Apple Should Break Its Silence On Apple Watch Sales Data

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Why should Apple "break its silence" on Apple Watch sales figures? You and I both know they are probably less than expected. Why? Because Apple isn't bragging about it. When is the last time Apple didn't brag about sales figures when they were great? Exactly.

"This quarter marks the first quarter of Watch sales," she said. "After tight supply early on, continued international expansion and recent comments from Apple lead us to believe that supply and demand (have) stabilized. We find it a bit unusual that Apple has not provided an update on sales as typically, Apple provides detail on units shipped for large and successful product launches."
Click to expand...
 
Wait...so a niche device that most people don't want or need isn't selling well? Say it ain't so!

Anybody who owns a smartwatch knew this was coming. I laughed till my sides hurt when I saw the "expert" sales predictions because I knew they were way too high. You could tell those so called "experts" had never used a smartwatch before.

I love my smartwatch but it's not life changing. It's simply a convenience. It's an extension of the phone and nothing more. If you forget the watch you go "oh well" and move on. People leave their phone at home they feel disconnected and alone. ;)
 
Steve said:
Why should Apple "break its silence" on Apple Watch sales figures? You and I both know they are probably less than expected. Why? Because Apple isn't bragging about it. When is the last time Apple didn't brag about sales figures when they were great? Exactly.
Click to expand...

It'll be interesting to see how that state the Watch on their quarterly report. I would imagine that sales in dollars is fantastic for a smart watch but the volume may not be that impressive compared to other Apple products.
 
Sounds like this needs more marketing, wonder why Apple is so slow to react if sales are lower than expected.
 
Estimates are that the Apple watch sales have dropped 90%...

Frankly, it's both sad and gratifying news...sad because there are more dumb people than I thought, but gratifying in that there aren't really that many el-stupidos in the poulation...;)
 
I'm not sure why they'd expect huge sales for the watch. There's not a must have use case for it (so far). Maybe things will change in 2 or 3 years. Lets' not forget, that the iPhone wasn't a blockbuster until (roughly) the 3rd version (when it was subsidized). Most people probably drop 200, maybe 300, on a subsidized iPhone.

A watch starts at 350 and if you don't want a plastic wristband, then it's really $500 (and who wants a 350 watch that has a Swatch wristband?

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of us with iPhones who won't consider the iWatch for at least 2 more years...longer if there's not a killer app.
 
n = 1 for sure, but people around me aren't eager to upgrade their iPhones/iPads also.

I suspect the smart"stuff" market is on its way to reach that point where frequent upgrades aren't necessary anymore. With that, accessories, especially those that aren't really essential, suffer too.
 
Why should Apple "break its silence" on Apple Watch sales figures?
Click to expand...
Because they are a publicly traded company, and needs to let its investors know if they make stupid decisions that don't sell.
 
I think the problem was that it was a $600+ watch which people would barely use therefore had no purpose in their lives.
 
cdr_74_premium said:
n = 1 for sure, but people around me aren't eager to upgrade their iPhones/iPads also.

I suspect the smart"stuff" market is on its way to reach that point where frequent upgrades aren't necessary anymore. With that, accessories, especially those that aren't really essential, suffer too.
Click to expand...

Apple faces a bit of dilemma there that I saw a while ago, but I do have to wonder what the long term impact will be on both them and the market.

Apple has a well controlled platform with very limited variation. They do backward compatibility between device generations pretty well in the mobile/tablet arena. But especially with the processor speed bumps over the 5 and 6 along with 64-bit CPU with a lack of ram bump to really make use of that, apple is facing what is likely a longer than usual timespan before devs feel comfortable abandoning older specced units. Add in the tablets, and things get really mired down. It's an ecosystem people can feel pretty safe deferring a purchase in for a decent period of time, and that's going to cost.

Android tablets face a similar hurdle simply because the goal is to make them as cheaply as possible. So they remain lagging behind handsets by a wide margin making little to no progress as a segment.
 
Unless I'm mistaken, Apple never releases sales data early. When an iPhone release happens, they usually release initial week/weekend sales but don't update until quarterly reports. Then they don't even break down the iPhones into models. Just one big X iPhones sold over Q3 or whatever. Why would they change their reporting because of a bunch of stupid stock analysts?

Now on the watch itself.. Look at the iPad gen1, iPhone gen1, macbook air gen1. They were all very limited in their success. While the iPad has slowed down some, it's still top dog and selling a lot of units, the others keep going up in volume. There is no reason to think wearables won't do the same. I suspect I'll jump on the watch bandwagon around gen3, same as I did with my iPhone 3gs and retina iPad.

Of course I'm sort of a rarity on these boards I guess. I like apple products for the most part. They have their issues and I wish they had more configurations/options but overall they make top notch products. They aren't cheap but neither is a bmw vs a honda.
 
raz-0 said:
Apple faces a bit of dilemma there that I saw a while ago, but I do have to wonder what the long term impact will be on both them and the market.

Apple has a well controlled platform with very limited variation. They do backward compatibility between device generations pretty well in the mobile/tablet arena. But especially with the processor speed bumps over the 5 and 6 along with 64-bit CPU with a lack of ram bump to really make use of that, apple is facing what is likely a longer than usual timespan before devs feel comfortable abandoning older specced units. Add in the tablets, and things get really mired down. It's an ecosystem people can feel pretty safe deferring a purchase in for a decent period of time, and that's going to cost.

Android tablets face a similar hurdle simply because the goal is to make them as cheaply as possible. So they remain lagging behind handsets by a wide margin making little to no progress as a segment.
Click to expand...

I gave up waiting on a good large Android Tablet. The Nexus 9 and Shield just dont cut it. Ended up going with Surface 3.
 
Let just say it,
Who gives a shit when $2 wristbands fetches you 100$.
Their profit margin must be obscene on their shitty watch hardware anyway, so really.
 
Two reasons.

1. Apple only releases the sales figures in the quarterly reports. Everything else you see online is from third parties trying to back calculate to the sales figures. So there is nothing new here.

2. Even if Apple would release early sales figures, it wouldn't help them in this situation since the Watch had huge supply chain issues that only recently have stabilized. It wouldn't give an accurate look, whether good or bad, at the actual demand for the product.
 
Still haven't seen one in public and I'm in hipster territory.

The only watch I'd consider buying has to run stand-alone with cellular data and calling and untethered from phone.

MW-DP535_applew_20150707095803_NS.gif
 
Look, Google and Samsung both tried this market long before Apple did and failed miserably. The only chance Apple had was if their customers where totally mindless sheep who buy anything they're told to buy. I'm convinced that this is exactly what Apple thinks about their customers, which is why they released the iWatch in the first place. It turns out that no one is quite that stupid.

If any of these watches provided decent battery life, compelling features or really any selling points at all. Then maybe they would sell.
 
I don't understand the point of this product at all. Tablets are useless enough, now I need a $600 wrist screen? It's not even particularly good looking as a fashion item.
 
Remember everyone, All of us who said the whole smart watch fad was a stupid fad years ago were just jealous haters who obviously couldn't afford one and just wait till apple releases theirs....Welp I waited and "This is my surprised face :rolleyes:"

Next up on the chopping block of stupidly overhyped technology...VR.


disclaimer: As always, the above knocked down a peg or two technologies are neat and have their place. It just isn't as mainstream of a place as the rabid fanboys have tried to convince everyone.
 
Steve said:
You and I both know they are probably less than expected. Why? Because Apple isn't bragging about it. When is the last time Apple didn't brag about sales figures when they were great? Exactly.
Click to expand...

Woo, yeah, [H] logic right here. Except being supply constrained is a real thing.
 
havent seen one in the wild yet either. Figured some nerd at my work woulda been sporting one by now.
 
Also to note is that graph is log/lin scale meaning the drop is WAY bigger than it looks, that is about a 98% drop on that graph.
 
$149-$199 should have been the target price range for the watch.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Remember everyone, All of us who said the whole smart watch fad was a stupid fad years ago were just jealous haters who obviously couldn't afford one and just wait till apple releases theirs....Welp I waited and "This is my surprised face :rolleyes:"

Next up on the chopping block of stupidly overhyped technology...VR.
Click to expand...

It's just too soon for it to be a blockbuster. Everyone seems to forget that the original iPhone (which was roughly the same price as this watch) only sold 6 or 7 million units. If they sell 18 million iPHones, that's pretty amazing, though I'm not convinced there are 18 million who want V 1.0 (or any unsubsidized watch).

I don't follow VR closely, but I think that some form of VR is the future. Goggles are probably not going to take off, though I suppose there could be an implementation that's light and comfortable that might work. My guess is that Augmented Reality is a more likely scenario...something closer to minority report. If they can manage 3D without glasses, then computer UI's will use similar tech.
 
Zepher said:
$149-$199 should have been the target price range for the watch.
Click to expand...

I'd swear that the component price for the watches is more than that. a killer app and better bands will take them over the top. Arguably better batery life will too (though I read that Apple's research has shown that people didn't care about it, so they put that on the back burner for V2, but I don't recall the source for that...probably linked off of [H]
 
the watch isn't their bread and butter anyway.

It's just another thing in the arsenal that has a huge profit margin.
 
nilepez said:
I'd swear that the component price for the watches is more than that. a killer app and better bands will take them over the top. Arguably better batery life will too (though I read that Apple's research has shown that people didn't care about it, so they put that on the back burner for V2, but I don't recall the source for that...probably linked off of [H]
Click to expand...

BOM cost plus production of Apple Watch is ~$84.

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/technology/new-apple-watch-has-lowest-ratio-hardware-costs-retail-price-ihs-teardown-r
 
I still have yet to see an apple watch. I've only seen a few Samsung smart watches. People just don't have an interest, especially at a price point that exceeds the subsidized price of the phone they need to use with it....

Lots of talk about it being stupid to require a phone and not be able to stand alone... Take a look at the Samsung Gear S... Epic flop. It can stand alone and make/receive calls, texts etc with no phone. No one wants to pay more than the price of a phone to buy something with limited functionality.

Smart watch releases have really cooled off and no real substantial software updates/improvements have happened (speaking as a Gear 2 owner). I thought my Gear 2 was cool but honestly I still regularly leave it at home in favour of standard watches. It's functionality just isn't that important and is quite limited. 3rd party apps have proven to be mostly gimmicky and pointless. Watch faces usually cost money. Other customization options cause horrible battery drain and are prone to crashing...

Smart watches will get better but I'm not convinced that sales will take off in any meaningful way.
 
mi7chy said:
BOM cost plus production of Apple Watch is ~$84.

http://press.ihs.com/press-release/technology/new-apple-watch-has-lowest-ratio-hardware-costs-retail-price-ihs-teardown-r
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. They're still not going to sell it for that on a Gen 1 Product....gotta get your R&D back...nevertheless, I do think they're too much. If the $400 watch got you a metal band it'd be slightly more palatable, but not for a plastic band...nope...not gonna happen (then again, it wouldn't happen if it came with the metal band either).
 
Canon said:
I still have yet to see an apple watch. I've only seen a few Samsung smart watches. People just don't have an interest, especially at a price point that exceeds the subsidized price of the phone they need to use with it....
Click to expand...

Pretty sure Bob Weir (grateful dead) was wearing one in a picture I saw from one of their shows last weekend or maybe the weekend before last.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top