Apple Watch orders are currently coming in at a rate of around 30,000 units per day — according to analytics provided by Slice Intelligence, which combed through the e-receipts of around 14,000 online shoppers who used Slice’s services.
Although there was, unsurprisingly, a big drop-off from launch day, numbers appear to have been pretty consistent since then. So far, Apple has sold upwards of 2.5 million Apple Watches — more than the iPod, iPhone, or iPad sold during the same period of time in their first year.
It should, of course, be noted that Slice’s numbers are in no way official. E-receipts based on a subsection of customers in one country isn’t going to offer an accurate view of overall Apple Watch sales, and obviously doesn’t take into account places like China where the Apple Watch is proving popular.
The steady interest does indicate that early word-of-mouth hasn’t put people off buying the Apple Watch, however, although it similarly shows that the device has a long way to go before it becomes a must-have wearable.
Interestingly, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently cut his 2015 expectations for Apple Watch sales from 30 million to 15 million after research indicated that the device appeals to mostly men. Discounting the 1 million orders reported for the first day of Apple Watch sales, this would mean 38,000 devices selling per day for the first year.
At the end of the day, given that the iPhone sold 6 million units in its first year, and now sells around 10 million+ in the first weekend new models are on sale, I’d expect this number to pick up substantially in future.
But the early figures are nothing to be ashamed of!
Source: Quartz
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “Apple Watch on pace to beat iPhone’s first-year sales”
No matter how many AppleWatches are sold, it’s not going to be enough to satisfy the pundits or Wall Street. It’s easier for them to just consider anything Apple does as a flop unless it meets some extremely high expectations that some nobody has made up. A reasonable number of new product sales isn’t going to satisfy anyone except Apple.
“Interestingly, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently cut his 2015 expectations for Apple Watch sales from 30 million to 15 million after research indicated that the device appeals to mostly men.”
Launched on April 3, 2010 iPad, Apple’s most successful new product ever, sold 7,458,000 units through the remainder of that fiscal year. Kuo’s estimate of 15 Million is more than double iPad launch sales. ANY number above EIGHT Million Apple Watches sold during fiscal 2015 makes the Apple Watch an unmitigated success.
It should be noted that the Apple Watch was launched 3 weeks later (April 24) than the iPad was, making unit sales above EIGHT Million units all the more remarkable.
“Apple Watch orders are currently coming in at a rate of around 30,000 units per day — according to analytics provided by Slice Intelligence”
‘Analyst’ is a grossly abused, over used descriptor. 30 Thousand units per day sounds like a lot, but extended for a full quarter is only ~2,700,000 units.
For Kuo’s 15 Million unit estimate to be achieved during the Apple Watch’s launch quarter production and sales will have to ramp to ~450,000 units per day through June.
Like I previously noted ANY sales number above EIGHT Million through the end of FY 2015 will be extraordinary.
It is not surprising that orders have slackened. Very few people are willing to place an order something that won’t ship for a month. They’ll wait until next month and order one for next day delivery. Orders for Apple Watch will pick up again once Apple clears the backlog, once delivery times get shorter, and most importantly, once folks can walk into an Apple Store to buy one.