Apple Watch hasn’t lived up to expectations after two years
Apple launched the Apple Watch a couple of years ago. It was the tech giant’s first new creation since company CEO Tim Cook took over. Unfortunately, consumers aren’t really into it that much, even though it was projected to sell like hotcakes.
Apple’s smartwatch was supposed to be the ultimate companion device of the iPhone. That alone should have been reason enough for the product to be a huge success. Apple has never fully revealed the exact number of wearables it has sold, and it just gets thrown into the “other products” department in quarterly earnings reports, as noted by QZ.
This only means that the watch is not as relevant as Apple wants it to be. The Cupertino, California-based company’s “other products” – which include the Apple TV, iPod, Beats products and accessories – only represent 5 percent of the iPhone maker’s total income as of the moment. Even the latest version of the smartwatch hasn’t provided considerable effect on revenue.
According to a recent survey done by consumer marketing firm Fluent, non-smartwatch owners are less than enthusiastic about purchasing an Apple timepiece in the near future. Only a small percentage of the 1,339 respondents declared that they are close to buying a unit anytime soon.
“Consumers who do not currently own any type of smartwatch are not as keen to adopt the trend,” says Fluent. “Only 5 percent say that they ‘definitely will purchase’ an Apple Watch in the next year, with high cost and belief that the device is not useful being the main deterrents.”
It’s also not surprising that the main followers of Apple’s computerised wristwatch are current owners of the company’s products. About 15 percent of iPhone users in the US say they own the watch. But even though the watch owners continue to be loyal to the product, only 49 percent intend to upgrade their unit in 2017 compared to last year’s 62 percent.
This does not bode well for Apple at all. It’s even losing a huge chunk of the market to simpler wearables like Fitbit. Good thing that the survey also notes that more consumers believe that smartwatches are here to stay and is set to remain.
In the survey, 60 percent of the respondents are certain that the majority of US consumers are going to own smartwatches 10 years from now. Last year, only 50 percent had the same belief. The Apple Watch has enough time to recover and break out.
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