First Weekend Sales Of Apple Watch May Reach One Million

Gene Munster is expecting sales of the Apple Watch for its first weekend to be impressive. The Piper Jaffray analyst revealed that one million units of the smartwatch will be sold during its first weekend once it is launched on April 24.

Munster also said preorders will show solid numbers as well once they are accepted on April 10. He said that 300,000 pre-orders will be tallied by Apple during the initial 24 hours. However, Munster did not classify the pre-orders or sales according to the models of the smartwatch offering of Apple.

While smartwatches have been in the market for a number of years already, it has yet to gain wide appeal among consumers. Among the companies that have released their own smartwatches are LG, Samsung, Pebble, and Motorola. The Apple Watch is expected to be a game changer. Apple may become the first company to make the device appealing to consumers.

The smartwatch was initially unveiled by Apple last September together with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. It comes in three variants, the Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and the 18-karat gold variant. The entry-level model of the device is priced at $349 while the high-end Apple Watch Edition is priced at around $17,000.

While the device is compatible with the iPhone 5, 6 and 6 Plus, it does not support the older models of the smartphone of Apple.

First Weekend Sales Of Apple Watch May Reached One Million - image credit: money.cnn.com

Arguments have been made on the impact of the upcoming smartwatch offering of Apple. Munster revealed sales of the device may reach eight million units before the end of the year, which is significantly lower than the average estimate in Wall Street of around fourteen million units. CC Insight revealed last month that sales of the device may reach twenty million by the end of the year and it will become the most popular smartwatch to be released into the market. The differences in the estimates are mainly due to the various methods used by analysts in predicting supply and demand. These methods are mostly based on survey results rather than information from the companies offering the products.

The success of the Apple Watch is being closely monitored by other companies selling wearable tech. If the device will succeed in the market, it may be a good omen for the industry.

The device is expected to increase the profile of the wearable tech industry, according to IDC. The revelation followed a statement by CCS Insight that the device may bring the wearable tech market to its next growth level. Global sales in the industry are expected to increase to seventy-five million units before the end of the year.

On the other hand, if the smartwatch offering of Apple will not become as popular as everybody predicted, the wearable tech industry is expected to follow it.

Even though Munster did not give guarantee the success of the Apple smartwatch, he indicated that it will experience some success in the near future. He said sales of the device will increase in the next few years and may reach around fifty million by 2017. No statements were released by Apple when it was asked to comment on the statements of Munster on the Apple Watch.

Posted by George Daniels on Thursday April 02 2015, 11:51 AM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0