“There’s no doubt who’s top dog in the global wearables market,” Ed Hardy reports for Cult of Mac.
“Just over 4 million Apple Watches shipped during the first quarter of this year,” Hardy reports. “That’s nearly double the number of Fitbits shipped.”
“The performance of Apple’s wearable was also up dramatically when compared to the same period of last year,” Hardy reports. “Apple itself doesn’t reveal how many smartwatches it sells, but Horace Dediu, an analyst with Asymco estimated these Q1 figures.”
“Arch-rival Fitbit does announce how many smartwatches and health trackers it sells,” Hardy reports. “It shipped 2.2 million devices in the January-March period. That’s below analysts’ expectations.”
Apple Watch update. 46 million sold. User base likely 40 to 43 million. pic.twitter.com/BHdt0oOsB3
— Horace Dediu (@asymco) May 2, 2018
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Dominance.
Along with Apple Watches on our left wrists, we wear simple Fitbit trackers (Fitbit Flex 2 bands) on our right wrists because we like to compete with our friends who wear Fitbits.
If we could find an Apple Watch band with a holder for our Fitbit Flex 2 units, we could stop wearing those Fitbit bands on our right wrists. (Hello, enterprising Apple Watch band-makers?!)
If an Apple Watch app existed that displayed our Fitbit steps, we’d be all set with Flex 2 units in our Apple Watch bands and the data displayed on Apple Watch’s display. (Fitbit’s app unsurprisingly does not offer an Apple Watch component.) Of course, even better would be for Fitbit to recognize Apple Watch steps and allow users to incorporate them into the Fitbit data, including allowing that step data to count in challenges (even though our Fitbit steps never match our Apple Watch steps). Yes, we know that will never a happen (unless Apple bought Fitbit for their user base, legacy data, and social network).
Lastly, we do understand that if Fitbit allowed the Apple Watch to display Fitbit tracker data, everyone would immediately buy the cheapest Fitbit since their Apple Watch display is unmatched by anything Fitbit offers or plans to offer before the company folds. — MacDailyNews, July 1, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Apple Watch, not phones, powered Verizon’s subscriber growth – April 24, 2018
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple Watch sales could top 40-50 million units within next three years – March 27, 2018
Apple Watch dominates smartwatch market – March 1, 2018
Apple’s line of smartwatches outsold the entire Swiss watch industry last quarter – February 12, 2018
Apple Watch sets new all-time record for wearables shipments; ‘Apple has won the wearables game’ – analyst – February 7, 2018
Apple Watch sales momentum is growing; unit sales now rival those of Macintosh – January 23, 2018
Apple Watch Series 3 shipments predicted to rise to 23-25 million in 2018 – December 14, 2017
Apple Watch: The war for wearables is over, and Apple won – December 12, 2017
Canalys estimates Apple shipped 3.9 million Apple Watch units in Q317, despite strong demand outstripping supply – November 14, 2017
When Apple Watch surpassed iPod – November 8, 2017
Beleaguered Fitbit’s first smartwatch plagued by design flaws, delayed – April 11, 2017
Apple Watch sales hit all-time high while Fitbit stumbles – March 2, 2017
The Apple Watch is winning – March 2, 2017
Apple Watch had massive holiday quarter; took nearly 80% share of total smartwatch revenue – February 10, 2017
The Apple Watch ‘WOW’ moment – February 3, 2017
cofounder of Swatch Elmar Mock 2015 scolding his Swiss industry colleagues for not taking the Apple Watch launch seriously:
“”Anything in the price range of 500 francs to 1,000 francs is really in danger,” said Mock, speaking by phone from Biel, Switzerland. “I do expect an Ice Age coming toward us.”
—————
It’s getting cold….
sold all my Fossil (mid range Watch manufacturer) shares 2 years ago. Fossil – good company but you can’t fight the giant glacier. The highest end diamond studded watch guys are probably ok but that 500 -1000 frank range (which is the BULK of the Swiss industry) …..
from the linked article:
“In an attempt to compete better with Apple Watch in the global wearables market, Fitbit and Google teamed up to send data directly to electronic health ”
—————
Trust Google with my Health Data… imagine a giant Google Health poster with Eric Schmidt smiling : “Trust Me… “.
Google: Your info is their product.
As Apple adds more health features the tide will become a tsunami. Medical data based on more and more sophisticated sensors will drive incredible sales.
non-invasive Glucose monitoring!
Guys, I’m calling it: its over for the watch and fitness band crowd
Because the “other guys” are not keeping up.
Apple is simply steamrolling with its nearly comprehensive ecosystem of communicating/interacting products.
Interesting use of the word tsunami.
In the book Inside the “Tornado: Marketing Strategies from the Silicon Valley”, tsunami is the term given to paradigm shifts. Paradigm shifts occur at the end of about 4 acceptance stages that takes about 4 years after a new technology/product is introduced into a market.
Unlike bloggers and WS analysts, tech firms do not expect massive adoption (the tsunami) of their new technology/product until its 4th year on the market.
The nattering nabobs of negativity expect success or failure to be determinable in the first quarter/year.
Expectations like that clearly demonstrate the nabobs’ total incomprehension of how the adoption of the new progress.
And here we are 3 years after the Apple Watch was originally launched, and it now dominates the watch industry.
In 3 – 4 years we will be able to determine the success or failure of the HomePod, but not until then. I’m guessing that just like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch before it, the HomePod will be a massive success. I also believe the HomePod will help drive Apple Music subscriptions beyond Spotify’s leadership position.
Pearls before swine, I’m afraid, Mr. Thurman.
I really like the technology in the HomePod, the use of the iPhone chip to control the speakers etc. Although launched with unfortunate parts missing I still think the underlying tech is very powerful and something other audio companies can’t easily emulate. If Apple chooses it can leverage the tech into all kinds of other things including Beats speakers etc.
The talent and the R&D cash is there, we’ll have to see if Apple has the WILL to push through and dominate this field.
The only damper in my belief in Apple’s eventual triumph is the knowledge they let SIRI fall behind , letting Amazon, a Giant Grocery Department Store, beat The Creators of MacOS and iOS in Software…. I still shake my head.
I believe the Watch gets so much attention because JONY likes watches….
“Although launched with unfortunate parts missing”
should be “Although launched unfortunately with parts missing”
That’s all that was sold? No wonder AppleWatch is considered another Apple flop. I think analyst expectations called for at least 100 million units sold by now. Everyone said Apple was hiding AppleWatch sales figures because Apple was ashamed of admitting to such a low number. Geez, Amazon must have easily sold about 250 million Echo devices by now.
/s
Apple Watch is doing so well because it can be different things to different people. It’s a fitness tracker, a health monitor, it provides alerts for texts, phone calls and calendar alarms, it facilitates credit card transactions, it plays music over BT, and yes, it shows the current time. Fitbit sees Apple as competition, but Apple probably sees non-consumption as the big opportunity.
When iPhone was launched, people assumed that it was just another smartphone and when Apple Watch was launched, people still assumed that it was just another watch.
The lesson that people should have learned following the launch of iPhone was that relatively few people use iPhone merely as a phone. The apps and the ecosystem turn it into a digital Swiss Army knife where additional tools can be chosen by the user.
The competition made the same mistake over Apple Watch. Obviously it can tell the time and do a few other clever tricks too, but the important aspect is the way that it’s capabilities can be customised to suit each user. Why on earth did people imagine that the same thing wouldn’t happen with Watch?
Of all the non-timekeeping tasks which it can perform, the health-related features are the ones that can make the biggest difference to people’s lives. Somebody might baulk at spending a few hundred dollars on a digital watch, but if they have a heart problem or some other condition which can be monitored by an Apple Watch, a few hundred dollars sounds like a bargain.
The impressive thing about Apple health monitoring systems is that they often produces results which are either on a par, or in some cases better than leading medical instrumentation. It’s not a toy or a curiosity, it’s a scientific instrument which is sold at a bargain price.
One person I know who I assumed would have no need for Apple Watch is totally blind. He’s used iPhone for many years because of it’s accessibility features and now that he has Watch too, he’s able to extend the versatility of his iPhone, especially when out and about. The way that Watch, in conjunction with Apple Maps, discreetly vibrates to guide him left or right gives him the confidence to walk about in unfamiliar places. He doesn’t use a guide dog, just a folding white stick. It’s also great for Apple Pay for him because obviously it’s convenient, but in addition he has it set up so that the details of the transaction are spoken to him via his AirPods, therefore he knows exactly what he has been charged.
One person buys Watch and thinks of it as an elegant timepiece, another buys it and regards it as the ultimate fitness tracker, somebody else sees it as a medical monitor while another uses it as a guidance system and talking wallet. Same device, multiple reasons to own it.