“If Apple wants to prove to doubters that there is life beyond the iPhone, then the wrists and ears of millions of customers could provide the answer,” Ed Helmore writes for The Guardian. “Twelve years from the launch of Steve Jobs’s signature product, Apple wearables – and the services that tie in to them – have emerged as an important component of the tech giant’s profile, accounting for more than a third of sales in the last quarter.”
“Last week Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, reported that sales in its wearables division – which includes products from the Apple Watch to wireless headphones – grew at a rate of 30% in the last quarter,” Helmore writes. “If broken out on its own the division would be in the top 200 of listed US companies, Cook said.”
“The news is especially surprising given the lukewarm initial reaction to many of the products. When Apple’s design guru Sir Jonathan Ive first described his idea for the Apple Watch, back in 2015, many looked on with scepticism or dismissed it as a fashion accessory. According to analyst estimates, Apple sold more than 20m watches last year alone,” Helmore writes. “The same was true for the AirPod, Apple’s wireless headphone set, which was initially dismissed as a gimmick that would provoke exasperation from consumers who misplaced them. By some estimates sales this year will reach 60m pairs, rising to 100m by 2021.”
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Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As it ever was. The naysayers ridicule then are forced to eat crow in due time. Rinse, lather, and repeat. The same will be true for Apple Glasses. Watch and see.
SEE ALSO:
One of every three smartwatches sold worldwide is an Apple Watch – May 2, 2019
The Apple Watch is proving to be a big deal – March 14, 2019
I suspect this is mostly parents buying them for kids that have come of a certain age (my friend has this, I want this too!). This happens in a wave every year and leads to all kinds of increases – many of them not necessarily good – and has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘Apple brilliance’. Not a great strategy IMO, as kids outgrow their toys pretty quickly (parental insanity in this issue is a separate subject!). It definitely leaves Apple’s more serious users in the lurch, as well. I am not impressed.
I suspect your suspicions are far from true. Apple watches are not children’s toys and not many parents buy children $400-$900 watches. And the seamless ease of use of airpods beats wired headphones for users of any age.
Spend a few hours on the subway in New York City. Every other adult wears AirPods or an Apple Watch. They are an absolute phenomenon.
Tis true. Last Xmas was airpods buying for the early teen crowd. Good observation.
Fine, but what about a Cinema Display for my MacBook Pro?
MDN! You’ve hit on the PERFECT name! It won’t be called the Apple Glasses. It will be the Apple See! As in “Apple Watch and Apple See”. They will help you see things you never saw before! 😉
As usual analysts were way too quick to judge and even now I think they’re underestimating the influence and future significance of both these product families.
As we’ve seen over the last 5 years the watch has got better with each year but there’s still a long way to go in terms of innovation and that’s what’s so exciting about it. With each jump in hardware and software it becomes more and more useful.
I think AirPods is going to grow into a family of products. Maybe something along these lines:
AirPods (Current 2nd Gen, In Ear Design)
AirPods Pro (New Inner Ear Design, Changeable Ear Buds, Water Resistant, Noise Isolation)
AirPods Studio (Over the Ear Design, Dolby Atmos, Active/Smart Noise Isolation)
I think this AirPods family of products would perfectly compliment Apple’s Beats brand. AirPods would offer high end products with a neutral sound profile where Beats allows them to offer a wider range of more colourful products with a more aggressive sound profile (products Apple would never make).
AppleWatch and AirPods were never gimmicks, even in their first few years on sale most other companies would die to have the sort of revenue these products generated. Unfortunately the analysts measure everything against the iPhone which means they’ve only now started to recognise the AppleWatch now it’s started to generate some serious revenue.
(Apple you seriously need to create a version of AirPods with changeable inner ear buds like all of the other manufacturers.)
Apple does not do “gimmick” but is known far and wide as top of the line, – generally does its R&D well. One BBQ/Grill/Smoker Temperature Device companies is often compared to as the “Apple” of cooking Thermometers. Lately, I have noticed occasional the reviews of a few companies as the “Apple” of . . . . device
You know you are good when your name is thrown in with other companies’ product line as a comparison in quality.
Yes, Apple makes its mistakes, but comparatively speaking, Apple is head and shoulders across its product and service line than any other company.