Interest in Apple watch subsided?

[MyAppleWorld]

I went to the Apple Store in Birmingham today and I was the only person looking at the watches! Everyone else was still checking the iPhones out which are 8 months old!?

Also I feel there is a distinct lack in the wild...

My watch was bought as a gift so it's hard for me to give an opinion as to whether I would have bought one myself. I am so glad I have it though and am paying a bit more to upgrade to stainless steel!

 

[Newtons Apple]

They will never exceed the iPhone in sales. The iPhone is the premiere device for Apple, it's bread and butter.

The watch would have done better if they had them in stock but many lost interest when they found they could not get one for months. They will be in the stores next month and there will be "some" renewed interest.

 

[dhlizard]

I was in Apple Store in Columbus, OH (one of two in Columbus) on Saturday, May 23rd and there were several shoppers around each of the two watch tables ordering (as did we - ordering a 2nd one)

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Interest subsided? One can only hope!

That way, maybe second, third etc launch wave countries may see the Watch in anything approaching a reasonable amount of time...

 

[mattopotamus]

Most people who were interested have probably done a try on since they have been available for over a month now. Once they are being sold in stores you will see people trying them on more often.

 

[Smith2000]

I went to the Apple Store in Birmingham today and I was the only person looking at the watches! Everyone else was still checking the iPhones out which are 8 months old!?

Also I feel there is a distinct lack in the wild...

My watch was bought as a gift so it's hard for me to give an opinion as to whether I would have bought one myself. I am so glad I have it though and am paying a bit more to upgrade to stainless steel!

I think Christmas will be the true test of how popular the watch is. There should be stock on hand in stores and it's a a good price point for a holiday gift.

I also think at this point a lot of people may be asking the old, pre-smartphone, question of "why do I need a smartphone if I have a laptop and a cell phone?" Or in this case, "why do I need a smartwatch if I already have a smartphone, laptop, tablet, fitness tracker, smart TV and wifi lightbulbs?"

 

[anez]

If you take a fancy to the iPhone you're looking at, chances are you can bring one home with you. Not so for the Watch. I bet a lot of people glance briefly at them, hear about the wait period and necessity of online ordering, then make a face and go look at something else.

If I hadn't been so sold on getting one, no way would I have jumped through the hoops necessary for ownership at this point. I doubt many people who are only mildly interested/curious will bother getting one until they're available for purchase in store.

Once they are offered for sale in B&M shops, I believe we will see a big uptake in interest.

 

[ParishYoung]

If you take a fancy to the iPhone you're looking at, chances are you can bring one home with you. Not so for the Watch. I bet a lot of people glance briefly at them, hear about the wait period and necessity of online ordering, then make a face and go look at something else.

If I hadn't been so sold on getting one, no way would I have jumped through the hoops necessary for ownership at this point. I doubt many people who are only mildly interested/curious will bother getting one until they're available for purchase in store.

Once they are offered for sale in B&M shops, I believe we will see a big uptake in interest.

Other than the optional try on appointment, what hoops have you needed to jump through?

I didn't have any. Just went to the store, tried it on and completed the order online there and then.

 

[jigzaw]

Other than the optional try on appointment, what hoops have you needed to jump through?

I didn't have any. Just went to the store, tried it on and completed the order online there and then.

For us maniac Apple fans, it's not a hoop to order something or preorder way in advance. For the average customer who's checking something out due to curiosity and decides they like it, once the employee says "welp, you just go home and order it and then wait 6 weeks" they'll just go "huh, I guess it's not really available now" and decide to think about it later and turn their attention to something else. I think it'll catch on in popularity once people have the ability to impulse-buy it.

I overheard a fairly wealthy young couple (judging by their conversation and looks) laughing at the Edition model and openly mocking it with the employee, asking "how stupid is this for this money when you know next year there will be a new one?" and the employees response "Well, when you buy a car you don't worry about next year's model. You just get it when you need it." And they were rolling their eyes. They did seem cool with the SS pricing though.

I have a friend at work who expressed something I think will be a popular opinion- he will not even consider getting this watch until it can be untethered from the phone. He said he can see a time when he's going to go out to a bar or nightclub and leave the phone home but still be able to send texts or make a basic phone call with the watch. I bet this is a future upgrade Apple is already thinking about.

 

[MagicBoy]

They will never exceed the iPhone in sales. The iPhone is the premiere device for Apple, it's bread and butter.

The watch would have done better if they had them in stock but many lost interest when they found they could not get one for months. They will be in the stores next month and there will be "some" renewed interest.

Being the premiere device has nothing to do with it. The watch is a companion device for the iPhone so can't possibly exceed its sales figures full stop by any rational measure.

I've got no interest in it, and have personal and work iPhones so you can chalk up a maximum market of "number of iPhones minus two" already.

 

[GLS]

Visited our local Apple store Saturday afternoon with my wife. First time I've been since mid-April, when I had a visit to try on a watch for myself.

There were several people crowded around the two display tables, and the other two tables set aside for try-on's.

This was my wife's first encounter with a watch. She was impressed with it enough that I ordered her one once we got home as a gift. She does not wear watches, but commented that with the functionality the watch provides, she could see herself wearing one.

 

[ParishYoung]

For us maniac Apple fans, it's not a hoop to order something or preorder way in advance. For the average customer who's checking something out due to curiosity and decides they like it, once the employee says "welp, you just go home and order it and then wait 6 weeks" they'll just go "huh, I guess it's not really available now" and decide to think about it later and turn their attention to something else. I think it'll catch on in popularity once people have the ability to impulse-buy it.

I overheard a fairly wealthy young couple (judging by their conversation and looks) laughing at the Edition model and openly mocking it with the employee, asking "how stupid is this for this money when you know next year there will be a new one?" and the employees response "Well, when you buy a car you don't worry about next year's model. You just get it when you need it." And they were rolling their eyes. They did seem cool with the SS pricing though.

I have a friend at work who expressed something I think will be a popular opinion- he will not even consider getting this watch until it can be untethered from the phone. He said he can see a time when he's going to go out to a bar or nightclub and leave the phone home but still be able to send texts or make a basic phone call with the watch. I bet this is a future upgrade Apple is already thinking about.

It's still not a hoop. It's an online purchase, something millions of us do on a daily basis. I didn't get sent home to order online. The Apple Store person grabbed an iPad and I did it there and then during my appointment. And 2 weeks is not way in advance. If Apple had enabled us to express our wishes for which mode we want way in advance there wouldn't be these lengthy waiting times.

With the editions as well, the less Apple sell, the more justifiable their price due to exclusivity.

For the network thing, if Google are starting their own MVNO I doubt Apple will be too far behind. I read an article saying Steve Jobs wanted to create a virtual network using local Wifi hotspots. So anything is possible, but I think your friend will be waiting a while for that.

 

[anez]

Other than the optional try on appointment, what hoops have you needed to jump through?

I didn't have any. Just went to the store, tried it on and completed the order online there and then.

Personally, I hate ordering things online and will avoid it where possible. My preference is to shop in B&M stores where I can interact with an item before purchasing it with either cash or at a secure chip and PIN card paypoint.

Although it is not unheard of, it is certainly somewhat rare for a customer to be told in a shop that the item on multiple display is not available in for purchase, not at any price or in any combination. Sure, your size in the jeans might be out of stock, or a certain issue of something might be on back-order, but when it comes to the Watch, not one is available for anyone in any shop. That's unusual, and it's off-putting.

I would not at all be willing to go through the order process on an iPad in a store. (Apple Pay is not available in my country, so I would have to put in my card details on an unsecured terminal over wifi, which I would not feel comfortable doing.)

If I were a casual customer (and I'm sure Apple has many of them, or this forum would be a lot bigger) and less interested in having an Apple Watch, I'd have just shrugged and gone to another shop.

I could be wrong, but I am willing to bet that for a lot of people "We have none available to buy today" is all they hear before their attention wanders.

 

[Esoom]

I did a watch appt on Saturday after I swapped out a phone under warranty.

The table was busy with 2 watch trained specialists, I admitted I wasn't a "normal" and the watch csr said they're selling well, although he seemed frustrated by Apple not stocking them in store yet, said sales would be massive.

Suspect Apple may have production sorted well enough to have in store stock by the holiday season (and have a couple software revisions under their belt too)

 

[Shanghaichica]

When I went to Selfridges last week to buy my milanese loop it was very busy around the apple watch concession. There were a lot of people looking at the watches.

 

[AdonisSMU]

There has been renewed interest in AW when I went to the store the other day. People were only interested in the watch and nothing else in the store it seemed. I was at Apple Store in Meat Packing area of NY.

 

[OneMike]

I was in the Apple Store in Miami sat and was literally the only person looking at watches.

I don't think that means much though.

 

[newtestleper]

They will never exceed the iPhone in sales. The iPhone is the premiere device for Apple, it's bread and butter.

The watch would have done better if they had them in stock but many lost interest when they found they could not get one for months. They will be in the stores next month and there will be "some" renewed interest.

You seem to know a lot for someone who doesn't

 

[ChinaRye]

The iPhone is their cash cow and a proven product, so it is not surprising that the hoi polloi are more interested in the iPhone over the watch.

 

[AdonisSMU]

You seem to know a lot for someone who doesn't

I would wager there are a number of people would like to use their wearable but not have to lug the phone with them everywhere to do it. The phones get lost and are easier to steal and make your pocket bulge. I think it would be better to make the watch stand alone.

 

[b3arclaw]

I'm being given a watch as a gift, but I can't say for sure how I feel. It's been 44 days since I got the confirmation email notifying me I was receiving a watch and I was hella excited.
Then the launch date came..I was still excited.
Now 44 days later, I'm starting to second guess if I'll even keep the watch.
Outside of an on-store try on, I haven't gotten much time with it to know if it's something that I'll love. I know it's meant to compliment my iPhone and I'm excited for it.
I gave my brother my Jawbone Up 24 last week in hopes that my watch would arrive and I could start using that to track my fitness progress.

 

[KojiH]

I'm being given a watch as a gift, but I can't say for sure how I feel. It's been 44 days since I got the confirmation email notifying me I was receiving a watch and I was hella excited.
Then the launch date came..I was still excited.
Now 44 days later, I'm starting to second guess if I'll even keep the watch.
Outside of an on-store try on, I haven't gotten much time with it to know if it's something that I'll love. I know it's meant to compliment my iPhone and I'm excited for it.
I gave my brother my Jawbone Up 24 last week in hopes that my watch would arrive and I could start using that to track my fitness progress.

I feel the same way.

I really think that this release was completely mismanaged. As others have posted above by not having any available for sale at the Apple Stores I think that they missed out on a huge number of people who may have walked in and made an impulse buy. As time has passed the mainstream media coverage has pretty much died down and a lot of the initial fervor is gone.

I think they could have really built up the excitement even more had they delayed the release until they had enough stock to supply the Apple Stores from the beginning.

The fact that is has been over 1 month and they still have not caught up with preorders is another issue that should never have occurred.

 

[Cashmonee]

Whether there are people looking at them in a particular store or not means very little. It certainly is not an indicator of the watches success.

Having said that, we are now in a lull for interest, and it is to be expected. The initial excitement and pre orderers have passed, and you are in a timeframe that has little new for the watch. Point being, if you weren't already interested, you won't be right now. Now, that will change in a couple weeks with WWDC, and again with whatever fall releases Apple has and the holiday push. All of those should bring attention and possibly new features, and if watch sales don't tick back up at any of those times, then you could venture that things are going so hot. I don't think that's true now.

 

[bushman4]

AppleWatch will be a great holiday item once it's available in stores.
Apple already said they wouldn't disclose watch sales as a separate category
While sales will bring in billions of dollars worldwide it's not an iPhone , laptop or Mac

 

[Newtons Apple]

You seem to know a lot for someone who doesn't

Thanks for you thoughtful comments.

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Being the premiere device has nothing to do with it. The watch is a companion device for the iPhone so can't possibly exceed its sales figures full stop by any rational measure.

I've got no interest in it, and have personal and work iPhones so you can chalk up a maximum market of "number of iPhones minus two" already.

Well, Apple can't win everyone over. Not to worry, they will be just fine.

We will put you in the "maybe" column!