Except Apple isn't the only one in this market. Apple might make the most money in it but everyone else in this market meaning Android who will sell billions of devices and Apple will make billions. Then when everyone you know has a smartwatch, you will want or need one just like when everyone first joined Facebook or got their first smartphone.
Except that Android Wear is already on the market and isn't even selling millions of watches.
Android Wear sales: Bad compared to phones, OK compared to other watches
A total of 720,000 Wear watches shipped in 2014; Moto 360 leads the pack.
So far, we haven't had much information about how Android Wear is doing, but the analysts over at Canalys say that more than 720,000 Wear watches shipped in 2014.LG's first G Watch and Samsung's Gear Live were available at the end of June, so these numbers mean that all six extant Android Wear watches shipped around three-quarters of a million units in six months (and remember, a unit shipped isn't necessarily a unit sold).
These numbers are decidedly unimpressive when considered next to smartphone sales numbers—Apple by itself sold almost 114 million iPhones in the same amount of time—but by smartwatch standards, the Wear ecosystem is collectively doing OK. Pebble recently announced that it had shipped (that word again) its millionth smartwatch on December 31 of 2014, and about 600,000 of those shipments were made between March and December of 2014.
The entirety of the "smart wearable band" market as defined by Canalys shipped about 4.6 million units in 2014, and that includes less-smart wearable bands like the Fitbit and Xiaomi's Mi Band, as well as the nigh-countless iterations of Samsung's Tizen-powered Galaxy Gear watch. In other words, Android Wear hasn't exactly kickstarted this market, but it's OK because nobody else has either.
Of the Android Wear watches, Canalys reports that the Moto 360 is "the clear leader," which is further evidence that fashion will drive smartwatch sales just as much as (if not more than) functionality and technology will. Primarily because of its old Texas Instruments OMAP chip, the 360 has the worst battery life and performance of any of the watches we've reviewed, but it's still more visually appealing than most of the bland, boxy watches in the lineup.
Keep these numbers in mind when the Apple Watch ships in April. No wearable is going to hit iPhone-level (or even iPad- or Mac-level) sales right out of the gate, but these figures tell us what "success" looks like for a smartwatch. Even if Apple sells just a few million units in the device's first year, it's going to be more popular than any smartwatch that's on the market now.
Funny. That's what he said. And yet you think it's stupid to say that folks in the segment should have been more proactive given that the watch had been telegraphed for a while now.
Reading Comprehension 101 buddy. I find it funny you took bits and pieces out of my post and spun it to suit your agenda. Nice try.
The same people who buy diamonds and jewelry buy Rolex and above watches. Not a "very small" market at all. The problem is you've haven't been outside the 18-40 male market, shown by thinking everybody has an iPhone.
And those same people can afford to have a Rolex and an Apple Watch edition. Everybody wins.
Would it be fair that to call Apple a low-end CE company becaue they make a $49 iPod Shuffle? Would you defend someone that said Apple is a low-end CE company?
Sure. That's obviously well-known. I am simply pointing out that it's uninformed to dismiss Swatch as a "lower-end watchmaker." He would have been correct if he had said "Swatch's lower-end watches."
Are there any counter examples that show a simpler tech is likely to become obsolete despite it's after-purchase longevity because the utility is too low within a changing culture?
You could argue that 35mm film cameras became obsolete because the expectations of the culture shifted to the instant convenience of digital photography. The same is happening to compact digital cameras, which are being decimated by smart phones with persistent high speed data connections, because Instagram and FaceBook have created the expectation of being able to instantly post our photos to social networks. Something we didn't imagine doing in 2007 when the first iPhone had a rudimentary camera and 2G EDGE network.
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." Michael Dell.
"There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."—Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."—Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946
"Apple [is] a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future."—TIME, February 5, 1996
Some makers of Swiss Watches and Android Wear scoff at the Apple Watch... the foolish ones.
This is a stupid statement. Exactly what are the watchmakers supposed to do? They make a completely different product than Apple's watch. They have zero in-house software/ecosystem capabilities. They sell a product that does one thing, tell time.... okay two if I include style/prestige.
What does Mock want? Rolex can't create a watch OS, so in theory, they'd probably have to use that piece-of-sh!t Android OS which will really put some brown skid-marks on their brand.
I think Apple will take a sizable chunk out of the watch market in the next couple years. I highly doubt that it will take away from the very high-end watch market. I think many folks that can afford 5-figure watches are not tech-literate at all. They will still want the pricey, legacy timepieces. Those will never truly go out of style.
The lower-end watch makers like swatch, timex, etc.. I think they will be impacted.
Personally I like my 250.00 Seiko kinetic watch I've had for years that never needs a battery, submerges to 300 meters and is stainless steel that will last forever as long as I don't drop it on rocks when I go camping. Why would I spend 399.00 for a aluminum sport watch that will last at best 3 years? I don't get it myself. That said I would buy a stainless steel iwatch (599.00 to 1050.00) if I could replace the electronics out every 2-3 years with advances in apple technology and recycle or keep the original case with each update. As it stands now I won't spend the money for an obsolescent watch. Just my wallet and sensibilities speaking.
Something else to think about: The amount of disruption that may occur among retail jewelers in the next few years.
The middle line ?Watch series - with prices ranging from $549 to $1099 - hits the wristwatch sweet spot for a huge number of mall jewelry stores and standalones in mid-sized communities. These locations will still be selling rings and necklaces and bracelets and gemstones, but a hefty chunk of revenue from timepieces may evaporate for them. For those who depended on watches as a pillar of their business, it won't be pretty.
Some of the big retail jewelry chains may find themselves vulnerable and going the way of the Circuit City and CompUSA businesses not so many years ago.
Not only that, but a chronograph, an alarm, a altimeter, the moon phase, the equation of time (that day's solar length), and a annual, leap year, or perpetual calendar.
Something else to think about: <span style="line-height:1.4em;">The amount of disruption that may occur among retail jewelers in the next few years.</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">The middle line </span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">?Watch series - with prices ranging from $549 to $1099 - hits the wristwatch sweet spot for a huge number of mall jewelry stores and standalones in mid-sized communities. These locations will still be selling rings and necklaces and bracelets and gemstones, but a hefty chunk of revenue from timepieces may evaporate for them. For those who depended on watches as a pillar of their business, it won't be pretty.</span>
Some of the big retail jewelry chains may find themselves vulnerable and going the way of the Circuit City and CompUSA businesses not so many years ago.
1) How much of their revenue and profit does come from watvhes v traditional jewelry?
2) Can't they sell ?Watch? I could see them getting a boost in watch sales because of ?Watch (but perhaps in the same way Palm and Blackberry got boosts in smartphone sales because of the iPhone existing ).
Comments
Did you rush her to the ER screaming "this girl's got a huge gash, please save her"?
Somehow you manage to make the most offensive, crass and tasteless jokes I've ever seen here. Almost every single time.
That's gotta count for something, right?
That comes from growing up in NYC, everyone has jokes, so one has to go over the top to get a laugh.
Except Apple isn't the only one in this market. Apple might make the most money in it but everyone else in this market meaning Android who will sell billions of devices and Apple will make billions. Then when everyone you know has a smartwatch, you will want or need one just like when everyone first joined Facebook or got their first smartphone.
Except that Android Wear is already on the market and isn't even selling millions of watches.
Android Wear sales: Bad compared to phones, OK compared to other watches
A total of 720,000 Wear watches shipped in 2014; Moto 360 leads the pack.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/android-wear-sales-bad-compared-to-phones-ok-compared-to-other-watches/
So far, we haven't had much information about how Android Wear is doing, but the analysts over at Canalys say that more than 720,000 Wear watches shipped in 2014.LG's first G Watch and Samsung's Gear Live were available at the end of June, so these numbers mean that all six extant Android Wear watches shipped around three-quarters of a million units in six months (and remember, a unit shipped isn't necessarily a unit sold).
These numbers are decidedly unimpressive when considered next to smartphone sales numbers—Apple by itself sold almost 114 million iPhones in the same amount of time—but by smartwatch standards, the Wear ecosystem is collectively doing OK. Pebble recently announced that it had shipped (that word again) its millionth smartwatch on December 31 of 2014, and about 600,000 of those shipments were made between March and December of 2014.
The entirety of the "smart wearable band" market as defined by Canalys shipped about 4.6 million units in 2014, and that includes less-smart wearable bands like the Fitbit and Xiaomi's Mi Band, as well as the nigh-countless iterations of Samsung's Tizen-powered Galaxy Gear watch. In other words, Android Wear hasn't exactly kickstarted this market, but it's OK because nobody else has either.
Of the Android Wear watches, Canalys reports that the Moto 360 is "the clear leader," which is further evidence that fashion will drive smartwatch sales just as much as (if not more than) functionality and technology will. Primarily because of its old Texas Instruments OMAP chip, the 360 has the worst battery life and performance of any of the watches we've reviewed, but it's still more visually appealing than most of the bland, boxy watches in the lineup.
Keep these numbers in mind when the Apple Watch ships in April. No wearable is going to hit iPhone-level (or even iPad- or Mac-level) sales right out of the gate, but these figures tell us what "success" looks like for a smartwatch. Even if Apple sells just a few million units in the device's first year, it's going to be more popular than any smartwatch that's on the market now.
Funny. That's what he said. And yet you think it's stupid to say that folks in the segment should have been more proactive given that the watch had been telegraphed for a while now.
Reading Comprehension 101 buddy. I find it funny you took bits and pieces out of my post and spun it to suit your agenda. Nice try.
The lower-end watch makers like swatch, ...
Swatch is one of the highest-end watchmakers out there.
And those same people can afford to have a Rolex and an Apple Watch edition. Everybody wins.
That would be a great tagline. AppleWatch: Tells time. Saves time.
Swatch is one of the highest-end watchmakers out there.
Swatch also makes a ton of $60-$70 watches.
Would it be fair that to call Apple a low-end CE company becaue they make a $49 iPod Shuffle? Would you defend someone that said Apple is a low-end CE company?
Some of Finland's politicians already claimed Apple destroyed their country's economy, next is it to be the Swiss? Surely not.
Well, they'll still have cows, chocolates, yodeling, and Ricola.
Swatch is one of the highest-end watchmakers out there.
Swatch also makes a ton of $60-$70 watches.
Sure. That's obviously well-known. I am simply pointing out that it's uninformed to dismiss Swatch as a "lower-end watchmaker." He would have been correct if he had said "Swatch's lower-end watches."
You could argue that 35mm film cameras became obsolete because the expectations of the culture shifted to the instant convenience of digital photography. The same is happening to compact digital cameras, which are being decimated by smart phones with persistent high speed data connections, because Instagram and FaceBook have created the expectation of being able to instantly post our photos to social networks. Something we didn't imagine doing in 2007 when the first iPhone had a rudimentary camera and 2G EDGE network.
"A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.”
When I was 14 I had a 16 year old girl friend that said the exact same thing!
Same here! 14 and 16 for me, too.
Those were the days when I had one and a half girlfriends.
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." Michael Dell.
"There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Steve Ballmer.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."—Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."—Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946
"Apple [is] a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future."—TIME, February 5, 1996
Some makers of Swiss Watches and Android Wear scoff at the Apple Watch... the foolish ones.
This is a stupid statement. Exactly what are the watchmakers supposed to do? They make a completely different product than Apple's watch. They have zero in-house software/ecosystem capabilities. They sell a product that does one thing, tell time.... okay two if I include style/prestige.
What does Mock want? Rolex can't create a watch OS, so in theory, they'd probably have to use that piece-of-sh!t Android OS which will really put some brown skid-marks on their brand.
I think Apple will take a sizable chunk out of the watch market in the next couple years. I highly doubt that it will take away from the very high-end watch market. I think many folks that can afford 5-figure watches are not tech-literate at all. They will still want the pricey, legacy timepieces. Those will never truly go out of style.
The lower-end watch makers like swatch, timex, etc.. I think they will be impacted.
The really fancy ones can do day and date!
Something else to think about: The amount of disruption that may occur among retail jewelers in the next few years.
The middle line ?Watch series - with prices ranging from $549 to $1099 - hits the wristwatch sweet spot for a huge number of mall jewelry stores and standalones in mid-sized communities. These locations will still be selling rings and necklaces and bracelets and gemstones, but a hefty chunk of revenue from timepieces may evaporate for them. For those who depended on watches as a pillar of their business, it won't be pretty.
Some of the big retail jewelry chains may find themselves vulnerable and going the way of the Circuit City and CompUSA businesses not so many years ago.
Not only that, but a chronograph, an alarm, a altimeter, the moon phase, the equation of time (that day's solar length), and a annual, leap year, or perpetual calendar.
1) How much of their revenue and profit does come from watvhes v traditional jewelry?
2) Can't they sell ?Watch? I could see them getting a boost in watch sales because of ?Watch (but perhaps in the same way Palm and Blackberry got boosts in smartphone sales because of the iPhone existing