“Surely, even the world’s most valuable company can’t keep growing at the blistering pace it has maintained for the past decade. Can it?” Chris O’Brien reports for VentureBeat. “That year may yet come. But the annual report that Apple has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reminds us that the fiscal year 2015 that ended Sept. 30 was not that year for Apple.”
“Instead, the company posted monster growth, even where it was far from perfect (iPad sales continued to slump; iTunes sales continue falling),” O’Brien reports. “It rolled out a host of new products — Apple Watch, Apple Pay, Apple Music, a new Apple TV, iPad Pro (available in November) — whose full measure won’t come for at least another year.”
MacDailyNews Take: iTunes sales continue falling because Apple is switching buyers to subscribers, taking some 7 million (paying and over 8 million trying) into Apple Music and out of iTunes Store music buying.
“Here are some interesting bits and pieces from the filing that underscore Apple’s position as a juggernaut,” O’Brien reports. “Total R&D expense was $8.1 billion in 2015, up from $6.0 billion in 2014, $4.5 billion in 2013 and $3.4 billion in 2012. Clearly, the company is priming the research pipeline.”
“Apple Watch, which was available less than half of FY 2015 still ‘accounted for more than 100% of the year-over-year growth in net sales of Other Products.’ A little math: Other Products grew from $8.379 billion in 2014 to $10.067 billion in 2015,” O’Brien reports. “That means Apple has sold at least $1.688 billion worth of Apple Watches. But as the statement implies, the actual figure is higher in a category that was dragged down by falling iPod sales. If that pace can be maintained, it’s reasonable to think Apple Watch could be at least a $5 billion business in this current fiscal year.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: The facts refute the Apple Watch naysayers.
SEE ALSO:
Strategy Analytics: Apple Watch sells 4.5 million units in Q315, takes 74% global smartwatch market share – October 28, 2015
Why Apple Watch sales are primed to explode – September 19, 2015
Apple Watch users are abandoning traditional watches – September 15, 2015
Over 1 million Apple Watches already sold in China – September 3, 2015
Apple Watch already dominates smart-wearables market, says IDC – August 28, 2015
IDC estimates Apple sold 3.6 million Apple Watch units in Q2 – August 27, 2015
Best Buy CEO: Apple Watch demand is ‘so strong’ that we’re expanding sales to all 1,050 stores – August 25, 2015
Swiss watch exports decline most since 2009 – August 20, 2015
I own two $6,000 Swiss watches, but I wear my Apple Watch most of the time – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch will make up 40% of premium wristwatch sales by 2020 – report – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch takes 88% of total smartwatch revenue – August 14, 2015
Apple Watch dominates smartwatches with 75% market share – July 28, 2015
Juniper Research: Apple is world’s #1 smartwatch maker – July 23, 2015
Canalys: Apple ships 4.2 million Apple Watches in Q2 to become world’s top wearables vendor – July 21, 2015
Apple Watch satisfaction is unprecedented at 97%; beats original iPhone and iPad – July 20, 2015
Swiss watch exports hit worst slump in five years as Apple Watch debuts – June 19, 2015
Apple Watch is Apple’s most successful product debut ever – June 1, 2015
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smart watch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
Apple Watch naysayers have never been interested in the facts.
May, Nay, Nay!
“A little math: Other Products grew from $8.379 billion in 2014 to $10.067 billion in 2015,” O’Brien reports. “That means Apple has sold at least $1.688 billion worth of Apple Watches.”
BS. The author makes a false conclusion assuming that the $1.7 billion dollar growth was solely due to sales of Apple Watch. In fact, Apple Watch sales could have been greater or less than this amount all “Other” category does not differentiate sales data from individual products.
As far as iTunes how about also the music and vacuous, egotistical artists of today mostly SUCK. Millenials, et al, are veering away from music and TV and becoming more “Intisocial.” Traditional models just aren’t holding sway with spoiled current and future generations.
A few years ago I saw a great quote from a couple of centuries ago – and made the terrible mistake of not copying it.
It basically said, in the language of the day, what peter just wrote.
Doesn’t every generation complain about the next generation.
And don’t they also all say, “Yes, that was true in the past. But TODAY’S complaints are different. TODAY’S complaints are valid.”
I love this one from George Orwell:
“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”
And this possibly by Socrates:
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.’”
I’ll be curious to see how those numbers progress. I think a lot of sales were to early adopters. I’ve been to Apple retail stores in Vegas and Indianapolis in the last month, and so far, there’s been almost no interest in the Apple Watch displays. Maybe 3-4 people even looking at them in their big case (total, between both stores, over about half an hour spent in each), much less talking to a salesperson about buying one.
I was at an Apple store on Monday, obviously not a weekend, and while I was there, I saw six people buying watches in the space of about 40 minutes. This was at about 3:30 to 4:10 while I had a Genius Bar appointment for a minor FUBAR on a new Mac Mini.
Hardly see any Apple Watches in the wild. This is a good test.
Unless there are concrete numbers from Apple AND usage statistics, the only “fact” is that hardly anyone in the wild wears an Apple Watch.
Usage statistics will show whether the few people who have bought an Apple Watch are actually using it or have it sitting in a drawer collecting dust.
Right now, with Cook’s comments that “Apple Watch is just getting started” and the lack of Apple Watches in the wild, the product hasn’t sold well.
“Hardly see any Apple Watches in the wild.”
What are you doing? Looking up everyone’s sleeve?
Also, if one in a hundred people in the US bought an Apple Watch, that would definitely give you “hardly see”, but gives Apple an amount of money that would blow most people’s minds.
The Apple Watch went on sale in the summer. It was basically cor sale for the entire summer. I travelled around a lot and most people were wearing short sleeves. Hardly anyone was wearing an Apple Watch. I live in a big city and to date, I’ve seen less than 10 Apple Watches in the wild.
With the latest earnings report, there is zero indication that Watch sales have picked up substantially since the previous quarter.
Thus, it’s likely, now that we’re heading into colder weather, that what’s under most people’s long sleeves aren’t Apple Watches.
The other question I have is how much of the hidden sales of this category the Watch is in… include accessories for the Watch like Watch bands? In the end, nobody knows how many Watches Apple has sold. What we do know is there is a lack of Apple Watches in the wild.
I’m not saying that the Apple Watch completely sucks, is dead, etc. This is just objective analysis. What you WANT to believe doesn’t necessarily represent reality.
No, dswe, this is what YOU want to believe. Your “objective evidence” is anecdotal stories you tell. Not the same thing at all. If this article is close to correct and Apple has sold 4.5 million Apple Watches, those are spread all over the world, with about 60% of them in the USA. If you run the math to its conclusion, you will find that only 1 person in every 133 you encounter is likely to be wearing an Apple Watch. . . and unless you are consistently and religiously examining the wrists of every person you meet, you likely overlooked that one person.
Back when the Apple Watch was first announced, many skeptics insisted that no one even wore wrist watches any more; they’d all gone over to smartphones. Sure, there were holdouts like Rolex wearers or Fitness enthusiasts, but that was a decided minority in the stentorian judgment. Since I am an eternal skeptic of skeptics, I decided to perform my own survey.
It is anecdotal evidence to be sure: the outdoor dinner party I attended had twelve people and all but one wore a functioning wrist watch; I checked. In fact I was the one exception, wearing only a bracelet. Furthermore, I inspected the wrists of passersby at the sidewalk cafe, and three out of four wore a watch.
I was forced to conclude that the watch had not been supplanted by the smartphone at all, and that timekeeping as a human activity may be a little more complex than we pundits might have casually assumed. Yes I was generalising, who doesn’t? Remember, this was anecdotal evidence and anyone has their own. You tend to believe what you see, not what you’re told.
YMMV, but I’m seeing them all over the place.
-jcr
Hardly anybody sees my Apple Watch for the main reason: I wear long sleeves but also I don’t continually stare at it (it is for mainly glances). I also don’t come into contact with many people in my work and I don’t show it off to my friends.
I see Apple Watches “in the wild” all the time, and I live in f***ing Texas.
WRONG! I’ve NOT been looking for Apple Watch in the wild. However every social event I attend I see @ least one at each event. I’ve attend @ least 10 events over the past 30+ days. The ONLY question I ask of the Apple Watch owner is “so” “how do you like it” answer… I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! FCK YOU …. TROLL.
Cloud services. That’s what Wall Street wants. No one uses AppleWatches but EVERYONE will be using Cloud services. Cloud services is the new plastic. Cloud white is the new black. Apple chose the wrong path and is doomed.
/s