planned initially, then changed their minds, when they realised the bad publicity they would get when the limited edition watches lost most of their value.

Those few idiots who have bought it—I feel sorry for their stupidity.

What a shame it has come to this. I feel that Apple may as well be renamed, because it increasingly bears no resemblance to the Apple that Steve Jobs made. Perhaps they should call themselves Blackberry if they wish to sell products in the thousands rather than the millions.

What a bleak year it has been for Apple, what with the cluster of botches, ranging from the autistic Apple Watch to the dismal Beats 1 and sorry mess that is Apple Music, to the fashionista 12" MacBook. And that's coming from an optimist. But hey, diversity!

 

[KPOM]

I suspect that if Slice's numbers had been favorable to Apple that some people who are critical of Slice would have a different opinion of the accuracy of their numbers. Bias swings both ways.

Perhaps, but I've always taken these sales estimates with a grain of salt. Estimates are often wildly off for the iPhone, which is in a mature market.

The fact that Apple didn't make tens of millions of these in advance and instead used an "almost in time" (word-play on JIT) manufacturing system seems to suggest that they weren't expecting a huge sales boost initially and wanted time to sort out their strategy with the product.