Apple Watch Projected to Sell 20M Units in 2015
With the Apple Watch coming to stores in just a few weeks, speculation is heating up as to what kind of impact the tech giant’s first wearable device will have on the market. According to several Wall Street analysts, the smartwatch will be a huge success from the get-go.
On Tuesday, the research firm CCS Insight predicted that the market for all wearable devices will jump 158% in 2015 with sales of 75 million units. The film expects the Apple Watch to account for 20 million of those sales and become “the most successful smartwatch ever.”
CCS chief of research Ben Wood stated, “The Apple Watch will be instrumental in taking the wearables market to the next level of growth. If successful, it’ll create a rising tide that will lift the whole market.”
Wood’s outlook for the future of the Apple Watch is the most optimistic of the predictions so far, all of which are pretty upbeat. Back in December, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster predicted sales of eight million for the Apple Watch in 2015 while other Wall Street analysts have picked numbers between 12 and 15 million.
The report from CCS Insight did include one potential negative effect. “The current love affair affluent US consumers have with the iPhone guarantees a strong start for the Apple Watch in its home market. However, if sales of the Apple Watch fail to meet expectations it could hurt the whole smartwatch market.”
If those affluent loyalists do rush right to their local Apple Store to grab the new device as soon as it becomes available, the company will be ready for them. According to a report from the WSJ Digits blog, Apple has placed an initial order of five million units of the new wearable device with the most affordable version, the Apple Watch Sport that will sell for $349, accounting for half of that number. The mid-tier Apple Watch accounts for another 1.6 million units with the pricey Apple Watch Edition coming in with 900,000. No prices have been announced for the latter two models but the high-end 18-karat gold Edition is expected to retail for at least $4,000.
Five million units moved from an initial production run would sound almost impossible for many companies but not Apple. During just the last quarter Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones. That first batch of five million could sell out immediately if even seven percent of those iPhone buyers line up to get the Apple Watch.
If Apple CEO Tim Cook is nervous about the launch of the firm’s first new product line since the debut of the iPad in 2010, he’s not letting it show. During last month’s earnings call Cook couldn’t resist bragging about the company’s next big thing: “My expectations are very high on it. I’m using it every day and love it and can’t live without it.”
Hopefully, at least five million customers will feel the same way come April.
