back to article Apple Watch sales in death dive after mega launch, claims study

Sales of the Apple Watch have plummeted since its launch, according to shopping-receipt-counting researchers. Slice Intelligence claims Apple Watch sales have fallen from 1.3 million units shipped on launch day to fewer than 2,500 watches sold on July 1. You may well need a large pinch of salt with these numbers. Slice uses …

  1. Mage Silver badge
    Devil

    Must resist ...

    Points and chokes... due to resisting.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Presumably everyone who wants one already has one. IMO they're of limited use and completely valueless to me personally.

    Now a watch with a bank of sensors that only tells me useful stuff (temp, barometric pressure, where's north etc.) and doesn't report back to the mothership would be interesting to me; but not if you have to charge it daily.

    I think Apple need a killer app if they want to pump up sales. Something actually useful to the majority of people. "It's a new trendy shiny thing" will only carry you so far.

    1. Charles Manning

      Just like glassholes

      The "oooh shiny" people will buy this shit.

      Then after finding out it does SFA, and charging it every day becomes a drag, they'll just leave it at home.

      Some will fake up a nice rash and get a refund. Others will store it and hope to sell it on ebay in 20 years as a collectors' item. The majority will just be embarrassed and try to put the whole episode out of their mind.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re:

      So a tissot touch (barometer, altimeter, compass, temperature plus all the usual watch functions) then, I believe the new version even has solar charging so you don't even have to replace the battery every few years.

      Temperature isn't a great feature as you need to take it off your arm if you want anything other than body temp.

      1. VinceH

        Re: Re:

        "Temperature isn't a great feature as you need to take it off your arm if you want anything other than body temp."

        Quite - mine's a Casio Pro-Trek, which features barometer, altimeter, compass, temperature, and it has a solar charging (and has the ability to tell the time) and the temperature is pointless precisely for the reason you give - it has to be removed from your wrist first (and, IIRC, left off for half an hour before it can accurately measure the temperature) if you don't want your own body temp. Everything else is great.

        I've had it for a few years now and the strap appears to be breaking. :(

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Re:

          Those are both nice watches. FYI both (def. the Casio and probably the Tissot) need someone with a pressure chamber when you change the batteries...I had a 200m G-Shock that crapped out in the shower because I didn't know this.

          In the content of e-watches, though, you could continue the theme. Use e-ink for the display and then just cram sensors for stuff people might need into the case. The form factor is such that you don't really want to be interacting with something watch sized which sort of limits it to display. Maybe a distance-measuring/pointer laser at the top. Tiny camera that shows a thermal image on the display (don't even know if that's currently possible), or shows you different frequencies that maybe are out of normal eyesight range. LCD is excellent for displaying nuggets of information as numbers; but add a little processing power and a better display and you could get it to display more visual types of information.

  3. JP19

    "uses its Unroll.me plugin to monitor people's email inboxes"

    You mean sales to a set of self selected morons who invite multiple 3rd parties to read all their email?

    1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Flame

      Re: "uses its Unroll.me plugin to monitor people's email inboxes"

      That does sound like the core demographic for the Apple Watch...

  4. Mark 85

    They saturated the market it seems...

    and rather limited market at that after seeing who they were selling it to.

  5. The lone lurker

    I was recently travelling for work and staying in a business hotel.

    One morning I entered a lift with another guest who immediately flicked out his wrist with a very flamboyant gesture and tapped his Apple watch a couple of times.

    He then proceeded to make this exact action every time the lift stopped at a floor - for a total of 6 times. I have never seen anybody sober make themselves look such a dickhead in such a short space of time.

    1. John Bailey

      Please please tell me that everybody made a point of not noticing..

      Perhaps he is still there. Flicking an emaciated arm out of a grubby worn through cuff, determined to follow the same "casual gesture" until someone admires his fruitycuff.

      1. Cpt Blue Bear

        No the correct response is to say "Hey! Nice watch, what is it?" and when he swells with pride and tells you respond with a disappointed "oh" as if you thought it might have been something interesting but it turned out to be extremely mundane and not a little tacky. Then ignore him. Three of four such swift kicks in his fragile ego should send him back to his room to beat his wife in frustration.

        1. John Bailey

          You sir are cruel.

          You have my deepest admiration.

        2. Kunari

          Funny you think he'd have a wife but otherwise spot on sir.

  6. Nanners

    Because....

    all the apple employees were required to buy them at release. No more employees to buy in.

  7. Shane Sturrock

    Can't buy one even though I want to

    I would like to buy one but I can't because out here in the middle of nowhere the Apple Store is still showing it as coming in 2015. My feeling is that the first edition is going to be like my Gen 1 iPad which will be well made but unsupported after only a couple of years so I'll likely be better waiting for the Watch 2 to make sure I get a device which has had the kinks ironed out.

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: Can't buy one even though I want to

      The Watch 2.0 will require a new iPhone, as current Apple Watch is useless without an existing iPhone.

  8. Bloodbeastterror

    Nosedive?

    Surprise? A stupid solution in search of a non-existent problem.

    Take your phone out of your pocket and look at it, FFS!

    And save yourself X thousand bucks.

  9. Your alien overlord - fear me

    If they are only available in store why would a paper reciept end up in my inbox?

    1. Sarah Balfour

      Evidently you've never bought anything from a 'hardware' Apple Store

      At the end of the transaction the sales droid is programmed to ask "Would you like me to email you a copy of your receipt…?" May as well ask "Would you like your inbox spammed halfway to fucking Pluto…?!"

      1. Hud Dunlap
        Boffin

        Re: Evidently you've never bought anything from a 'hardware' Apple Store

        Even Home Depot is doing that. The answer is of course no.

      2. Your alien overlord - fear me

        Re: Evidently you've never bought anything from a 'hardware' Apple Store

        Correct, neither online or on foot

  10. Vince

    Wouldn't be too surprised if that's not far off. The word I've heard from insiders is sport is really the only one selling and even then not in huge numbers.

    Still not sure there's a mainstream reason for the watch concept, and especially not at the price point. It's a smartphone accessory that's priced in the same bracket as mid range smartphones. D'oh.

  11. Turtle

    Life Buoy.

    "Slice Intelligence claims Apple Watch sales have fallen from 1.3 million units shipped on launch day to fewer than 2,500 watches sold on July 1. [. . . ] As recently as June 1, Apple was selling more than 40,000 Watches per day, we're told. That figure plummeted over the month of June as the end of the month saw just 4,947 units sold on the day, it is claimed."

    I wonder if sales figures comprise a first wave of early adopters and if those figures were then temporarily buoyed up by a wave of sales to people who bought them as graduation gifts for stupid kids. And now perhaps both waves have been exhausted.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Life Buoy.

      I don't think it really matters (and I'm no fan of theses devices). If Apple has managed to sell a couple of million then it's mission accomplished: all the R&D costs recouped and market leader in the segment. But it's definitely worth waiting for some official figures.

      1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Charlie iFan Re: Life Buoy.

        "....and market leader in the segment....." Read the links in the article - it's being outsold by other "smartwatches" (and no doubt massively by "dumbwatches").

  12. W Donelson

    I love Apple, but I hate wristwatches...

    ... and the watch is clever but not compelling.

    Maybe version 5.0 of the watch (super thin, wearable other than wrist) might tempt me...

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: I love Apple, but I hate wristwatches...

      wearable other than wrist

      I wear mine on my ankle, but it's a real pain to read.

      Most of the other options turned out worse.

  13. Stumpy Pepys

    Not scientific, but …

    In affluent Munich, where I live, iPhones are pretty ubiquitous, but I've only ever seen two people wearing an Apple Watch.

    To be honest, I just don't see people wearing smartwatches period. I only know one person who owns one (a Pebble Steel).

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Not scientific, but …

      Little Pebble who got going on Kickstarter have managed to shift over a million of their version 1 watches. The did 100,000 of the new Time version on Kickstarter and will be supplying pre-orders next. They sell watches steadily and without expensive marketing and TV campaigns, and it's working for them because their product simply addresses the practical stuff. It's not a trick watch that does stunts, it has good battery life, sunlight readability and waterproofing. It can't send silly doodles to other pebbles, but the appeal of doing that is fairly short lived. Unless it's a cock picture sent to a colleague addressing a meeting, then it's hilarious and the tech equivalent of kids drawing cocks on the roller blackboard and rolling it out of sight before teacher turned up to start the lesson.

  14. 0laf

    Handed out to media types for many many reviews short and long, tear-downs, destructions tests CHECK

    Handed out to celebrities to be seen and photographed possibly by some same media types - CHECK

    Bought by fanbois - CHECK

    Right who's left........anyone?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Plus one to blend.

  15. Andy E
    Joke

    Grow the market

    I've noticed and I bet someone at Apple has too that people only wear one watch even though they have two arms. Assuming the market for iWatch is nearing saturation one possible option to increase the market is by getting their adoring fans to grow another set of arms.

    Just wondering....

  16. Alan Denman

    Have you ever played supermarket game 'LOOOOOK I got an iPhone' at the checkout ?

    They always seem to get them out to need to shout 'Look, Look. I got an iPhone. Loook, LOOOOOOOOK'.

    As yet this has not happened for the Watch. Causes too many guffaws ?

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Have you ever played supermarket game 'LOOOOOK I got an iPhone' at the checkout ?

      I think they are probably bored queuing and get their phones out to pass the time.

      I notice people doing this at checkouts and other places. It's not just iPhones that people use.

      There is no real show-off effect with iPhones since about 2011 because they are ubiquitous, used by anyone, kids etc.

      So I think the game you are actually playing at checkout is probably sanctimony.

      1. Kunari

        Re: Have you ever played supermarket game 'LOOOOOK I got an iPhone' at the checkout ?

        For awhile it was back with the, "You don't support Apple Pay yet?!" question while they fumble with their iPhone6 and wallet.

  17. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    I've said it before...

    If Apple, with all of their so called lifestyle research, design clout, and product engineering had developed a watch with the untethered technical functionality and capacity for application similar to either the Garmin 910/920 or Suunto Ambit 3 - then this would have been a killer product for the multisport & sports community.

    Unfortunately however, it seems Jonny Ive seems to have been above having to find a "utility" for this product, so they (in my mind) have dropped both a major bollock, and missed a huge opportunity with this, err... watch? Is it?

  18. goodjudge

    They have their uses

    A plumber friend o'mine has one. He's an Apple fanboi anyway, and it's synced to his iPhone. He leaves the phone on the nearest clean surface, then he can answer even when holding tools, or

    with hands full of gunk (not sure how he accepts those calls, mind), or when lying under someone's bath. I daresay other tradespeople could have a similar use. But as for the rest of us...

    1. jabuzz

      Re: They have their uses

      The rest of us buy a Bluetooth handsfree headset for a tiny fraction of the price.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: They have their uses

        The rest of us buy a Bluetooth handsfree headset for a tiny fraction of the price.

        But you have to take the Bluetooth handset out of your ear so that you can read the message.

        I wouldn't buy an iWatch, but it's not really interchangeable, functionally, with a Bluetooth headset.

        Even with an app to read the message out as audio, a watch can just be glanced at. They do actually work well for some people.

        It impresses me that people believe that because they don't personally find one useful, then their little world must apply to everyone universally and they assert that the smartwatch is pointless. They must have a might high opinion of themselves.

      2. CaptainBlue

        Re: They have their uses

        ...and look like Lieutenant Uhura wannabes or Uber/Addison Lee taxi drivers the rest of the day.

  19. CaptainBlue

    I initially said I wouldn't buy one...

    ...because I wanted a watch for running that I could also wear as a normal watch. I ended up buying a Garmin fenix 3 which is fabulous and doesn't need an iPhone alongside to record my route. It also does a lot of the smartphone integration stuff and is waterproof.

    And then I bought one for my partner (who does run with her iPhone) and she loves it. I like the idea of being able to do my death by Powerpoint training slides remotely using the swipe gesture. I love the way it also serves up messages in their correct formatting when send by my partner (who's now a fangirl). But most of all I now only have the incredibly heavy fenix on my wrist for the actual running. And I have a really smart, lightweight watch that I can use to see incoming messages with the flick of a wrist and can answer calls handsfree especially without my iPhone in my hand or pocket.

    As for the daily charging? I do this with my phones anyway, so another plugged in next to my bed is no big deal.

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