Apple Watch sales estimated at 2.79M, 17% of buyers spring for extra bands

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2015
Although Apple has yet to release official Apple Watch sales numbers beyond being "thrilled" about its launch, research firm Slice Intelligence says the company is raking in big profits from Apple-made band accessories, as can be expected.




Analyzing mail receipts from two million people, Slice found more than 20,000 purchased an Apple Watch, Reuters reports. Extrapolating beyond the sample pool results in an estimated 2.79 million units since the device launched in April.

Of those customers who purchased Watch, 17 percent picked up more than one band.

According to Slice, Apple's black Sport Band was the most popular model, both for aftermarket sales and as configured with device. The Milanese loop came in second, but comparative metrics were not provided. The report seems woefully incomplete, however, as it failed to detail how many extra bands are being purchased or offer a comprehensive breakdown of Apple Watch sales by model.

Reuters cites an IHS report that concluded Apple pays about $2.05 to manufacture a $49 Sport Band, though Apple CEO Tim Cook has gone on record as saying build cost estimates are usually wildly inaccurate.

The publication also cites sources as saying Apple will not take in revenue from third-party band manufacturers, but fails to mention a "Made for Apple Watch" licensing program expected to launch based on design guidelines posted by Apple in May.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 63

    The Guesstimators are far off even when they have better metrics than these idiots....

  • Reply 2 of 63
    Well I got my sport watch a week or so ago, and I have already bought two more sport bands!
  • Reply 3 of 63
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member

    I'm guessing that number will be considered a huge failure for Apple and the cries for the removal of CEO Tim Cook will quickly start.  I was under the impression the Wall Street geniuses and tech pundits felt Apple should have sold this many AppleWatches the first weekend.  This will be considered an abysmally slow start and critics will say that Apple has lost its way.  More numerical fodder to drive Apple's share price down even further.  Since outright sales numbers are the only thing that matters to Wall Street this number definitely doesn't look good, no matter what the profit margins are.  I would honestly think Apple is doing quite well to keep its numbers in the black, but Wall Street only shows red.  I'm hoping this number came about due to restrained supply and not lack of demand.  The pundits will quickly turn this into "No one is interested in AppleWatches and they would rather have new iPods."  No Apple love to be found.

  • Reply 4 of 63
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    Odo that figure would be almost three times the number of smartwatches sold previously-Eva!
  • Reply 5 of 63

    To me that number seems way too low, I expect Apple shifted that many in opening weekend pre-orders alone. By now I would imagine they're into double digit millions in terms of sales. Don't forget this is a guesstimate from one source and only accounting for the US.

  • Reply 6 of 63
    To me that number seems way too low, I expect Apple shifted that many in opening weekend pre-orders alone. By now I would imagine they're into double digit millions in terms of sales. Don't forget this is a guesstimate from one source and only accounting for the US.

    yes.. they seem to have missed the other 1 billion plus people it was loosely made available to for purchase.

    and what mail receipts were they snooping???? that sounds incredibly dodgy
  • Reply 7 of 63
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    It's a super, duper watch. Perfect combination of style, choice and function. I honestly don't think Apple could have done any better with their first get watch. But. But. But. I will never wear a watch. That explains why the numbers are low for an Apple product. Very high for a smartwatch—mind you.
  • Reply 8 of 63
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    Is that estimate US only?
  • Reply 9 of 63
    bobschlobbobschlob Posts: 1,074member

    "Analyzing mail receipts from two million people, Slice found more than 20,000 purchased an Apple Watch, Reuters reports. Extrapolating beyond the sample pool results in an estimated 2.79 million units since the device launched in April."

     

    Seriously...

    What the  F  does that even mean?

    So little context to these two sentences. I have no idea what A.I. is saying.

  • Reply 10 of 63
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Exactly how were they analyzing sales receipts?
  • Reply 11 of 63
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Exactly how were they analyzing sales receipts?

    Googs probably offers the data.
  • Reply 12 of 63
    ronmgronmg Posts: 163member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BobSchlob View Post

     

    "Analyzing mail receipts from two million people, Slice found more than 20,000 purchased an Apple Watch, Reuters reports. Extrapolating beyond the sample pool results in an estimated 2.79 million units since the device launched in April."

     

    Seriously...

    What the  F  does that even mean?

    So little context to these two sentences. I have no idea what A.I. is saying.


     

    LMAO - There is so much room for error in this analysis, it is hardly scientific. One may as well randomly walk down a street, see that 2 people out of 500 are wearing Apple Watch, and extrapolate it out. So meaningless, and yet even readers here are taking it as gospel and analyzing what Wall Street is going to say about it. Ha.

     

    Let's just wait until the next Apple hardware release announcement, where they will most likely state how many watches they have sold. Also, I have no doubt that they are and will sell every Watch that comes off the assembly line. They are working their butts off to get manufacturing process efficient, and also working with their suppliers to get their yields up as well. Each month, we will see greater numbers coming off the assembly lines, and Apple will sell each of them.

  • Reply 13 of 63
    kfury77kfury77 Posts: 47member
  • Reply 14 of 63
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    kfury77 wrote: »

    So everyone using this app has their email analyzed? How many people have downloaded this app?
  • Reply 15 of 63
    schlackschlack Posts: 719member
    the watch sales number seems believable to me.

    they must be killing it on the bands. even if it costs them $10 to make, which seems unlikely, it's a huge profit margin.
  • Reply 16 of 63
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Nearly three million in around two months, during its introductory run.

    In terms of the industry at large, that's impressive (though the number is probably higher.) In terms of the smartwatch segment, it's an absolute bloodbath.
  • Reply 17 of 63
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    Those mall receipts could only have shown Watch band purchases, as nobody has yet been able to purchase an actual Apple Watch at any Apple Store. Those who did a try-on session and then used the Apple Store app on their iPhone to order would not have received a print receipt, or any receipt at that moment; just an order confirmation. So, how does a research firm determine, from a number of receipts for Watch bands, that those receipts represent 17% of all Watches sold. There's insufficient information to do any such math.
  • Reply 18 of 63
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RonMG View Post

     

     

    LMAO - There is so much room for error in this analysis, it is hardly scientific. One may as well randomly walk down a street, see that 2 people out of 500 are wearing Apple Watch, and extrapolate it out. So meaningless, and yet even readers here are taking it as gospel and analyzing what Wall Street is going to say about it. Ha.

     

    Let's just wait until the next Apple hardware release announcement, where they will most likely state how many watches they have sold. Also, I have no doubt that they are and will sell every Watch that comes off the assembly line. They are working their butts off to get manufacturing process efficient, and also working with their suppliers to get their yields up as well. Each month, we will see greater numbers coming off the assembly lines, and Apple will sell each of them.


    Tim stated that, for competitive reasons, they would not be breaking out sales of the watch. I would expect that analysts will gain better insight on sales over time, and that should translate to more accurate quarterly sales estimates.

     

    Or not.

  • Reply 19 of 63
    "Analyzing mail receipts from two million people"???? WTF! Exactly how do they do that? It seems to me that the story here should be how did they analyze the private email of two million people without their knowledge or consent? This is another reason why I'm happy that I host my own email on a server in a secure data center.
  • Reply 20 of 63
    ronmgronmg Posts: 163member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tmay View Post

     

    Tim stated that, for competitive reasons, they would not be breaking out sales of the watch. I would expect that analysts will gain better insight on sales over time, and that should translate to more accurate quarterly sales estimates.

     

    Or not.


     

    My interpretation of Tim's comment was that they would not break out sales revenue of the Watch as a separate financial category. This doesn't mean that he won't toss out a volume statistic or two during an upcoming hardware release. But, I may be wrong.

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