Teen Interest in Apple Watch Drops Ahead of Launch, iPhone Remains Popular

[richman555]

I don't think teens are the target audience for the Apple Watch.

Its for the older sophisticated crowd willing to drop a lot of money on a fashion accessory and tech gadget. These are the people who go out jogging/running and start monitoring their health more frequently as well.

 

[MacFlorida1]

School ?

Any readers in HighSchool or College?
I'm trying to picture a professor handing out a midterm or final exam, and noticing every student looking at their watch. Let's see, one dot for answer A, two for B. Heck, just write out A or B with your finger... You can pass answers to your friend at the other side of the room.
These will be very popular when they realize they can easily look at their watch for messages, and not be so obvious to teachers.

 

[Solomani]

Maybe interest dropped after launch because they were told by their parents that they wouldn't buy them one.

Exactly. Teens went to their parents, parents learned from Internet hyped news that even a low-end Apple Watch would cost hundreds of dollars. Mom said no. Dad said get a job! Teen said awww forget it, I'll just buy a Fossil instead.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Well, not a lot of teens have $350 laying around for a scratch-prone accessory.

scratch prone? more so than any other watch?

 

[MyMacintosh]

Please show your Apple Watch to all of your friends. They, like you, will be amazed at what it does.

And, although most teens are not currently interested in the Apple Watch, the growing interest will be contagious, and the Apple Watch will be very popular in teens, then young adults, then adults.

As a college student, outside of the internet, I haven't heard a single person talk about one of these things yet. Not 1. Just sayin

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Any readers in HighSchool or College?
I'm trying to picture a professor handing out a midterm or final exam, and noticing every student looking at their watch. Let's see, one dot for answer A, two for B. Heck, just write out A or B with your finger... You can pass answers to your friend at the other side of the room.
These will be very popular when they realize they can easily look at their watch for messages, and not be so obvious to teachers.

Lmao. Very true

 

[AppleScruff1]

This.

After the fans have bought their watches, Apple will then have to convince the rest of us that the watch really adds value to our lives. I consider myself a fan (30+ year customer, NeXT customer too), but this product has yet to strike a chord with me. As an investor, of course I hope it's a raging success. But as a consumer, I remain largely uninterested.

I haven't worn a watch in nearly 20 years. I do think the watch market is a lot larger than you suggest, but we're talking about everything from $10 no-name watches to Rolexes and the like. A lot of people still wear watches, but a lot of those consumers are people who value mechanical timepieces, craftsmanship, don't own iPhones, can't afford an expensive watch, etc. Just because someone wears a watch doesn't mean they're interested in (or can afford) a SMART watch.

I don't think people are generally interested in wearables and I think sales support that position. They are a niche market, no matter how much some people want to believe otherwise. Apple has an opportunity here to make or break the wearables market. If the Apple Watch never really takes off, I think it's safe to say that wearables will never be a mass market product category. Or Apple will define the category and wearables will become the next big thing.

For Apple to do that, for me at least, they have to show me some really awesome features, not a few time-saving gimmicks and "me too" fitness features. I get the appeal of the Watch for people who are inundated with notifications and who have highly scheduled lives. But that is not the majority of people. So what can the Watch offer the rest of us? That remains to be seen, and that is what will make or break the Apple Watch (and probably the whole wearables category).

Just curious, have you tried it on yet? IMO, it can actually stand on it's own just as a watch, everything else is gravy. The SS version is a nice piece of jewelry that I think will appeal to a lot of people.

 

[doelcm82]

I don't think teens are the target audience for the Apple Watch.

Its for the older sophisticated crowd willing to drop a lot of money on a fashion accessory and tech gadget. These are the people who go out jogging/running and start monitoring their health more frequently as well.

I think the target market is everyone. Or everyone who has a compatible iPhone or could be persuaded to get one.

It may take a while, even a generation or two (of the Watch, not the market), to get certain demographic groups interested. The original iPhone wasn't a big hit with teens. (They had their RAZR phones.)

Meanwhile, Apple will likely sell as many Apple Watches as they can make for a while, and the teens will see role models (celebrities and/or parents) wearing and using them. Momentum will build.

 

[Rogifan]

Gene Munster? I'm surprised he didn't ask them if they want an Apple TV set.

 

[lunarworks]

What I find interesting about that data is that more teens want a Windows tablet than an Android tablet.

 

[Traverse]

scratch prone? more so than any other watch?

Probably not, but $350 for a scratch prone watch for a teen that most likely won't be extremely careful with it is a lot.

 

[cr2]

It will change

When the parents get the second gen and give teens hand me downs...

 

[69Mustang]

Maybe interest dropped after launch because they were told by their parents that they wouldn't buy them one.

My teenager fits this description. She wants one because, in her words, it's cute. When I told her she could 1. wait until version 2 and I would get it for her birthday or 2. take the money from her summer job and pay for it herself, the interest waned for the AW and she's looking at a Pebble.

Apparently when it's her money, fiscal responsibility is more than just 8 syllables.

 

[solarguy17]

I don't think it's that teens don't want the Apple Watch, they don't probably want a smart watch or watch at all.

I remember being in HS in the late nineties, almost everyone had a watch: cheap, plastic, digital. But it work to help know time for getting picked up and such. There were no smartphone and the only cell phones did nothing but make phone calls (pre Nokia 5100series phones). But there were other devices like laptops and cell phones that teens didn't want because they were relatively pointless and expensive for a teen. The Apple Watch (and other smart watches) are the same way, if and when the price comes down they will catch on, but until then, nope.

 

[macbeta]

A Device with no usecase

I think version 3 or 4 that can last more than a day might be something useful. The of today is a very different beast than the of the iGlory years. They have enough cash to do pretty much what they like, but making 10k watches for wealthy Chinese and oil barons seems like such a break from normality. What world those designers live in?

 

[AppleScruff1]

I think version 3 or 4 that can last more than a day might be something useful. The of today is a very different beast than the of the iGlory years. They have enough cash to do pretty much what they like, but making 10k watches for wealthy Chinese and oil barons seems like such a break from normality. What world those designers live in?

Personally, as long as they keep making products for the masses it has no effect on me whatsoever if they make a watch that costs $17k. Let those with the desire and means buy the gold watch, it doesn't have any extra tech features over the entry level watch.

 

[mrbrown]

The watch will probably sell well the firsts couple weeks as the Apple fanatics buy it up, but after that it'll die out like all the other smart watches. Many people just don't wear watches like they used to since the smartphones make them redundant.

You miss the point why many people wear watches - they're not used for information, they're used as a fashion statement.

I'm an attorney. Every criminal defense attorney I know (outside of the public defenders office) wears a flashy watch, especially if they're trying a case to a jury. It compliments a nice suit and completes an ensemble.

That's why Apple can get away with selling $10,000 watches and why some prominent Swiss watchmakers, who handcraft their products, can get away with charging six figures for a watch. Nobody buys it for the time.

 

[HowEver]

It's a good thing that those with the funds still want to buy the Apple Watch, even if teens don't.

 

[redbeareded]

Duh...

You can't take selfies with the Apple watch. Of course teens won't be interested.

 

[Keirasplace]

You don't need to take a survey to know that, in general, younger people (especially teens) don't wear watches. The Apple Watch won't change that.



You're the exception, not the rule.

Most teens can't afford the watch, most aren'T really paying for their phones either... Maybe eventually it will trickle down to them. How many teens bought the first Iphone? It only sold 6M in the first 15 months, can't be that much.

For now, the watch is a "grownup device", not made for them.

 

[teslo]

Personally, as long as they keep making products for the masses it has no effect on me whatsoever if they make a watch that costs $17k. Let those with the desire and means buy the gold watch, it doesn't have any extra tech features over the entry level watch.

has anyone checked for hidden ports under the band on one of those? maybe it's got a frikkin flux capacitor in it.




... (would the rich folk even tell any of us?)

 

[japanime]

As a parent of a teen, I find it sad that the fitness aspect of the watch is of least interest to that age group.

 

[Dhonk]

The high school I work at is a 90% Apple school. The rest are made up of dumb phones, HTC, Samsung, and a slew of others. I haven't seen a Galaxy S phone since the S3. Roughly 5 students per class wear watches regularly. I've had 3 students pre-order the Apple Watch with lots more showing interest. I think I'll see quite a few next month

 

[diegogaja]

I think it's hilarious to see people push the idea of -a "killer app". There's no such thing. What's the killer app on an iPhone? iPad? Gany of the Galaxy phones?

For surveys like this I am more interested in reasons for them not wanting/getting the device, cost, design/size, battery life, no killer app etc etc.

I could also see parents saying no to a watch of that price which in some ways only duplicates functions of the watch, also some features aren't necessarily teen market friendly. ApplePay would have more appeal/use to very late teen early twenties than ealy/mid teens.

Of course, get one killer app/function for the watch and it will then be on all their must have lists.

 

[JAQ]

Most teens don't have $350 (minimum) sitting around doing nothing, that they can spend on something with no clear benefit to them.

A timepiece? They don't wear them, and never have.

A fitness tracker? They're either overweight and don't want to track it, or they're not and don't think they need to.

An alternative to taking their iPhone out of their pocket? They never leave a phone in their pocket for more than 15 minutes at a stretch, and why would they want to? Pulling out their phone is as normal a reflex to them as glancing at their wrist is to a 50-year-old.

An expensive status symbol? OK, there's your niche teen market.

 

[ZCT]

he's stating his opinion. don't start acting all childish because you happen to disagree.

An opinion would be something like if I told you I prefer McDonalds to Burger King. There is no right answer, maybe that's my preference or opinion.

If I told you gasoline cars are redundant because of Tesla, that's getting to be a bit silly, but again my opinion.

If I stated that no one will buy a gasoline vehicle next year because of Tesla, that's gone beyond an opinion into silliness.

The original poster essentially claimed that there simply isn't a market for watches any more, and that the Apple Watch will die out like all other smart watches.

I guess he could ignore all of the successes Apple Watch has had and have that viewpoint. But to write off the entire watch industry is clearly nonsense.

smartwatches are a different product than an ordinary watch.

Well the original poster conflated the two. His argument essentially was this watch like all smart watches will fail, and then essentially that watches are obsolete and people don't wear them any more. Which is obviously not even close to being true.

In fact Rolex have been ramping up both production and price of their watches for over a decade now. If watches were on their way out, how do you explain that?

we also don't know how many they had to sell.

True. Time will tell I guess.

it's a true comment. watches are worn by less people since the smartphone became popular.

I don't know that you can say that. You can go off your tiny corner of the planet and the few people you see around you. It's a tiny fraction of the world population.

I travel extensively and watches are everywhere. Maybe a little shunned by college kids, but honestly even plenty of young people wear them.

And as I mentioned earlier, if we're just talking about watches as a concept, I gave you some staggering numbers as to how many watches are available on Amazon.com.

I'm fully aware that these are not smart watches, but the original poster was talking about watches in general as a concept at that point.

If there were such a steep decline in watch wearing since the smart phone came out, how do you explain those incredible numbers?

sounds to me like you're taking his opinion more personally than you should.

Seems to me like you are butting into a conversation, taking sides, being obnoxious, and trying to explain the obvious to me as if I have not thought about it.

You, me and the original poster can agree or disagree on our opinions of the future success of the Apple Watch. We're each entitled to our opinions. But to comment that because people now often have phones that there is no longer any real interest in watches simply doesn't add up.

Amazon don't put seven pages of watches costing more than $50K on their web site, for a market that no longer exists, or is rapidly dwindling.

I also don't think Apple are so stupid that they go down this road if they don't think they can find a way to make it a success.