We’re a ways into August by now, several months after Apple officially launched their most “personal device yet.” That’s the Apple Watch, for those not keeping up with Apple’s marketing lingo. The company launched it in April, but it wasn’t until June or so when shipping times quit being so ridiculous. Indeed, even Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said that sales actually went up in June, which isn’t all that surprising to me.
A lot of people have thrown their own ideas at the wall in reference to sales for the wearable. A lot of people seem to think Apple isn’t doing all that well in the wearables market, but considering that those same folks tend to agree Apple’s doing way better than the competition in the same market, well, “isn’t doing all that well” is probably still pretty great.
Hints during Apple’s last earnings call suggest the Watch sold over a million units, which, come on, is borderline ridiculous for a first generation wearable. The Apple effect is strong with this one. But, let’s be fair: Everyone probably assumed Apple would sell a lot of Apple Watches.
But how many kept them?
I’ve seen two Apple Watches out in the wild so far, since the device launched, and one of them is worn by a friend of mine. That still counts, though. The other one, I assume, was a Sport model, but I guess it’s possible they bought the Watch and just strapped a Sport band on there for whatever reason. Either way, I’ve only seen two of them, but I live in a pretty small city so I’m probably not the best gauge of how the Watch is doing.
I am curious, though. It’s been several months now, well beyond the 14-day return window for the early adopters, and I can’t help but wonder how many still have theirs. Or, more to the point, how many still use them. I know someone who bought the Watch when it launched, wore it for awhile, but it’s now just resting comfortably in a drawer at this point because he’s moved on. He’s told me that the novelty wore off, and he’s just gone back to his “normal” watch. He gave some thought into selling it, but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.
The Apple Watch may be the company’s most personal device to date, but was it personal enough to keep? Let me know!