They have revealed just enough information for us to be able to do that, and it looks great for the Apple Watch, and terrible for the other wearables.
But I'm pretty sure that keeping these numbers closed isn't so much about the other wearable manufacturers — Apple probably doesn't give two turds and a wet fart about them and their artificially inflated "sales" numbers (Samsung gave away thousands of Galaxy Gears with their S5 phones last year to make it look like people were interested — they all ended up on eBay or in "unused tech gadgets" drawers.). It's obvious that Apple is eating their lunch, and none of them need exact numbers to know that.
In fact, Apple isn't even really competing with them: the Apple Watch models are all priced pretty much clear out of the existing market. For a pretty arbitrary definition of "existing", that is.
No, this is about the Swiss watch industry, who currently have no idea how — or whether at all — to meet Apple's onslaught.
THAT is where a breakdown of models — Sports/Watch/Edition — would make the difference.
This was the product that was going to set the fashion industry on fire, make Swiss watch makers shake with fear and take over wearable technology. So Cook is trying to tell us this product is doing just fine and the numbers peaked yet he included them in "other products"
Why would you not report best-ever performance? If the best ever performance was in June I hate to see how bad it was before June. This is fairly simple to figure out, a surge on the day of release, followed by slow sales and then a peak when they hit retail stores. That doesn't equal great sales.
Anytime Tim Cook speaks about the Apple Watch he sounds like he is stepping all over himself. I would say something else but I would get a vulgar language violation.
Are you bitter because the manipulated stock price run up fooled you into buying at a peak... or something?
People need to think... The fact that the Apple Watch was sold out and had a long waiting period means they outsold Apple's expectations by quite a fair bit. All the talk about production constraint etc is just talk.
Now lets be logical for a minute. Not every one wears a watch, not everyone who wears a watch will wear a digital watch and not everyone who wears a digital watch will wear a smart watch etc. Plus you need a newer model iPhone to even get the Apple Watch to work.
Apple knows this, they also know what kind of delusional numbers analysts have been reporting. It is obvious no number they are going to report will make things look good so they planned for this months ago by deciding not to announce any figures no matter how good.
Ever notice how analysts will claim that Apple has a new product in the pipeline? Like a television set? When the product fails to appear, they will say it has been delayed, when it fails to appear for a few years they will say it has been canceled. All that time, Apple has not said a single thing. Did the television set even exist to begin with? Or just some analyst covering his own ass?
The same thing is happening with Apple Watch figures. Analysts talk out of their asses and came up with some impossible number and now they are covering their asses by saying the product failed...
Despite so many trolls and asshat "journalists" trying to say that Watch is a market failure, I haven't read any salient comments that say something reasonable, like, "Watch sales those first 9 weeks are admittedly great, but in order to show an upward trend — not just a flash in the pan early adopter jump — that bests the iPhone and iPad before it, we'll have to see even more growth in this current quarter."
Cook knows the long game. He isn't going to sacrifice the long game to satisfy a few parasite Wall street analysist. Keeping unit sales and average sales price of the Watch will keep Samsung/Google in the dark about what price to sell their wearables.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spheric
No, this is about the Swiss watch industry, who currently have no idea how — or whether at all — to meet Apple's onslaught.
THAT is where a breakdown of models — Sports/Watch/Edition — would make the difference.
I've been struggling to understand why Apple obscuring specific sales figures for the Watch is a competitive advantage. What the two of you (sog35 & spheric) have written is helpful and enlightening. So, thank you!
Are there any other strategic considerations you can think of to keep the sales figures under wraps?
So Cook was cagey and buried actual sale numbers because of competitors? What competitors? I'm sorry but that's a load. If the sales numbers were anything worth bragging about, and Cook wasn't concerned about them being taken negatively by investors, the media, and the market in general, he would have openly published them. Comparing sales to those of the iPhone or iPad, which cost twice as much, isn't good enough.
iPads are cheaper than the stainless steel watches and are less than $100 more than larger sport. I think they are more comparable than the iPhone launch, however the iPhone and stainless steel watch are not that far apart price-wise either. I do think that Tim and co were unsure of the success early on and that was why they buried the numbers in the other category.
The idea that sales numbers are disclosed for "bragging" purposes is naive.
If I were going to brag about something it would be shipping nearly 48 Million iPhones in single quarter 8 years after the entire mobile industry said I had no business making a smartphone. Definitely not the success of a phone accessory which incidentally, by all known metrics, is also besting the wearable industry many-fold.
I've written that I'd wait for the 2nd or 3rd gen watch before jumping in, but if the next iteration is sold as being waterproof and with a greater variety of sports bands, it could speed my purchase decision.
I curious about the features you expect in the 2nd and 3rd generation watch that will make you pull the trigger. I find the Apple Watch fairly useful now, even if doesn't do all the magical stuff some people expect. At the very least, it is many times more useful than my Pebble, which all the metal casings and fancy bands in the world probably won't save. As to the watch bands, there are plenty of 3rd party bands available to customize the watch. One great thing about Apple products is that the resale value is fairly strong, especially for electronic devices, making it less painful to upgrade when the new generation appears.
Enough of this idiocy. It's a major launch in a new product category. Again, look at the numbers with the iPad, iPhone at their launched. Even more impressive is this isn't a stand alone product yet.
The idiocy is to think if the sales figures were good there wouldn't have been a press release.
This was the product that was going to set the fashion industry on fire, make Swiss watch makers shake with fear and take over wearable technology. So Cook is trying to tell us this product is doing just fine and the numbers peaked yet he included them in "other products"
Why would you not report best-ever performance? If the best ever performance was in June I hate to see how bad it was before June. This is fairly simple to figure out, a surge on the day of release, followed by slow sales and then a peak when they hit retail stores. That doesn't equal great sales.
Anytime Tim Cook speaks about the Apple Watch he sounds like he is stepping all over himself. I would say something else but I would get a vulgar language violation.
How many times must we tell you guys.
Tim Cook announced that Apple WOULD NOT reveal watch sales BEFORE it was even launched.
This is an amazing idea. It keeps competition in the dark amongst other things.
2nd, since when is Apple obligated to bow to the demands of random people on the Internet?
Apple doesn't have to report numbers to anyone and Apple is known to keep it's word. We won't get any sales numbers anytime soon, Apple isn't that weak minded.
If Apple's latest keynotes where Tim Cook announces "everything is just great" taught me anything, it's that Apple doesn't give * **** what Wall Street or anyone thinks. They're successful and that's all that matters.
Having owned the Apple watch since early June. I am struggling to see the point. So far it is nothing more than a fancy remote for my iPhone....
I do not fine it particularly useful.
About the only thing I use it for is an exercise aid. The pulse monitor is about all I use regularly...
Short of that is seems rather useless....
There are a couple things that I find innovative with the Apple Watch (1. The band attachment and the use of the Crown to control UI), but I just didn't find the UI interaction very intuitive when I went in for my 15 training. So I have passed on buying one. I actually like the idea of Pebble's timeline but don't like how they have a button on the left side of the watch. Just makes it awkward to use. Wouldn't mind a smash up of the two products.
But the watch will probably be a minor hit for Apple. It probably won't take off for a while (unless they lower the price)
I see this more as preparation for when they can offer a Cellular Watch 5 years down the road where you don't need to have a phone to use it but can get calls independently on it. Then it will fly off the stores. Apple's playing the long game and rightfully so.
I guess it means you're not able to be critical *and* own Apple kit because that would be impossible, right?
Not at all. I just think that the criticism should stand on its own merit. I don't think announcing how long you've been an Apple User, or how many Apple things you have really adds anything to the post.
Comments
They have revealed just enough information for us to be able to do that, and it looks great for the Apple Watch, and terrible for the other wearables.
But I'm pretty sure that keeping these numbers closed isn't so much about the other wearable manufacturers — Apple probably doesn't give two turds and a wet fart about them and their artificially inflated "sales" numbers (Samsung gave away thousands of Galaxy Gears with their S5 phones last year to make it look like people were interested — they all ended up on eBay or in "unused tech gadgets" drawers.). It's obvious that Apple is eating their lunch, and none of them need exact numbers to know that.
In fact, Apple isn't even really competing with them: the Apple Watch models are all priced pretty much clear out of the existing market. For a pretty arbitrary definition of "existing", that is.
No, this is about the Swiss watch industry, who currently have no idea how — or whether at all — to meet Apple's onslaught.
THAT is where a breakdown of models — Sports/Watch/Edition — would make the difference.
This.
No, this is about the Swiss watch industry, who currently have no idea how — or whether at all — to meet Apple's onslaught.
THAT is where a breakdown of models — Sports/Watch/Edition — would make the difference.
Bing, bing, bing! We have a winner!!
Those Swiss (and Chinese, and Japanese) watch makers would love to see the figures on Apple Watch sales.
Are you bitter because the manipulated stock price run up fooled you into buying at a peak... or something?
People need to think... The fact that the Apple Watch was sold out and had a long waiting period means they outsold Apple's expectations by quite a fair bit. All the talk about production constraint etc is just talk.
Now lets be logical for a minute. Not every one wears a watch, not everyone who wears a watch will wear a digital watch and not everyone who wears a digital watch will wear a smart watch etc. Plus you need a newer model iPhone to even get the Apple Watch to work.
Apple knows this, they also know what kind of delusional numbers analysts have been reporting. It is obvious no number they are going to report will make things look good so they planned for this months ago by deciding not to announce any figures no matter how good.
Ever notice how analysts will claim that Apple has a new product in the pipeline? Like a television set? When the product fails to appear, they will say it has been delayed, when it fails to appear for a few years they will say it has been canceled. All that time, Apple has not said a single thing. Did the television set even exist to begin with? Or just some analyst covering his own ass?
The same thing is happening with Apple Watch figures. Analysts talk out of their asses and came up with some impossible number and now they are covering their asses by saying the product failed...
Cook knows the long game. He isn't going to sacrifice the long game to satisfy a few parasite Wall street analysist. Keeping unit sales and average sales price of the Watch will keep Samsung/Google in the dark about what price to sell their wearables.
No, this is about the Swiss watch industry, who currently have no idea how — or whether at all — to meet Apple's onslaught.
THAT is where a breakdown of models — Sports/Watch/Edition — would make the difference.
I've been struggling to understand why Apple obscuring specific sales figures for the Watch is a competitive advantage. What the two of you (sog35 & spheric) have written is helpful and enlightening. So, thank you!
Are there any other strategic considerations you can think of to keep the sales figures under wraps?
iPads are cheaper than the stainless steel watches and are less than $100 more than larger sport. I think they are more comparable than the iPhone launch, however the iPhone and stainless steel watch are not that far apart price-wise either. I do think that Tim and co were unsure of the success early on and that was why they buried the numbers in the other category.
The idea that sales numbers are disclosed for "bragging" purposes is naive.
If I were going to brag about something it would be shipping nearly 48 Million iPhones in single quarter 8 years after the entire mobile industry said I had no business making a smartphone. Definitely not the success of a phone accessory which incidentally, by all known metrics, is also besting the wearable industry many-fold.
I've written that I'd wait for the 2nd or 3rd gen watch before jumping in, but if the next iteration is sold as being waterproof and with a greater variety of sports bands, it could speed my purchase decision.
I curious about the features you expect in the 2nd and 3rd generation watch that will make you pull the trigger. I find the Apple Watch fairly useful now, even if doesn't do all the magical stuff some people expect. At the very least, it is many times more useful than my Pebble, which all the metal casings and fancy bands in the world probably won't save. As to the watch bands, there are plenty of 3rd party bands available to customize the watch. One great thing about Apple products is that the resale value is fairly strong, especially for electronic devices, making it less painful to upgrade when the new generation appears.
Enough of this idiocy. It's a major launch in a new product category. Again, look at the numbers with the iPad, iPhone at their launched. Even more impressive is this isn't a stand alone product yet.
The idiocy is to think if the sales figures were good there wouldn't have been a press release.
How many times must we tell you guys.
Tim Cook announced that Apple WOULD NOT reveal watch sales BEFORE it was even launched.
This is an amazing idea. It keeps competition in the dark amongst other things.
2nd, since when is Apple obligated to bow to the demands of random people on the Internet?
Apple doesn't have to report numbers to anyone and Apple is known to keep it's word. We won't get any sales numbers anytime soon, Apple isn't that weak minded.
If Apple's latest keynotes where Tim Cook announces "everything is just great" taught me anything, it's that Apple doesn't give * **** what Wall Street or anyone thinks. They're successful and that's all that matters.
Having owned the Apple watch since early June. I am struggling to see the point. So far it is nothing more than a fancy remote for my iPhone....
I do not fine it particularly useful.
About the only thing I use it for is an exercise aid. The pulse monitor is about all I use regularly...
Short of that is seems rather useless....
There are a couple things that I find innovative with the Apple Watch (1. The band attachment and the use of the Crown to control UI), but I just didn't find the UI interaction very intuitive when I went in for my 15 training. So I have passed on buying one. I actually like the idea of Pebble's timeline but don't like how they have a button on the left side of the watch. Just makes it awkward to use. Wouldn't mind a smash up of the two products.
But the watch will probably be a minor hit for Apple. It probably won't take off for a while (unless they lower the price)
I see this more as preparation for when they can offer a Cellular Watch 5 years down the road where you don't need to have a phone to use it but can get calls independently on it. Then it will fly off the stores. Apple's playing the long game and rightfully so.
I guess it means you're not able to be critical *and* own Apple kit because that would be impossible, right?
Not at all. I just think that the criticism should stand on its own merit. I don't think announcing how long you've been an Apple User, or how many Apple things you have really adds anything to the post.
TS's troll list was pretty amusing.
TS is gone?!
Yeah, what does that mean? TS suddenly left?
He's not banned and posted a little over 3 hours ago.
TS is gone?!
Oh no. He just doesn't post here as often as he used to. That's what I meant. He does turn up on a few threads now and then.
P.S. Is your location some cryptic critique on the ?Watch?