“Apple is consolidating power within the smartwatch industry at an alarming rate,” Neil Cybart writes for Above Avalon. “A growing number of competitors are exiting the space as the anticipation and promise found with wrist computing has materialized for only a select few. For the rest, smartwatches have been nothing but frustration and despair. The writing is on the wall. There isn’t a smartwatch industry. Instead, there’s only an Apple Watch industry.”
“When compared to smartphone and tablet sales, smartwatch sales are still having a difficult time showing up on a chart. Since the start of 2015, there have been approximately 35M smartwatches shipped, compared to 385M tablets and 2.9B smartphones. In 2015, for every smartwatch shipped, there were 12 tablets and 80 smartphones sold. In 2016, these ratios are expected to improve slightly,” Cybart writes. “For every smartwatch shipped, 10 tablets and 78 smartphones will have been sold. People are buying smartwatches. The problem for the industry is that not many non-Apple Watch smartwatches are being sold.”
“Apple Watch has represented between 45 percent and 65 percent of quarterly smartwatch shipments since launching in 2Q15,” Cybart writes. “It’s clear: Apple Watch has consolidated power after just a few quarters of sales.”
Tons more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch is iPod redux.
Sleep tight, stupidwatch peddlers.
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch has blood on its hands: Pebble is dead – December 7, 2016
Apple Watch has blood on its hands: ‘Microsoft Band’ wearable is dead – October 4, 2016
Computerworld reviews Apple Watch Series 2: It’s time to jump in – September 27, 2016
Ars Technica reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘Great experience with very few hiccups’ – September 22, 2016
Mossberg reviews Apple’s watchOS 3: Quicker, easier, and more useful – September 21, 2016
CNET reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘The smooth wrist companion it was always meant to be’ – September 14, 2016
WSJ reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘Apple Watch finds its purpose in life’ – September 14, 2016
The Verge reviews Apple Watch Series 2: There’s something effortlessly cool about it – September 14, 2016
Apple Watch Series 2: Apple refocuses its smartwatch – September 12, 2016
Long time Apple fan. But my early adopter Watch died last week. Unfixable. Very frustrating. $400 for 18 months.
How did it die? How come Apple can’t fix it?
Day one adopter:
My heart rate sensor is dodgy; Apple avoided fixing by insisting on restore / unpair, re-pair
Now it restarts on its own
No one can hear me on phone calls
2.0 DID NOT make it quicker (that was a con)
My timer during workouts is not fluid, it skips!
Stupid, stupid, stupid of me not to get AppleCare…
Very unhappy.
My wife’s phone won’t sync correctly with her contacts. It only sees contacts in her contact list after her name. Apple Store could not fix it, sent it to Apple and they sent it back saying nothing wrong, just to re-sync, which we’ve done a dozen times already
My first gen Apple Watch is still working great. No issues at all. There may be other mitigating factors such as shock and overall abuse that takes it’s toll. Hopefully Apple keeps making it even more robust. I suspect there aren’t many Watches that fail like this or I haven’t heard of any. Condolences on your loss.
My first gen still working flawlessly also, I can still go 2 full days without charging also.
I like the concept of the watch, but I cannot bring myself to wear one, they are just too ugly. A square box. Ugh. I wear high end and fashion watches, because in todays world, watches are more for fashion than functionality. Nothing beats a Rolex or Tag to be looking good.
There are certain form factors necessary for a smart watch that mostly preclude sexiness. Considering a more expensive dedicated watch is more a dandy wrist ornament than a more useful contributing info device (other than date & time) the standard dumb watch loses out in my book to the smart watch. Let me count the ways…
Haha, nonsense. Firstly, all the watch faces on Apple are ugly. (round faces on a square watch?!?! WTF!). Secondly, there are tons of pretty smart watches, the Tag Heuer for one.
The smart watch fad is over. Apple doesn’t understand.
If only Apple were fortunate enough to discover you. With all your business wisdom, they’d be lucky indeed to have you as CEO.
Well, for as long as this particular anonymous coward nick lasts, you’re clearing the winner in the DOOM MONGERING category. Your statement clearly has nothing to do with the data or the article. Congratulations. Now we’re all sad, downtrodden and demoralized, the first step in any brainwashing campaign. So what shite are you going to shill at us as an alternative to Apple? Samsung perhaps? That would be funny.
😢😩😪😫😭
typo corrected: You’re CLEARLY the winner of the doom, gloom, depressing, suicide-inducing…
If you happen to need a lift to next week’s meeting of the Hemlock Society let me know.
ypu must be living under a Rock.
its just Starting son.
Apple watch…. my favorite Apple product now!
Uh-huh. People have been saying that for years, but nothing has been confirmed. Even Apple won’t substantiate the rumors.
I suspect Apple is consolidating power in the smartwatch industry because other manufacturers are giving up on it because there is simply so little interest in/demand for smartwatches.
Having had an Apple Watch since day one, I have to say it simply isn’t that useful. I’m a gadget nut, so I’ll probably always have one, but for most people, smart watches offer very little with too many compromises.
Apple monopolizes a dieing industry. Tim Cook, emperor of the dung hill. Brilliant move, Tim. Keep pressing forward against the tide of disinterest. You are certainly thinking different.
I’m sure Wall Street had said at one time that Apple MUST enter the smartwatch business or get left behind all the other companies. The smartwatch was then what VR is now, a hot buzzword on Wall Street indicating how any company that’s in a particular business will reap huge rewards if they stick with it. I do believe a company shouldn’t just be guided by profits. Maybe not many AppleWatches are being sold as expected but Apple should keep selling them and improving upon the technology.
That being said, I think in time smartwatches might be very useful, but I’m quite satisfied using an inexpensive fitness band. I don’t want to buy some AppleWatch and end up with a paperweight in 18 months. I don’t blame Apple, but expensive smartwatches are more than I can afford to be throwing money away on.
I thought I’d own an AppleWatch in order to track my health and such but I don’t believe AppleWatch was fully enabled to do nearly all the things it was promised to do from the start. I have this Garmin Vivofit One I’ve been wearing for a couple of years and the battery lasts for a year or so and that battery life is quite reasonable to me. I’d prefer not to have to charge a device every night if I can avoid it. It’s not that big a deal but I’m somewhat forgetful. I prefer to have devices I don’t have to constantly babysit to keep them working. Even being an Apple shareholder, if I really had to have a somewhat expensive wrist wearable needing attention, I’d choose the highly-rated Garmin Fenix 3 over some AppleWatch.
I agree with you. What you say makes sense.
I would add that an upper income buyer would need to see a significant style component to it in order to feel that the difference over the simple band is worthwhile. That is a tough sale, because those buyers likely already have maybe a Rolex and a Tag Heuer, and nobody in their right mind could think an Apple Watch was stylish compared to those watches.
I can see that the busier someone is, the more useful the Watch could be.
Also, sometimes I just want a watch that tells time. I would love to see a standard watch battery so the A-Watch could be used as a simple watch (like, for a year) without having to charge it daily. Then I could still utilize the full wrist computer functionality when I can actually charge the Watch overnight. I left the Watch home for a long trip (including Europe) to simplify my life. Totally useless unless charged; won’t even tell the time!
King Khan, your comments are worthy of a bot.
Have you considered the possibility of making UNpredictable posts? 💤
…. and not only the “Smartwatch” industry, also taking a big bite out of the traditional Watch industry. Going to be interesting to hear the 2017 updates from the Swiss Watch industry!
I be the Swiss are thanking their lucky stars that Apple Inc. have not focused on making Chocolate yet!!
Don’t be so dismissive. I have not lost faith in Tim Cook wasting Apple resources on frivolous and irrational ideas.
Nah, I think there is definitely a trend …
“iPod market”
“iPhone market”
“iPad market”
“Apple Watch market”
“Dominating the smartwatch industry”…is that kinda like being the “best ski jumper in Kansas”?
Or the guy from Jamaica that enters the Alaska Iditarod Sled Dog Race every year. Over 1,000 miles of grueling weather and terrain. He seems to improve his standing every year.
Well, I don’t know WHERE in this world is apple selling so many Watches… but here in germany…. is not the case… one rarely see people wearing smartwatches.. and apple watches are only in stores!
The only persons I have seen wearing an Apple Watch is a brain dead millennial and my brown nosing boss.
I guess your boss has just fired with a message from his Apple Watch!
Coming up on one year with the Apple Watch. Love it.
Notifications alone are extremely useful. If my phone is in a pocket, coat, my work desk or somewhere else in the house, I can see who texted, called, left voicemail and then decide if I need to act on it immediately or later.
The health stats are very nice also. But I’m in the older demographic that needs to keep an eye on stuff, so this will not apply to everyone.
Reminders are nice. I don’t have to have my phone attached to my hip every waking moment.
Walking directions are cool. Takes some time to learn it, but then you can walk around downtown without your head buried in your phone.
The two cities I spend the most time in (Pittsburgh and charlotte) Apple watches are all over the place. Conservatively I’d say 1 out of every 5 to 6 iPhone users I meet or interact with. Mdn’s take seems correct, this looks very similar to early iPod adoption and early iPod market state.
I could have bought a Rolex recently as I owned one a while back but it always made me stressed as I was always late. dumped wearing a watch all together for a few years then bought the Apple watch and its invaluable and so multi functional because i don’t need to be looking at my iPhone as much.
Unless you have actually owned one and also use your phone a lot you just won’t understand how cool it is to have instant view of info on your wrist without having to pick your phone up ,
Taking calls on the watch is a James bond experience i don’t like to do a lot as it seems so weird but it works perfectly. Email, text all on my Apple watch just talk the text and Siri will type it as i speak and off it goes all on my watch with my phone still in my pocket!….
Too many people talking about things they don’t own or understand on MDN with opinions that have no real world examples.
The Apple watch will eventually be on almost everyones wrist once they actually get to use it with their iPhone.
Apple is design king…and especially visually. I’m sorry, even I could have designed a better form factor. It was designed by 40+ individuals who already wear big, burly watches on their huge hairy wrists. Apple, design a modern, streamlined form factor for teenage girls and you will sell a billion of them.
I respect Ive, but Steve Jobs would never have let that thing out the door. You might have just redesigned another vacuum cleaner. I like the watch and what it does and what it could do, but Apple just plain forgot that radical form factor is what gets its products attention. So far, Cook has shown nothing yet.
I would not like to be without my Apple Watch. It is the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night. It is a remarkable invention that gets better with every major software version. I am a day one buyer and it has performed flawlessly from day one.
We are all soooo happy for you.