The biggest technology release of the year this year was expected to be the long-awaited release of the Apple smartwatch. From its announcement during last years Apple iPhone launch, through till pre-order day, people were expecting this new smartwatch to wipe out the competition. We reported in June that the release of the Apple watch has not affected Swiss watchmakers. Now, reports are showing that the Apple watch sales have dropped significantly since its release.
These reports, which will concern Apple, suggest that sales have dropped by 90% since the release of the Apple Watch. Research firm, Slice Intelligence, reported that Apple Watch sales had dropped to 2,500 per day by the 1st of July, in the United States. The figures were ten times lower than sales after the launch in April – and much lower than original Apple original projections.
Most of the watches sold are watches from the “Sport” collection, which is the entry level Apple Watch. The “Sport” collection’s main competition came from Fitbit, a sports tracking device, who it appears that Apple haven’t attracted many customers from. Research shows that only 4.8% of Fitbit owners have also brought an Apple Watch – which isn’t a good sign for Apple.
One reason these figures should concern Apple is because it shows that they have yet to make the dent in the market you would expect from such a huge company, despite the lack of competition. Some predicted that Apple would fail to destroy the competition from Swiss watch manufacturers, but most expected that sales figures would still be at an incredibly strong level. Those who expected the Swiss manufacturers to hold strong were correct, but these figures don’t suggest that sales levels have remained strong.
By the end of this year competition from the Swiss Watch Market is expected to be very strong. The Swiss Horological Smartwatches from three Swiss manufacturers, including Mondaine, will go into competition with Apple by the end of the year. The Tag Hauer and Google collaboration is expected out before November, too, and may put a big dent in an expected Apple Watch rush just before Christmas.
The bad news continued for Apple as, in the UK, the Apple Watch is “not doing amazingly well” either, according to Ronan de Renesse, lead analyst for consumer tech at Ovum. He gave his own analysis of the success of the Apple Watch, stating: “Do you see everyone wearing a smartwatch in a couple of years’ time? I don’t.” He was a little bit more optimistic for the longer term, however, explaining: “History has told us that Apple products can be extremely successful even if they didn’t sell that many to begin with.”
Apple have not released their internal sales figures, which suggests that reports may be correct. Apple usually announce sales updates very soon after launch. A spokesperson told the Independent that he could not respond to speculation “beyond reiterating what Tim Cook said on our last earnings call that ‘right now the demand is greater than the supply.’” The Independent noted that those comments were made on the 27th of April, shortly after the launch, so they may no longer be correct.
Images: Shinya Suzuki, Joho345
