We still don’t have exact sales numbers, but appears the Apple Watch performed better than we thought
If you read enough comments on our — or even other tech related sites — you’d think just about nobody was really excited about the wearables market, specifically dealing with smartwatches. Whether they’re Android-based or those manufactured by Pebble or Apple, “Why buy a smartwatch when my phone can do the same thing?” is typically the argument you’ll run into most. After seeing Android Wear’s extremely modest smartwatch shipments last year, nobody was really sure how well consumers would take to something like the (overpriced) Apple Watch. Despite early reviews not being so hot, it seems we may have grossly underestimated the company’s brand power and the hold they have over consumers’ wallets.
If there was ever a company that could convince someone to shell out extra money for a turd wrapped in tinfoil, it’s Apple. Talking to investors during their Q3 2015 earnings call today, Apple still wouldn’t reveal actual sales numbers for the Apple Watch (they said this is because of competitive reasons), but they did drop some hints, saying that the Apple Watch exceeding sales of the original iPhone and iPad during when they first launched.
Apple went on to explain that this is despite delays in getting the Apple Watch to actual retail stores (where the majority of sales take place) due to high-demand online that resulted in shortages. Even though they lumped Apple Watch sales into their “Other” category, you can look at how well they did in the same category last quarter — $1.7 billion — compared to this quarter — $2.64 billion — to get a better idea of how the Apple Watch may have fueled this growth.
Either way, it seems the Apple Watch is performing much better than anyone may have thought and that’s just the beginning. According to Cook, because of “off the charts” early customer satisfaction ratings, he expects momentum will only continue to grow with the Apple Watch being one of the top gifts this holiday season. With talk of Android Wear possibly adding iOS support in a future update, it seems the only real competition Apple faces is the upcoming Moto 360 (2nd Gen) or the recently released Pebble Time.