Although I don't like the "Steve Jobs would have/wouldn't have done X" meme in general, I'll mention that MobileMe, the mess that was/is iTunes, and the hockey puck mouse all happened under Steve Jobs' watch. Also, the "fashionista" MacBook is exactly the kind of product that Steve Jobs would have released. The first few MacBook Airs were basically "fashionista" notebooks.
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Apple Watch U.S. Online Sales Estimated at 3 Million Through 3 Months
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Although I don't like the "Steve Jobs would have/wouldn't have done X" meme in general, I'll mention that MobileMe, the mess that was/is iTunes, and the hockey puck mouse all happened under Steve Jobs' watch. Also, the "fashionista" MacBook is exactly the kind of product that Steve Jobs would have released. The first few MacBook Airs were basically "fashionista" notebooks.
Heh - - 600 posts is nothing!
There were 517 pages of comments on the fake bending controversy here at MacRumours.
Yep when I first saw the new rMB I immediately thought this would be a product Steve would be drooling over. The only difference between Apple then and now is they don't have anyone who is as good at selling something as Steve was. Tim and Phil and definitely Eddy don't cut it.
I don't think many thought it would be a flop out of the gates. Apple has a very strong following to the point that almost anything they release will have good initial sales. I think the true test of success for the watch is how it does in the coming years after it's been around and the initial wave have made their purchases and sales are depending on upgrades and new customers.
I think the sales figures are pretty good for a product with limited use cases, a starting price of US$350, a need for daily charging and a practical lifespan of roughly 3 years before newer models make the original one look weak and feature poor and software companies drop support for it.
I think Jonny Ive has become to big an influence at Apple and that isn’t good. His product design is amazing but his software design is not. Software is not aluminum. It not enough to just make it look very smooth.
Therein lies an issue with sales (aside from the watch being dependent on an iPhone as was noted previously): it is new and hence "unusual" . . . something that you have to purchase for hundreds of dollars and try, use the apps, play with it, etc., before realizing that it is something that you can really use on a daily basis. I am in my 60s and never owned a "smart phone" until I purchased a first gen. iPhone 5c a year and a half ago; I was happy with a $20 flip phone and coming home to my laptop to read the internet, etc. However, after I became intimately familiar with my new phone's uses, I really don't see how I did without it. I have since purchased an iPad and am loving that for everything it can do as well. Similarly, the few people I know who have purchased the new watch are loving it more and more as they become familiar with it. I periodically visit my local Apple Store down the street and have asked a number of people who stand and stare at the watch case long and hard (with me) about whether they are leaning towards buying one and the almost universal answer is "I would like to buy one but am not so sure I want to spend hundreds of dollars only to find that I only it as a timepiece." So . . . to make a long story short, it is a new product and people simply don't know whether they will have a use for it much less like it, till they break open their piggy bank, spend the money, and try it over time. It is something that can only sell initially, by word of mouth. Only time, i.e. many more months (not just three or four) will tell if it is successful (however you define success for the sale of such a new and unusual product in a short period of time - Apple or not). I will be purchasing an "entry point" version of the watch next week, to try it and see, as with my first smart phone (I recently "upgraded" to an iPhone 6) if it is something I can truly use on a daily basis and perhaps even grow to love over time. Only time will tell.
Jobs correctly called
TV a "hobby" because the product line was not materially significant to Apple one way or the other. The same is certainly true of the watch if these sales estimates are accurate. I think a lot of products are potentially on the chopping block at Apple, don't be too surprised if some of them (and the associated execs) disappear in the next year or two.
1) Unknown as it came out 2 years after he died and regardless it hasn't been updated in ages.
2) Normally I wouldn't blame the CEO for software bugs but he did fire Scotty and ever since reliability and UI has gone downhill.
3) I really don't like Apple bought beats for music streaming. Spotify has made deals without Dr.Dre for streaming. IMO they bought beats because at that time beats were a piece of technology that gained mainstream appeal. I think they wanted to use the beats name and/or marketing team to promote the Apple Watch. Hence all the celebs wearing them on instagram.
4) That's dick.
5) Fair point.
Bleak year for Apple with all the botches, they are up over 20% on the year and 32% since they announced the Apple Watch and during the same Window, Google is down 6%. Ouch! Hate to see these types of botches. lol
It's explained in the article that leads this thread.
Slice and its app partners scan the email of 2.5 million people who want their purchases etc automatically put into categories for them. That's a huge number. It's sixty times the size of the next biggest constant survey panel for mobile purchases in the US.
This situation was a unique opportunity, because everyone in the US who ordered an Apple Watch had to do it online. This meant we all got an emailed receipt.
Which means Slice was able to see exactly what models each of their users who bought a Watch chose, how many, and what accessories. That's very detailed information, and if correctly extrapolated to the general population, gives some really good insight into the first weeks of purchase behavior.
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So the data source isn't the problem. It's that some people freaked out over the idea that sales "dropped 90%" from the start. Not sure why that's unexpected, or how many they thought Apple would sell in the US.
Consider that back in January, surveys were saying that only about 5% of US iPhone users were very likely to buy an Apple Watch. That's 3.7 million people total. So getting 3 million of those pretty quickly, is darned good. Not superb, but not a flop either.
Another ten million were "somewhat likely", and those are the ones that Apple now needs to go after. A price drop and/or more color/shape choice would help, IMO.
When each edition costs $17,000, sales of 1,875 = $31,875,000. That's almost $32 million. How many do you think they should have sold? Well, difficult to say, since your critiques are really just insulting snark.
$ 1.5 billion in US online sales out of the gate, within the first 90 days. That's some hobby!Jobs correctly called
yeah.. Against all my protestations to the contrary, I bought the Apple Watch last week as walk in at the Apple retail store.. I seldom buy the first version of anything, but after trying on the watch, I decided I'd go with it. It's a really cool watch, and getting notifications on the wrist without having to dig out the phone is really nice.
I didn't expect to like it this much, and it's the first Apple purchase that got me a thank you from Apple.
Congratulations on being one of the first to own Apple Watch. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do. To get you started, here are some fun things you can try for yourself and share with friends.
I didn't expect to like it this much, and it's the first Apple purchase that got me a thank you from Apple.
Congratulations on being one of the first to own Apple Watch. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do. To get you started, here are some fun things you can try for yourself and share with friends.
I used to think Mac Rumors was the site to get the latest info. After dealing with this click bait article and the editor's comments, I now prefer Apple Insider. At least that editorial against the Slice methodology called it what is.....Shinola
There was an article here months ago predicting that the Edition was going to sell over 800,000 by the end of the year.
Hey, lighten up. No company can maintain a perfect track record indefinitely. Apple products are still amongst the best in their respective categories, and Apple's warranties are second to none.
The sky is not falling yet.
lol, wtf is with you? You think you know me? You're wrong about everything you've said about me.
You generalized based on your non-random sample of one in a million. Doesn't that say it all?
Now, I know as consumers we just want to know the Apple Watch numbers out of curiosity. As competitors other companies want to know what market they are fighting against.
But investors would have an expectation that Apple announce these figures, simply to know if their money is well placed in a company that is funneling billions of dollars of R&D and advertising into a new product category. They would need to know if it's successful or not, not just blindly believing Tim Cooks spin during the quarterly announcements.
But investors would have an expectation that Apple announce these figures, simply to know if their money is well placed in a company that is funneling billions of dollars of R&D and advertising into a new product category. They would need to know if it's successful or not, not just blindly believing Tim Cooks spin during the quarterly announcements.
I don't get what you guys expected this to be. It's a very niche product. It does not have the broad appeal of an iPhone or iPad, etc. It's wearable tech, and much less of a watch. It's more iPod nano than movado. It does some very basic things, and the major feature seems to be notifications which borders the line of useless and annoying. This was always going to be a product that some people would be totally into, and probably wouldn't reach the naysayers.
I bought two, and returned them both. They just aren't ready for prime time, IMO
I'm sure these numbers don't include returns, which I bet is quite high.
I'm sure these numbers don't include returns, which I bet is quite high.