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The Apple Watch is a flop — or is it?
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A year after its introduction, the conventional thinking about the Apple Watch is that it’s a failure. However, sales estimates suggest otherwise.
According to some financial analyst estimates, the Apple Watch may have sold as many as 12 or 13 million units in its first year. As The Wall Street Journal reported, that’s twice the number of iPhones sold in that product’s debut year.
What’s more surprising is that if unit sales estimates are generally accurate, the Apple Watch could already be a $6-billion business. According to device forecaster IDC, the Apple Watch accounted for roughly 61 percent of smartwatch sales in 2015.
According to other data from Verto Analytics, the Apple Watch’s share of wearable devices is 17.5 percent.
Last week, Apple announced a new rule for developers of WatchOS apps: “Starting June 1, 2016, all new watchOS apps submitted to the App Store must be native apps built with the watchOS 2 SDK or later.” As a practical matter, this means Apple Watch apps must be capable of working over WiFi, not just using the iPhone’s connection.
Apple doesn’t break out Apple Watch sales as a separate category. It lumps them in with “other,” which includes Apple TV and Beats products. In the three reported quarters since the Apple Watch was introduced, “other” has generated $10 billion. That suggests estimates of $6 billion in Apple Watch sales could be correct.
Apple reports quarterly earnings later today, after the market’s close.
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