“Cantor Fitzgerald made quite a statement about the Apple Watch last week,” Louis Bedigian reports for Benzinga. “It appears other analysts agree. Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry referred to these products as “launch and forget” devices. They receive a ton of hype at launch, but people quickly forget about them and move on. Apple doesn’t have the mindset of ‘launch and forget,'” Chowdhry told Benzinga. ‘[The] iPhone 6 was launched in September — four months later we still talk about it.’ Chowdhry estimated that the Apple Watch will be Apple’s “most successful product.”
“‘[It] will break all the previous records,’ Chowdhry said confidently. ‘Why are we so convinced? We have attended numerous WatchKit hackathons. We have seen the potential of WatchKit and the Apple Watch platform. We have seen where the competition got it completely wrong,'” Bedigian reports. “IHS Technology senior analyst Daniel Gleeson expects Apple to produce a ‘relatively conservative’ number of Apple Watches at launch. ‘That’s always been their play — to undersell at the start and see where it goes,’ Gleeson told Benzinga. ‘If you look at iPod or iPhone, that’s been the way they do business.'”
“The comparisons might end there, however,” Bedigian reports. “‘In terms of the different price points, I think that will show you that Apple sees the Apple Watch as a very distinct category,’ said Gleeson. ‘And a very distinct product from anything else they do. [A product] that doesn’t follow the same rules as phones or tablets or PCs.'”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Dan K.” and “Sarah” for the heads up.]
Not possible.
Basically everyone needs connectivity device like phone, but by far not everyone needs even possibly very good device as smart watches.
This business will be huge even this year — billions of dollars of sales are coming, Apple will become #1 in this market immediately and for a long time, but the business will be never even remotely close to become Apple’s “most successful product ever”, which is iPhone.
And it is perfectly fine; Apple will not be angry at iPhone for that. 😉
“Basically everyone needs connectivity device like phone, but by far not everyone needs even possibly very good device as smart watches.”
That is basically what was said when Steve introduced the iPhone 8 years ago. Hell, lets go back to the iPod, let alone the iPad.
But as it turned out, the iPhone was not just a smart phone just as the Watch is not just a smart watch. Virtually, much of what I can do on my iPhone, my iPad and even my Mac could be initiated from action precipitated by the Watch. And I would also suggest even CarPlay, as well as the home automation devices so loudly proclaimed at the recent CES will be connected to the Watch.
Now, Apple is not sitting on their laurels, the first iteration will be even more advanced than what was presented last year, importantly, the developer community will more than blow the roof off starting at day one, and the second iteration even more so.
“We have seen where the competition got it completely wrong.”
Which is what anal-cyst doofi get wrong consistently about the uniqueness of Apple, thinking anyone can do what they do.
I will be glad to see the Apple Watch come to fruition soon. However I don’t agree with his premis simply because the vast majority of users upgrade their iPhones about every other iteration. I don’t see the Watch carrying that much impact for people to upgrade on such a consistent basis as the iPhone. The Watch will WOW people for sure. But upgrade to a new model every one two three generations? The iPhones cycle is much higher than the iPads and Macs. Nor do I think the Watch cycle will match the iPhones. It will take that to surpass the iPhone and break all previous records.
But, prove me wrong and I will still be happy.
I concur with your assessment.
I think what’ll happen, is the ability to upgrade the guts of the watch. That just makes sense. Maybe after five years, Apple will come out with a watch that’ll not work with whatever the current architecture is. At that point, you’d need to buy an entire watch. But expect an annual or biannual hardware guts upgrade.
AppleWatch will have its own paradigm, and it won’t be like the yearly upgrade style like we see with the iPhone. After all, you don’t want, need, or can afford to purchase a whole new watch each year, but you’ll want to have the latest circuitry and battery technology.
At least, that’s what I hope. Time will tell how Apple will address this, should be interesting.
I agree. But my definition of success is not how often people spend money on upgrades, it’s how much they (or I) use it on a daily biases.
But, this time Apple is throwing fashion/status into the mix.
Same guts but different shell.
You can bet Apple will find it difficult to keep up with demand for those whose need to display their wealth is greater than their need to tell the time.
People will buy at one level and may then move to a more expensive option – either within or outside the upgrade cycle.
You can bet the China/HK market will go bonkers for the gold edition. apple need to come up with an answer to the scalpers or the chinese will be standing 15 deep outside 5th Ave on Day 1
“Same guts but different shell.”
If that is so, then you will observe Chinese copycatters make a gazillion housings for Apple’s guts, so all the effort that Apple puts into straps and housings will be for naught. That’s the way fashion is — the same dress you see in Milan for thousands of Euros shows up the next day in China for 1/1000th the price, at far lower quality, and with zero proceeds going to the innovator.
Yet somehow Communist IP-thieving China has received “Most Favored Nation” trading status…..
The Watch won’t come close to the iPhone’s sales, especially because you need an iPhone for full Watch functionality. I expect the Watch will sell more than the iPad, and probably have a more frequent replacement cycle, simply because it is also a fashion statement and thinner and lighter (and different shapes) can make a huge difference for a watch, but not as much for an iPad to spur replacement.
Actually, come to think of it, I would rather buy an iPad than an Apple Watch. There’s a lot more I can do with the iPad.
I agree that Apple takes seriously every product it launches, so the Apple Watch will be quite successful. “Most successful,” I guess depends on your measure of success. Number of dollars in sales? Number of dollars in profit? Could be. I doubt it will be as successful in total number of units compared with Apple’s other products given that it is, for all intents and purposes, an accessory for the iPhone. And in that case, its price point will hold it back. When has there been an accessory that is more expensive than the product that it’s an accessory to? (Yes, I know we pay for it over the life of the contract, but I’m talking about out of pocket expense)
It could be that this price point is mainly for the early adopters, and Apple may lower the price point at some point, like it did for the iPhone.
Trip Chowdhry, a dumbass doofus amongst dumbass idiots like Rob Enderle.
Please read –
http://www.macworld.com/article/2110091/the-macalope-weekly-one-side-fits-all.html
http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/10-wrongest-apple-pundits-3539469/
the iPhone sold about 6 million units in the first 5 operating quarters it was available. It really didn’t take off until the 3g was available. So yes, given there will be about 70 million iPhones compatible with the Apple watch at launch the watch could very well sell a lot of units right over the bat. 6 million in the first 90 days. Doable.
As for me, my iPhone 5s contract is up in September 2015, I’m going to give the Apple Watch a hard look at launch but will probably wait until September or October to buy one along with an updated iPhone. That way the Apple Watch apps and upgrade cycle situation will be clearer.
However, as I have said before: if that Apple Watch has a function or an app that CAN provide 2 minutes warning of a heart attach or stroke, I’ll buy one immediately. You would be incredibly dumb not to. I realize this is a tall order, but if true it would be the ultimate (non) killer app of all time.
Given the fact that three of my four grandparents had heart attacks, an app like that might be enough to get me to shell out the extra money for the Apple Watch, and probably with my wife’s blessing. But again, I think we’ll have to take a wait and see approach to the success of the device as a whole.
There are far more than 70 million Watch friendly iPhones in the wild – iPhones 5 and 5s, in addition to all the iPhones 6.
What percentage of Mac owners who already knew and appreciated Apple’s iTunes ecosystem in 2007 jumped on as early adopters of the iPhone? It remains to be seen, but I doubt that a significant percentage of those 70 million potential customers will buy a wrist-mounted accessory that at this time has been advertised to offer only a few niche functions that ANY smartphone, and many watch-phone combinations already accomplishes for you.
Bottom line, it’s tough to predict the sales of fashion-oriented products, but Apple has not yet offered a compelling reason for people to start liking wrist straps again. The Apple Watch will inevitably sell many units, but there’s no guarantee of “most successful” product, especially one that is practically useless when used alone and cannot work for more than a day off the grid.
Apple Watch will add to their products ….. When the first opened an Apple Store how many products did they have …. iPods, iMacs and MacBooks or basically three products …..
Now they have those plus the TV, iPhone and iPad …. And now a Watch …..
And the beautiful thing is they all work together and the Watch will drive new buyers to the iPhone and iPad and the other way around …..
The more members of the family Apple has the quicker they make new friends!
Sadly, Apple’s online store looks more like a haberdashery than an Apple Store. How many clicks does it take for the first-time customer to even discover than Apple Makes a Time Capsule or a Cinema Display? Instead Apple gives precious front-page real estate to iOS accessories that most people don’t need. WHY?
To a tech writer, everything has to be ‘The most successful ever,” or “biggest failure!” Otherwise, why would they be writing about it?
To say that something that probably cost less than Apple’s profit margin on the iPhone, and requires an iPhone for most functions, will be “Apple’s “most successful product,” just shows they are not paying attention.
Ok artists, what will Mophie do with the Apple Watch?