Apple to give first official indication of Watch sales in quarterly earnings report
The company has kept quiet about sales figures for the Apple Watch, which went on sale in April, but analysts’ estimates are low after tepid reviews
All eyes will be on Apple’s Watch sales when the tech behemoth reports its latest quarterly earnings later today. There may not be much to see.
Analysts have called for caution ahead of Apple’s earnings call today, during which the company is expected to give its first official indication of Apple Watch sales figures since they went on sale in April. However, Apple will probably leave the exact revenue for the product in the “other” category and few are expecting detailed figures for an Apple product that has got off to a mixed start.
“Even if Apple comes out on the low end, everybody else wants to have those numbers,” said Ramon Llamas, who analyzes the phones and wearables market for market research firm IDC. “Everyone want to have those numbers even if they’re low, because everyone wants to crack that 1m unit barrier.”
Apple is believed to have topped that number in its first day of pre-sales, but tepid reviews and the inevitability of a newer version with fewer bugs have kept analysts’ estimates low – most estimate numbers for the quarter between three and five million. The company itself has been quiet about sales figures.
S&P Capital’s Angelo Zino, in a note to investors, said he believed the company should have greater transparency given the attention of shareholders on the product.
“While [Apple’s] launch into the wearables space began with a bang, we believe orders for the Apple Watch have considerably cooled down since the initial release,” he wrote. “We believe management should release actual figures for the Apple Watch given that it has completed its first full quarter, as it has been an overhang on the shares in recent weeks.” Zino added that he didn’t believe that would happen, but that expansion of watch sales into a wider geographic area would boost sales.
Llamas remains bullish. “Never, ever, ever underestimate Apple,” he said. “I think the big question is where does Apple go from here?” Llamas added that the next questions were logistical: will Apple announce third-party retailer partners, and if so, will its availability at, say, Best Buy affect the marketing strategy that has focused so much attention on selling the watch as something for an executive?
It’s also an open question how Apple will continue to develop the app store for the product – initial impressions of the store were mixed to negative, with users complaining about a surfeit of fitness apps and too few options that made efficient use of the small screen.
And of course, when will users get an Apple Watch 2? That date, said Llamas, has to be far enough in the future that early adopters don’t feel slighted.
“I don’t think it’ll be in 2015,” he said. “That would piss off a lot of customers.”
Especially customers who bought the deluxe version.