Apple Watch sales plunge 90%

[marmar]

from MarketWatch:

Sales are far below expectations only three months after hitting shelves

Sales of the new Apple Watch have plunged by 90% since the opening week, according to a new market-research report.

Apple AAPL, -1.35% has been selling fewer than 20,000 watches a day in the U.S. since the initial surge in April, and on some days fewer than 10,000, according to data from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Slice Intelligence.

That is a sharp decline from the week of the April 10 launch, when Apple sold about 1.5 million watches, or an average of about 200,000 a day, Slice estimates.

Furthermore, two-thirds of the watches sold so far have been the lower-profit “Sport” version, whose price starts at $349, according to Slice, rather than the costlier and more advanced models that start at $549. ................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-watch-may-not-be-ticking-with-customers-2015-07-07

[geek tragedy]

1. not surprising. it doesn't provide any new functionality nt

[brooklynite]

3. Actually it does...

...the body sensors make the health/exercise software work. Question is whether people find that useful.

[geek tragedy]

5. one app does not a device make.

I prefer to have an automatic on my wrist anyways . . .

[Fred Sanders]

6. If they make a watch that is only, I say ONLY, a stand alone video cell phone with instant connectivity, I am in.

Dick Tracey still has the model I want.

[geek tragedy]

10. For $500, I want laser beams nt

[Warpy]

19. It does provide a screen that's too small for a lot of people to use

and most people to use easily. It was a gadget for 20 somethings, too expensive for teenagers and too low function for everybody else. It was mostly wrist candy to impress one's friends.

[onehandle]

22. You clearly don't know what it is or what it does. nt

[brush]

27. I agree. Seems the demographic for the device is narrow

With such a small screen size, many people don't want to be bothered with the eye strain or miss-hitting the wrong mini icons.

Good business is to find a niche and fill it. Seems it's been filled for quite a long time with quality watches smart phones that any new app could be added to.

This could be a misstep. Wonder if Jobs would have went ahead with this product?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

31. I don't need a watch. My smartphone does

all that I need.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I got one that ran me 40 bucks

that does all I need in a watch.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Death To A Dumb Idea

As one of them, most people who wear watches today do so for the look, i would think. I still wear a watch even though my phone always has the right time, and i always have my phone with me. (iPhone, by the way.)

The apple watch is unattractive and gimmicky and one could get a really nice looking Citizen or Seiko for less than the AW costs.

The "everything connected" vision is a bit much for me, as well.

I don't need a watch that's also a homing device.

[geek tragedy]

7. Anything more than $25 is jewelry, and the iWatch is unattractive jewelry nt

[Ed Suspicious]

11. To some degree I suppose your right. I always were automatic watches. The cheapest one I own came

in at $50. It's pretty plain if it's supposed to be jewelry.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Where I Was Going, Geek!

If one wants it as jewelry, one can get something way more attractive for equal or lesser money, quite easily, and with a very broad selection. And the iWatch isn't jewelry at all. It's not at all decorative.

[geek tragedy]

18. and it lacks the charm of a watch with springs, levers, and a beating heart nt

[Ed Suspicious]

8. I prefer my watches to be without batteries.

[NightWatcher]

9. Sales fell when iPhone users realized their phone displays the time

D'oh

[ismnotwasm]

14. LOL!

[PoliticAverse]

20. Yeah but it is a little big for a wrist...

[HFRN]

12. whoda thought people wouldnt want a watch they have to charge every day nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. It's a clever little gadget, but it doesn't do much more

(if anything) than my phone does, with the added disadvantage of being too small to read all the features easily. For $50 I might buy one, but not for what they are charging.

[olddots]

15. how can they sell something without letting people demo them ?

Go to a Mac store and the watches are chained down or under glass so you can't goof around with them the way you would if you owned one ( maybe )

Apple is showing the growing pains of a company that thinks it is too big to fail .I used to love their computers bur rhen they became a mega douche company .

[onehandle]

24. They let you try on as many as you want. They demo the functionality for you.

The tables next to the display case contain dozens of Apple Watches. You just have to ask.

If you actually went into a store, which somehow I doubt, if they see you looking into the case, they will offer you a demo.

Additionally, there are display models on stands along the walls that you can play with.

[emulatorloo]

34. As onehandle notes, you are incorrect.

[randys1]

16. Traditional wristwatches are or are not going to be a thing in 30 years?

I think if you know the answer to that, you will know whether or not this type makes sense.

I love wristwatches, hell, I am perverted actually, I buy magazines to look at pictures of them

Told you I was perverted.

And I own a very nice watch, a few actually, and while I love looking at it or them from an aesthetic viewpoint, I RARELY look at it or them for the time.

Dont have to, everything has the time, my phone, my car, my laptop, etc.

So, I ask again, will wristwatches of any style, analog or digital, mechanical or quartz, exist in 30 yrs to any extent?

If I knew I would invest accordingly

[whatthehey]

23. I can answer that

Yes but only to a small but rabid and affluent collector clique driven by rarity, collection completism and, in current new models, either originality or cloning of past landmark models.

How can I be so sure? That's where my foible of fountain pens are today, and the analogy is nigh exact. A more elegant and artisanal past version of something done far more effectively in a utillitarian sense by cheaper and/or more capable substitutes now.

[geek tragedy]

25. The more that technology takes over our lives, the more appeal watches that

run on springs, levers, gears appeal to people.

The quartz watch didn't get rid of the automatic/mechanical ones.

[PoliticAverse]

26. I'm sure people will still be wearing classic wristwatches 100 years from now...

[avebury]

30. I haven't worn a watch in years.

I usually have either my phone on me or an Ipod. Who needs a watch?

[onehandle]

21. So hearsay says sales have 'dropped' to between $15 million dollars and $30 million dollars a day?

Most companies would have to have that 'problem.'

Additionally, every gadget out there sells 10x normal at launch. A 90% drop (if true, the article admits they don't know) would be about normal for most electronics companies.

MarketWatch loves posting empty link bait. Apple haters eat it up.

[whatchamacallit]

28. The motto for Apple Watch should be "Do stuff shittier so you can do it on this!" n/t

[Rex]

29. LOL! Oh noes! Fewer than 20,000 watches a day being sold! Heavens to Murgatroyd!

How will they stay in business!?

[AZ Progressive]

32. Apple during the Jobs era succeeded on the IMPLEMENTATION of an idea, not on novel ideas themselves

They have succeeded in making the best interpretation of an idea.

Apple without Jobs hasn't yet made the absolute best interpretation of an idea (the smart watch), but I still think that it has potential.

[stevenleser]

33. I love mine. I find it pretty useful.

I guess it would depend on a lot of things.

It supports a lot of the apps I use and is very useful for calendar reminders, etc. The fitness stuff is also something I wanted and almost spent money on another device for before the Apple Watch came out.

[emulatorloo]

35. The fitness stuff is very appealing

And looking at other brands that do the same thing, the pricing is pretty competitive.

[taught_me_patience]

36. I prefer Rolex

Buy one now and in 10 years, sell it for a $2,000 profit. Meanwhile, Apple fanboys will have bought 5 Iwatches that cost them $2,000 over that same period.

[JustAnotherGen]

38. My husband is a rolex guy

I'm a Caravelle woman.

And I work in the Wireless Industry - launched 57 devices from January 2006 to December 2007. Now I've morphed into a special niche in finance but . . .

I just walked up and down the aisles of our pod in the mother ship and well -

Only one person wasn't wearing a watch - she had a fitbit on.

[TlalocW]

37. I have thrown off the yokel of having to wear something on my wrist to tell time

And I'm never going back!!!

TlalocW