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Apple Hardware

Apple, Which Doesn't Reveal Watch Sales Data, Says Watch Sales Are Great (mashable.com) 112

Posted by msmash from the great-sales dept.
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.
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Apple, Which Doesn't Reveal Watch Sales Data, Says Watch Sales Are Great More

Apple, Which Doesn't Reveal Watch Sales Data, Says Watch Sales Are Great

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  • The Reality Distortion Field. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @09:03AM (#53432051)

    Still working as strong as ever despite the death of Steve Jobs.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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.

    • 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.

      • I believe that readers of the Wall Street Journal would be more interested in this story.

        Marie Antoinette was grinning show off also.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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

      • 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

      • 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.

    • Ah I fondly remember that Onion article [theonion.com]

    • 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!

    • We sold 11 watches in this year's 3rd quarter, whereas in last year's 3rd quarter we sold 5. WE SET A RECORD!

  • Misdirection (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! The Great Oz has spoken!

  • I always thought (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @09:04AM (#53432065)

    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.

    • 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)

      by djrobxx ( 1095215 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @12:13PM (#53433707)

      > 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.

    • 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)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @09:05AM (#53432069)
    Sales are GREAT! They're YUGE! I don't have exact figures for you, but trust me this is the best product we've ever launched, hands down. We just can't make enough of them. We're selling more of these than we've ever sold anything before.
    • They're selling bigly.

  • That's funny (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    That's funny. I never see an iWatch or Apple Watch. When the first one came out, some reviewers wore them for a bit. Then most of them admitted they stopped wearing them as they just didn't do much and weren't needed. I can't remember the last time I saw an Apple Watch in the wild.

    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)

    by Vlijmen Fileer ( 120268 )

    I saw a guy walking once with one. He looked ashamed.

  • 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)

    by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @09:31AM (#53432217)

    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.

    • 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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      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. ;)

  • Apple Watch - Tim Cook's legacy (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I wonder if Jobs would have so completely run out of ideas for new tech if he was still alive.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ghoul ( 157158 )

      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

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tomhath ( 637240 )

        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.

  • Nice to see I'm in good company.

  • We are in a blizzard watch right now

  • Well, you're a /. reader and can crack that Cook code ; but 95% people can't. So, the result is most people see the Watch as a success and will run buy one..
  • We used to sell one watch every week. This week we sold two! NEW RECORD!

    .. well, it is!

  • 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 practical at all, are too big, have a feel of cheap/plastic/a toy watch, and are too wayyy overpriced. The technology is still very early, as much as only by the time Apple got to iPhone 5S, it was worth to use it. Despite having many of the Apple things at home, the iWatch wont be in my list for several years to come. Add to that the fact I have not used a watch for years now, and the iWatch is even less appealing. As for social status, I do prefer an expensive analog watch to go with a

    • 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)

    by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @10:36AM (#53432775)
    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]

    • 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

    • 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)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @11:25AM (#53433217)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • 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)

    by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2016 @04:54PM (#53436017) Journal
    You're just reading the news release wrong.

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