Apple, Which Doesn't Reveal Watch Sales Data, Says Watch Sales Are Great (mashable.com) 112
Though several companies are struggling to sell their smartwatches, Apple CEO Tim Cook says sales of Apple Watch set a record during the first week of holiday shopping. Cook added that the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product. The only problem: The company, which loves to numbers do all the talking, won't disclose how many Apple Watch units were shipped or sold. From a report on Mashable: "During the first week of holiday shopping, our sell-through of Apple Watch was greater than any week in the product's history. And as we expected, we're on track for the best quarter ever for Apple Watch," Cook told Reuters in an email. This is not surprising: The company has never revealed any sales data for the Watch, bundling it with the "other products" category in its earnings reports. There have been quite a few attempts to extrapolate what this means in numbers, but the truth is that any of those attempts could be a few million units wrong either way.
The Reality Distortion Field. (Score:3, Funny)
Still working as strong as ever despite the death of Steve Jobs.
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I doubt it. Even Apple fans aren't going to believe that the Watch is selling well, not unless Timmy actually produces some numbers attesting to that fact...which he won't, because Apple is a company that thrives upon secrecy and operating in the shadows these days.
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I am a shareholder and no knowledgeable shareholder thinks of the Apple watch as a big component of the company. They don't disclose numbers not to piss off because it is "immaterial" to the company. That alone says enough to investors... its not a big part and success or failure and the watch won't really affect the "big picture" company.
So no, it won't piss us off. We know what we need to know while at the same time preventing competitor access to the data. An added benefit is watching the media and a
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Financially, it is an immaterial part of the company. Just like monitors, printers, routers have been in the past. Not worth the effort to break out.
It's almost like you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
At least you're willing to admit that you're only in it for the cash
Are there other reasons to be in the stock market?
Are you a philanthropist & do it to lose money to others so they're able to retire better?
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If we ask how sales of the Apple Watch are doing, shouldn't we also ask how sales of ANY smart watch are doing?
Re:The Reality Distortion Field. (Score:4, Informative)
Sure, but put it into perspective of Apple's overall sales.
2106: $215B total revenues
Apple would have to sell $2B of just smart watches for it to be more than 1% of gross revenues, or a rounding error. Which is bigger than the entire smart watch market.
Does every large company report on every line of sales that's less than 1%? Or do they often just roll it into 'Other' or some larger product line?
Criticizing Apple for doing the same just shows a level of ignorance that is most likely based in blind hatred.
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shouldn't we also ask how sales of ANY smart watch are doing?
Are you perchance asking who watches the watch salesmen?
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Watches are for slaves. Myself, I don't need a digital overseer strapped to my wrist telling me when to do things.
Yeah, you carry around yours in your pocket. And whip it out every time you want to know what time it is. Unless you ask somebody with a watch, because that's actually too much of a hassle.
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Apple themselves are saying the Watch is a big component of their business. Did you miss the story that you're commenting on, Proud Apple Shareholder(tm)?
Well, did you miss it? Because nowhere does it anything remotely resembling "the Watch is a big component of their business". Thanks for proving again that the RDF is in fact alive - and only in Apple Haters.
Re: The Reality Distortion Field. (Score:2)
No, the SEC doesn't get all uppity about CEOs bending the truth or even lying. CEOs are allowed to be a sales rep for their companies. They just can't materially misrepresent the numbers nor mislead on numbers not yet released. SEC gets pissed when the filings themselves are wrong.
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Still working as strong as ever despite the death of Steve Jobs.
Bullshit hype fed by fashionable narcissism.
Still selling as strong as ever regardless of Apple was part of it or not.
They just happen to be the best at it.
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Marie Antoinette was grinning show off also.
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It's clearly going strong inside of Apple, but it's clear it no longer leaves Cupertino. It's the only thing that explains things like the new MacBook Pros, throwing away the AirPort line, the existence of the "Apple TV," or the reason the Apple Watch is still being made.
I'll bet any current sales of the Apple Watch are by clueless people buying them as presents for "that guy I know who uses Apple." Expect to see another flood of refurbished Apple Watches after Christmas these year, as a new group of people
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It's clearly going strong inside of Apple, but it's clear it no longer leaves Cupertino. It's the only thing that explains things like the new MacBook Pros, throwing away the AirPort line, the existence of the "Apple TV," or the reason the Apple Watch is still being made.
I'll bet any current sales of the Apple Watch are by clueless people buying them as presents for "that guy I know who uses Apple." Expect to see another flood of refurbished Apple Watches after Christmas these year, as a new group of people who got them as gifts discover that they're worthless.
I work for a small consultancy that writes Windows Application Code. We eat, sleep, and breathe Microsoft around here.
The owners (Husband and Wife) just upgraded their iPhone 4 phones to iPhone 7 Pluses a few weeks ago. And I noticed the other day that my direct boss (the Husband) was sporting an Apple Watch.
These are NOT "gadgety" or "fashion-conscious" people. In fact, my boss is pretty far on the "frugal" side. He will spend money if he needs to; but doesn't just spend money to make a statement.
Som
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Expect to see another flood of refurbished Apple Watches after Christmas these year, as a new group of people who got them as gifts discover that they're worthless.
So nobody buys Apple Watches, but there was a flood of refurbished Apple Watches after Christmas - which again nobody bought. Yeah, why not.
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Ah I fondly remember that Onion article [theonion.com]
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Still working as strong as ever despite the death of Steve Jobs.
Though now for reason, I now read their press announcement as if spoken with a Trump voice.
The Apple watch sales are HUGE, the numbers are secret, but trust me,
TRUST ME, they are bigly!
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Misdirection (Score:1)
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken!
I always thought (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple watch was a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist.
Now, if the device was truly stand alone, that's one thing, but needing to pair it up with an iPhone makes it far less interesting. As a minimalist, I have no use for a watch or any other jewelry for that matter.
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You would really suck as busienss.
Apple is the most profitable company in the phone industry (104% profit while at ~20% of sales)
Apple is the most profitable company in the computer industry (~25% profit while at ~5% of sales)
Apple has zero recognition in the 'bread-and-butter' computing. They tried it for a while, couldn't cut it, so they got out. Everyone only wants the cheapest CPU/RAM/storage per $.
So, try to justify from a business point of view why they would move somewhere else, that doesn't involve
Why does it have to more than convenient? (Score:3, Interesting)
I always thought...Apple watch was a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist.
You can make toast easily in a pan or an in an oven. A toaster then, is an answer to a problem that doesn't exist.
Why does everything have to be the only possible answer to a problem? The Apple Watch is not the ultimate answer to any one problem - but it is more convenient for a lot of things. It's been really handy for dismissing calls in meetings because I can quickly glance to see if I need to take it, and cover the
Re:I always thought (Score:4, Interesting)
> Apple watch was a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist.
> Now, if the device was truly stand alone, that's one thing, but needing to pair it up with an iPhone makes it far less interesting.
Its primary benefit is reducing the amount of times you need to pull your phone out of your pocket. If you don't care about the phone integration there are a lot of regular watches that do "being a watch" better. I never wore a regular watch, though. I have no need for it.
I bought my Apple Watch primarily because I'm at the gym doing fitness classes a lot. My phone is usually away from me in my gym bag. I would sometimes be unreachable for 1-2 hours at a time. The watch solves that problem for me nicely.
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Apple watch was a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist.
A good way of putting it. I think it's more accurately an attempt to explode a nascent hardware market in the same way they did with the iPod and iPhone. Problem is, smartwatches will (probably) always be a niche market. It's just not a device that people think they need. I think it's quite likely that Apple Watch sales are great, in the context of the smartwatch industry. I just don't think that industry is very large or relevant.
New Apple spx: Donald Trump (Score:5, Funny)
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So are you suggesting that they're not selling great? That they're making a loss on them? Hiding the bad sales figures by lying?
That sounds like Left Wing Media bias, totally unfair, Apple's watch business really is worth $10 billion! And just ignore the borrowing of small amounts at prime rates.... that in no way suggests the watch business is bankrupt. That's the nasty nasty media and their nasty nasty lies.
Apple carries ZERO debt. Hasn't had any in DECADES. So quit lying. If they would be borrowing for anything, it would be to complete their new headquarters.
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Woooooooooooooosh!
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As Donald would say "Wrong!!!" Apple borrows massively in the US to fund expansion as it is pretty US cash poor. All its Cash is sitting in Ireland waiting for a Tax Amnesty President to get elected so they can bring it back without paying taxes. Now that Donald's been elected Apple can bring back its 200 Billion. That should lead to a crazy round of acquiring of startups. Good time to be in the valley. The worker drones have been scared by Trump and keeping their head down and working towards their citizen
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Or consider it this way. Tax laws are such that it is CHEAPER TO BORROW MONEY than to repatriate the cash.
Borrowing billions of dollars at 5% costs LESS than bringing in a billion dollars.
That's w
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Or consider it this way. Tax laws are such that it is CHEAPER TO BORROW MONEY than to repatriate the cash.
Borrowing billions of dollars at 5% costs LESS than bringing in a billion dollars.
That right there is indicative that our business tax laws are pretty messed up. The problem of having the highest corporate tax rates in the developed world - nearly double that of the OECD average - is a situation that will hopefully be resolved in the next year to the betterment of ALL US companies.
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Lets say I as an individual indulged in the same behaviour these companies indulge in. Put so much of income into 401K that I could not pay the rent so had to borrow money to pay the rent. There would be an expectation of paying the tax when I take the money out of 401K. But what if I lobbied for a Tax Amnesty to take money out of 401K without paying taxes and till the time that Amnesty got passed kept borrowing money
If I indulged in this behaviour would you call the Personal Tax system too high and needing
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Actually, they've been carrying debt for the last couple years when it became cheap to do so, and they couldn't repatriate their earnings w/o huge tax losses.
Nothing major (for their scale of business), but it is somewhere on the order of $50B. That may sound a lot to you, but it's a couple weeks of sales to them.
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Q4 is always low.
$50B is about 12 months of profit.
http://images.apple.com/newsro... [apple.com]
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Your either ignorant or stupid. Ill let you decide.
It is for the best, since you're apparently both...
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I don't know whether to commend you for missing the reference to the recent US Presidential campaign or to castigate you for missing obvious satire.
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I don't know whether to commend you for missing the reference to the recent US Presidential campaign or to castigate you for missing obvious satire.
Apparently, both are in order.
;-)
Apparently, my post was uninformed on many levels...
That's funny (Score:1)
Fitbits? Sure, see them all the time. My Microsoft Band 2? Nope, I never see those either. I think I am the only one using one.
Shame (Score:2, Funny)
I saw a guy walking once with one. He looked ashamed.
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I saw a guy walking once with one. He looked ashamed.
Liar.
Struggling? (Score:2)
Wait, so a niche market with way too many players are struggling to turn over inventory when an 800 pound gorilla comes in and is having "their best week yet" (whatever that means)?
Let's see...
X total prospective buyers of smart watch thingys,
Y Apple Watch purchasers,
X - Y = ? leftover purchasers for everyone else.
3rd grade math story problems are hard, and definitely need Slashdot headlines.
I have a semi-smart watch (Score:3)
I have a semi-smart watch. ($25 Martian).
I love it... never wear it though because I never remember to charge it, so in hindsight, perhaps a mistake. My watch battery lasts a week, I can't imagine how old it gets to charge watch every day, no matter how awesome it is. Bad enough charging the phone.
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A while back I went back to an old flip phone for a few days. I'd forgotten how nice it was to only have to charge my phone once a week. I almost didn't go back to my smartphone... but work email. Sigh.
When I had a watch it would work for years on a battery. It's bad enough having to plug in the damn phone every night. Which is why I don't have a smartwatch.
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I can't imagine how old it gets to charge watch every day
It may seem counter-intuitive but if you have something that you can regularly do on a daily basis it doesn't get all, it gets part of a habit. Kind of like my phone doesn't last more than a day, putting it on charge is part of a daily routine the duration of which can be measured in seconds. It's not like you need to go horrendously out of your way with these devices.
That said I don't own one, but don't over-estimate the problem.
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Maybe not a smart watch, but I still wear and use Casio's Data Bank watch. Sure, it doesn't connect to devices like phones and computers. It does calculation, schedules, phone numbers, times, etc. It's primitive, but works. ;)
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I used to have one of those, or something similar. I used it as a fashion statement.
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To show that you're a nerd/geek like me? ;)
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Precisely!
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So, you're not a geek/nerd now? :(
Apple Watch - Tim Cook's legacy (Score:1)
I wonder if Jobs would have so completely run out of ideas for new tech if he was still alive.
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Apple's problem is it got too sucessfull. It left very little on the plate for its competitors to survive on. Now this is a problem for Apple as Apple throughout its history has never been the first to do anything. They have always been a fast follower who take something invented by someone else and polish it and package it so that the masses like it and buy it. Well when you drive other companies out of business their is noone left to "borrow" ideas from. Hence the lack of ideas. Jobs would have had the sa
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Jobs wasn't afraid to disrupt his own business. Phone would disrupt iPod, tablet would disrupt laptop. Both were bigger than the lost market in the other products.
Cook is afraid he might break something.
I love to numbers too! (Score:2)
Nice to see I'm in good company.
Watches are doimg well (Score:2)
We are in a blizzard watch right now
Decoder (Score:2)
Translation (Score:1)
Not far off from reality. (Score:2)
I see the fitbot watches the most, then Apple watches. the rarest is the android ones. I wish someone would make a decent round one that looks like a diver watch with some real waterproofing and at least 2 days of battery life.
iWatches are not the thing (Score:2, Insightful)
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The watches do seem to be selling to some extent, so people disagree with you on that. I have no intention of buying one, because I hate wearing a watch, and don't really care of somebody else does buy one. If I were trying for social status, I'd be someone else. I wore a Casio with the little keyboard for a few years and considered it a fashion statement.
Actually, they gave an indication (Score:5, Informative)
Cook then showed the total revenue generated by the Apple watch (his was v1) being 2nd only to Rolex, which sells between 500K and 1 Million luxury watches per year.
Well, haters say the Apple Watch is a flop. I don't know, I think I wouldn't mind flopping with that level of revenue...
here is a link with picture of the slide:
http://www.wareable.com/apple/... [wareable.com]
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During a keynote Cook showed a slide listing the top revenue generating watch companies - this was based on a table that was published elsewhere.
Cook then showed the total revenue generated by the Apple watch (his was v1) being 2nd only to Rolex, which sells between 500K and 1 Million luxury watches per year.
Well, haters say the Apple Watch is a flop. I don't know, I think I wouldn't mind flopping with that level of revenue...
here is a link with picture of the slide:
http://www.wareable.com/apple/... [wareable.com]
Yet again, there is this thing called data that is missing from the slide.
For example, in addition to actual watch sales, they may have included watch apps, accessories, etc. We also don't know if this is actual end user retail sales or if it includes inventory (accounting tricks). We don't know whether this trend continued or if the sales chart looked like a hockey stick after the first year (i.e. high sales for the shiny new product and then a huge drop).
That's the problem with how Apple presents it's
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I think I wouldn't mind flopping with that level of revenue
Very short sighted. I would prefer to see what the profit figures and what the initial investment was before I talked about if I would mind the level of "flop".
You can make any number sound good. But you can only really generate net positive cash flow one way. I wonder why they haven't stated the exact number yet.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
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Tell that to the Swiss (Score:1)
Watches are so last decade, grampa
Seriously who the frack uses a watch, or an Apple Watch nowadays, but lusers and narcos?
No, they revealed the number (Score:3)