Everything at Apple Watch is awesome, insists Tim Cook Apple typically leaves the phone ringing when reporters call, so an instant rebuttal from the CEO is almost newsworthy in itself. Yesterday Tim Cook broke his monastic silence to respond to a report that Apple Watch sales were in a funk. Nonsense, said Cook, who emailed the Reuters news agency to tell it that the Apple Watch's …
You both are right.
I don't think they lost money on it though, they have profited some.
Apple appears to of, I've got to say it,... peaked. I honestly believe that now, or even worse, Apple has hit their own version of Vista. I'll expect to see their 7 soon, but Apple appears that their 8/8.1 is coming. We all know what's next...
If Microsoft is sunk and Apple is sinking, what do we think wil...wait!...wait for it...
2017: Linux on the desktop!!
whatever the true sales sales figures are, they are somewhere above 1 million units a quarter (perhaps many multiples of that) meaning that the watch alone has made Apple multiple billions of dollars in profit.
What the future holds for wearables in general remains to be seen, they will certainly continue to improve but I wish my 'crap' sales figures looked like this.
If in 2 years the watch is cancelled to due consumer apathy, it will still have contributed nicely to the Apple Christmas party fund.
@MD Rackham
So you're saying the watch isn't being sold correctly? What more can they do? Have seedy spivs in long macs wandering the pavements, flapping open the coat to reveal rows of watches..."Watches...Watches...come git yer watches...Watches...we gottem..."
I suspect its not a bad product either. Just a product without any compelling point or purpose and hard to come up with one. I think they should build computers into red baseball caps next. They seem quite popular just now.
Actually, Rackham isn't too far off the point. Apple have relied on brand 'coolness factor' and low self esteem buyers for years. That has allowed them to just place their latest iDevice on an altar (literally) and watch it sell.
This didn't work for the watch, because no one really wanted one other than the very loyal and flush with cash.
The problem with smart watches is that unless you are a geek, there really isn't a compelling need for one. LOTS of people want a phone, regardless of the OS. But 100s of millions don't really see the need for a watch thingie that does what their phone already does...
Okay, with the Watch, Apple took out extensive insert advertising and advertorial puff-pieces in the most expensive fashion and lifestyle magazines (Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, etc.). They devoted the prime space in their own stores to it, and then set up boutique concessions in the most expensive department stores, the ones that get huge footfall from the most spendthrift customers in the world. They gave freebies to the most ardent of the "Apple-fans that get on TV a lot". They worked their tame blogger network like rented mules to write good things about it. They even tried to snuggle up with fashion royalty to get exposure for this thing (as if Karl Lagerfeld was going to fall for Apple's flim-flam when his own employer, Chanel, is the model Apple used to reinvent itself as a lifestyle brand). And, of course, they advertised it incessantly on TV just like every other Apple product.
In short, I don't think there was a potential customer on Earth who wasn't aware that Apple were making a smartwatch.
And it still didn't sell.
That's either a crap product, a mispriced product, or a product in a category that never had a market beyond the Silicon Valley echo chamber. Discounting over the summer didn't help sales one bit, so it's not price. I've a couple of friends who own Apple Watches, and on their testimony it's not a "crap product" either, so I'm going with "no real demand".
"sell-through" was at a record high.
That says it all as sell-through is the ratio of product sold at retail to product shipped to retail. In theory if they shipped 500 watches to the stores and the stores sold 499 that makes for a rather impressive sell-through of 99.8% so either they can't keep shipments up with demand or the stores have cut back on orders so they don't get caught with excess inventory. I'd say it looks bleak with the holiday coming up since given the wording if their supply couldn't keep up with demand they'd be more than happy to say so.
> Nonsense, said Cook, who emailed the Reuters news agency to tell it that the Apple Watch's "sell-through" was at a record high. IDC thinks that Apple shipped just 1.1 million Watches in Q3 2016, down from 2.7 million in the previous quarter.
> It’s perfectly possible, maybe even probable, that both Cook and IDC are correct.
Sounds like there was a lot of excess inventory in retail from the previous quarter. They're selling more now than then, but still not at replenishment rate.
ie.
Month/Quarter A: Shipped 5,000... Sold 1,000... Inventory 4,000
Month Quarter B: Shipped 1,000... Sold 1,500... Inventory 3,500
= record sales, record sell through... still bad.
Tim Cook is far too evangelical for his own good. Most people can see that if you want to become experts in nano-engineering technology, you need to practice on an applicable product. A Watch is a good starting point. Apple has learnt a shit load from this project.
At least Steve Jobs said it as it was, within reason. Jobs never did a 'Ratner' , but often left you to read between the lines if things weren't doing as well as he'd hoped, until things quietly disappeared.
An 18 hour Apple Watch was always going to be a hard sell. Cook needs to get more realistic about expectations, tell it as it is more.
Its almost as if IDC timed their article to hit the exact period where nobody would be buying the old watch and nobody could yet buy the new one, but they wouldn't do that would they?!
Or they just made the numbers up entirely (as most 'analysts' seem do) and for the first time ever they've been called on it!
Yeah, this does look a lot like a repeat of the Newton. Interesting product searching for an audience while being massively undercut by a "good enough" competitor.
Looks to me like History is slowly repeating itself and this time, there's no Saint Steve to come to the rescue.
Just to be controversial. I have the Moto 360 sport and think it's great.
Would prefer it to be fully waterproof but it is fine in rain and showers. The battery life is enough for a whole day so as long as it goes on its neat little stand each night it is fine*.
Really useful for quick notifications that I can subtly check in a meeting without having to a phone out. The built in GPS is great for tracking walks and runs and assisting with navigation. It can quickly let me know if I'm veering off track.
Also the fact it can be upgraded with a great variety of apps and I can change the watch face to suit my current mood or occasion (currently have a Christmas countdown one to keep the kids amused) means that I would really miss it if they stopped being available and this one broke.
This is coming from someone who didn't wear a watch and really hated the idea of going back to wearing one.
Would prefer it to have nfc built in so I could pay with it or let myself into the office.
*The issue with the stand, is that although it sits in quite nicely it can be knocked out and therefore not charge, and it is a pain if you are travelling as you can't plug directly in to usb to charge in the car or a train etc. A small magnetic Qi charger that sticks to the back would be useful - a regular Qi charger doesn't work as it doesn't sit flat.
This past summer I did my third stint at the "fruit factory" and since all the team sported iWatches [sic] I went ahead and got one too. Mind you, I *AM* a huge watch fan. I have a Formula 1 Tag, my most expensive piece, and various ~$500 watches like the very nice Citizen flight computer watches with the C/D slide rule rings, solar powered, and of course "Atomic Time Setting." Casios too, I have about 60 watches in my collection and half are Casios and Swatches. I was dead set against getting an iWatch for the very reason that it needs daily charging and pairing with other devices, and my collection would get ignored, etc. Well, it's been about 7 months now and I can't stop using the iWatch! It blows away any features on any of the Casios or Citizens, except for the slide rule rings, and does not need to sit in a special place in my home so it can receive the time signals from Fort Collins each night. Same with the "auto-setting" Casios; they can't be worn at night in my location, they must be place nearest the east-facing window and must be placed in a certain position to best receive the signal itself. iWatch? It only needs to charge, everything else it taken care of over WiFi or BT. PLUS, teens hate the iWatch! I LOVE THAT! Fuck you, Teens! I tried to get my high school age daughter one for a gift and was told; "nah." The fitness parts I thought I would never use? I use them daily. The "fitness" settings can be scaled down to "couch potato" levels, and it helps me not sit in front of LCDs for hours on end. The best part is that I no longer have to have a fucking device "IN HAND" to know what I need to know; who is calling? what's the weather going to be? reply to text messages quickly, and all without a giant device in my hand; looking like a modern asshole. No, I prefer to let people find out later that I'm an asshole, rather than make it known immediately with various devices in my hands, like some kind of lost douche. Like the majority of people with a giant fucking computing device in one hand, the other with a $6 coffee and blank fucking expression and an empty head. So, don't get an iWatch, you guys! I like having tech that not every single asshole near me has. Me be different. You may fuck off now...
Well... whoop-dee-doo for you. I'm happy (and so is Tim C) that someone loves the iWatch. I've worn a watch (only occasionally lately) for only one reason.. it tells the time. I still think this is a solution in search of a problem. You go be the local hipster. I'll sit back enjoy life without solutions to non-existent problems. Oh.. I don't buy anything IoT either... I was born at night, but not last night. </rant>
>"It blows away any features on any of the Casios or Citizens, except for the slide rule rings..."
and the ability to tell the time without having to press a button to light up the display, or be able to go without worrying about the battery for years, or not to have people immediately call you a fruity-fist-fucker as soon as they see it.
I don't have to press a button to light up the display on my iWatch. I turn my wrist to look at it, it lights up. You must be thinking about 1970s LED digital watches.
And the insults you mention must be a British (?American) thing. The French seem either disinterested or positive about it.
And the questions of performance are not, either way, any kind of influence on whether or not I get a Series 2. The Series 2 doesn't care if I dunk it. That's the key feature, and it's the *only* difference that matters to me. (Sure, I get that the Series 2 has its own GPS receiver, but I don't do anything with my iWatch that involves not carrying my phone, so ...)
But yeah, I'd like it to not burn down the battery quite so quickly. This, too, is important. (But, equally, the charger is light and sits on my bedside table, where I leave my watch (conventional or iWatch) at night, so the *cost* in "convenience" terms is low.)
Of course last quarter was down, it was a two year old product. But I'm regularly going to the largest mall in the US, the Apple store is packed, the Watch table is mobbed, and I see people packing the shopping crowds and a LOT of them are wearing Apple watches.
Seriously, old products don't sell. We know that. And the original Apple watch was a very unfinished product. I own one and and even I admit it didn't really get good till Watch OS 3.
We ordered our Apple watch 2s last week, and all Apple can tell us is we will have them before Christmas. They are constantly out of stock of the Sport model and they sell as fast as they hit the store, they are nearly constantly out of the 42mm models, and usually only the higher end models are in stock. and I like the ceramic one sure, but I'm not paying laptop prices for it.
The man at the top is so far away from reality and expects that his speeches are believed by the rest of us. As this seems all too common for the top tier of mega corp - so there must be something in their water or food supply !!
It would be great if each of the mega corp's who seem to focus solely on shareholders and profits would re-connect with all the potential consumers and produce things that are actually useful. This will give you more in the long term, which you can give to your shareholders to keep them happy.
Quartz watch does all I need, it does it for years on a single charge. It also is never obsolete and serves as a great memoir tool (such as my kid saying: Dad is that the watch I gave you 10 years ago?).
I only need two features added to my quartz watch:
A. Button to speed up time and end this stupid meeting.
B. Button to slow down time so I can savor this moment of my child's happiness.
Is anybody really surprised? Apple had the opportunity to lead the market with the watch. But they blew it...as usual.
I've no doubt little Timmy Cook is a wonderful and analytical guy. But he's no Steve Jobs. He's definitely not a visionary. Nor an innovator. As a bean counter, all he's really interested in is unit profit....Interest only in how many can they shift. I doubt very much Steve would have let the watch out of Cupertino in its current form. It's a good idea, poorly implemented. It says a lot when Samsung seem to have got the ergonomics almost perfect. The twisting bezel could have come straight from Jony Ives desk.
But no, Apple went with the awkward square shape and a crown. They had the chance to improve it this year and even better Samsungs design. But no, little Timmy only wants spend as little as possible on R&D to maximise profits. The same seems to be true of all Apple products now. Starved of innovation and constantly playing catch up. Apple, under little Timmy and his calculator are very slowly sleepwalking into oblivion. And they'll continue to do so whilst that guy is head of the company.
The market is small and stagnant right now. The opportunity is there to be the market leader, someone just has to step up and take it. Maybe it will be Apple, maybe it will be someone else, maybe no one will figure out how to take them beyond their current niche.
If Samsung's design is so great why are they so far behind Apple in sales? Obviously they haven't cracked it either since it is selling so poorly, so why the heck would Apple want to look at Samsung for inspiration?
Of course if you don't produce many, they can look really popular when there is a long wait time for them - it COULD be that they're selling like hotcakes, but I suspect (based on real world observation) that they're absolutely not.
Our local Apple Store has the watches in the middle of the place and it's notable that there are crowds constantly around the MacBooks and the iPhone, a bit less attention to the iPad and absolutely nobody near the watch - I walk past our Apple Store regularly and can't recall seeing anyone there at any point, and I suspect others will see the same.
It isn't a mass market device and I am not convinced it will be.
Well Pebble have called it a day, they say they've had to close the company and Fitbit have bought them out. No longer honouring warranties and "functionality of your device may reduce in the future". Since I've had to have a new Pebble under warranty every single year I'm not particularly pleased at this news. If there's one thing Apple will have in this market it's longevity and the users can be thankful for that.
As a once (well, twice) proud Kickstarter backer, it's sad to see the way this has ended. It did seem somewhat inevitable that they wouldn't last forever in their current form, it's just a shame that the end has been so definitive. While I like their hardware ( a lot) the thing that has really stood out (to this point) is their dedication to the Pebbler community, and now, in the blink of an eye, it's gone. Much like yourself, I have had issues with my hardware, and the support I have had in the past has been rock solid.
If you're bored enough to look back at my posting history, you'll see I was always pretty vocal about wearables in general and the Apple Watch in particular.
Back in July, I found myself in the local branch of CeX and on impulse parting with a few bob for a beaten up Apple Watch "just to see".
This isn't a fanboi "buy an Apple Watch post", more a call to action around fitness wearables as a class of product. A few years back I suffered a stroke, not particularly debilitating, but hey, a stroke's a stroke! That took my confidence away and it never really returned, I was sedentary at 46.
The Watch has transformed me, 5 months later, from struggling to walk 1/2 mile, I can now stroll 10 without even trying - I upgraded to a series 2 and now swim 40 lengths a day - every day.
The tech has nagged me in a none nagging way, but it doesn't feel like nagging like it would from my nearest and dearest. My blood pressure is down, my diabetes is better controlled, my weight is down 15%.
A lot of us on here are in sedentary jobs, I certainly am. And despite my previously dismissive comments, this Watch has really helped me and I'm sure a Fitbit or Android wear would have had the same effect. I've had good intentions in the past, but they always fizzle out. This time it hasn't, if anything closing those bloody rings and Challenging myself gets more and more compulsive.
So, to my point, as we approach the season of resolutions, if you know you need to manage your health better, take the plunge - look at the options and choose the right device for you.
Apologies if that all sounds schmaltzy (sp?) but if you recognise yourself in this comment, seize the day.
shock/horror ! having a complicated, all singing, all dancing tech gadget, on your arm, turns out to be not very useful. Those damn scifi movies got it wrong, what where they thinking? Not everything declared as futuristic, hi-tech and desirable, in the past, proves to be a valuable, good idea, in today, the future. Smart watches are dead in the water. there will be some evolution, but they need another hundred years to evolve into something that i would want to buy, and wear.
I love my Apple Watch - the missus does hers too. The battery life and the wrist raising and strap prices are all minuses but do not outweigh the fun, usefulness and niceness of the product for us. The exercise and breathing reminders are great. Might even consider the next version at some point.
I was a smart-watch cynic but groundlessly so. Then I saw the Sony Smartwatch 3 on sale for just over £100 - worth a punt at that price even if it ended up in the bin. I resolved to live with it for a week to give it a fair trial. Since then (18 months ago?) my faithful old Casio has just been gathering dust.
I get a discrete vibration whenever there's an email or text and by glancing at the watch I can see in an instant whether it's something needing attention or can wait. Far quicker & easier than getting my phone out and getting the phone out in company is just damn rude.
Of course it does other useful stuff too (not just telling the time! - like Google Voice, things like "set an alarm for 10 minutes") but I'll definitely buy another when this one dies or there's an improved version simply on the strength of the notification function.
I'd strongly recommend anyone to get one and give it a fair trial - obviously I'm Google/Android user but I expect Apple is nearly as good if a lot more expensive...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
