The Apple Watch: Success Story or Disappointment?

The Apple Watch: Success Story or Disappointment?

Assignment, 2015 Summer Intensive

Writing and Research

Apple Inc. is today’s leader in the electronic intelligence industry, but the sales of the Apple Watch since April 2015 appear to have been a disappointment.

Other aspects of Apple’s business have been climbing steadily. The company reported third quarter sales for iPhones at $31.4 billion, iPads at $4.5 billion, and Macs including PC and tablet at $6 billion. “Sales of other products,” said Apple— including Apple TV, Beat Electronics, iPods, and Apple-branded third part accessories, along with the Apple Watch were $2.6 billion. What happened?

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company aggregated sales figures for several items, including the Watch, for commercial reasons. They did not want to give competitors insight into the Watch’s performance. Overall, Apple said its revenue jumped 33% in the fiscal third quarter,. But we do not know the exact figures for the Apple Watch.

According to a survey conducted by Wristly, an independent research platform, 97% of Apple Watch owners said they were satisfied with the device among 800 respondents, which was a combination of 66% “very satisfied” owners and 31% “somewhat satisfied” wearers. Although this survey indicates an overwhelming satisfaction with the Apple Watch, the initial reviews seems to be mixed. Many have pointed out that they cannot feel a necessity to actually own an Apple Watch. Moreover, third-party apps now presented in the tiny screen have been especially criticized as clunky.

We have witnessed some of the Apple Watch’s vital function: adjusting the time according to the time zone you are at, finding misplaced iPhones, adjusting the camera view while taking photos and so on. But why did the Apple Watch, Apple’s first new product segment in five years, fail to fuel consumption among customers, like the iPhone?

This odd situation may result from people’s inertial thinking of expecting next generation. In other words, no one wants to try the first generation of a brand new technology. People have not developed the habit of staring at their wrist and found themselves frustrated with the flood of notifications. From the prospective of product appearance, people are not ready to replace their classic luxury watch representing their wealth and taste with Apple Watch. Also, The design of Apple Watch may not be popular in female customers. As for Apple Watch’s function, in spite of the fact that Apple Watch can help people from missing important calls and messages, it still cannot keep running without the support of iPhone. In fact, the watch often replicates the functions of iPhone. Starting at $349, the price of Apple Watch can hardly fit its value. While many people will spend hundreds of dollars (or more) on an iPad or the latest iPhone, and thousands of dollars on a MacBook, they have been more reluctant to fork out that kind of money for an Apple Watch.