A study by Slice Intelligence estimates that Apple recorded 957,000 Apple Watch preorders on Friday in the US, the first day the device was available to order. On average, customers bought 1.3 watches which means that many customers ordered two or more units. The Sport model was the most popular choice, making up 62% of orders. As the Watch debuted in nine countries, it is possible that total orders were much greater than the 1 million number which only totals US orders. Significant supply constraints may have dampened initial orders however.
The most popular model purchased was the Space Grey Sport, followed by the normal stainless steel Apple Watch, then the Silver Sport. The Space Black Apple Watch model captured just 3% of orders although it was in limited supply (4 – 6 weeks) from the beginning of preorders and is also the most expensive model of Apple Watch. The report ignores sales data for the Apple Watch Edition in its calculations.
In terms of accessories, the Black Sport Band was the most popular add-on for both Watch and Sport buyers. The Milanese Loop was surprisingly popular, coming in third for sales behind the White Sport Band.
The report also weighs on MacBook sales, indicating 48,000 units were bought online. The Space Grey variant was the most popular choice. Interestingly, it seems that the 512 GB model was favored over the cheaper 256 GB SKU. 43 percent of MacBook buyers also purchased an Apple Watch, showing Apple’s strength in brand loyalty.
Slice Intelligence’s data is derived from analyzing purchase receipts in email inboxes of over 9,000 shoppers. Usually, Apple would be expected to announce preorder numbers for new products. However, it is uncertain whether Apple will follow the same procedure with the Watch, as it has already reworked its accounting practices to hide Apple Watch sales. Tim Cook said “orders were great” in an interview with CNBC.
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Who is Slice Intelligence and why is this the first we’re hearing about this firm? I don’t remember them providing iPhone or iPad estimated sales before. I call BS on these numbers.
Mabe you should just investigate a bit more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/hollieslade/2014/09/26/heres-how-slice-is-monetizing-over-two-million-peoples-every-online-receipt/
I read elsewhere that this data was only accounting for US pre-orders, so the actual total of pre-orders may be higher
I’d like to see those numbers too especially when you consider other markets like the UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Japan but more importantly China where Apple Watch Edition sold out in less than a hour. Stands to reason that if the most expensive version sold out in record time that the other models sold well too.
If the US alone sold about 1 million in less than 6 hours than it stands to reason that other markets sold out in comparable numbers and time. When the smoke clears I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Apple to have sold close to 10 million in the first 48-hours.
I’m sure there’s a calculated business reason why they haven’t talked about it yet but I can’t imagine Apple sitting on initial sales figures much longer.
I think Cook’s modesty in that CNBC interview is telling. He doesn’t want to get too big a head about this but if Apple Watch is a rousing success, which I believe it already is, it’ll prove that Apple still has the magic touch despite Jobs not being in the driver’s seat.
Just think, there are still people that don’t believe Tim Cook is a good CEO for Apple because he hasn’t come up with his own product, but here we are with a completely Tim Cook era product being introduced under a completely Tim Cook era marketing machine.
“Usually, Apple would be expected to announce preorder numbers for new products. However, it is uncertain whether Apple will follow the same procedure with the Watch, as it has already reworked its accounting practices to hide Apple Watch sales.”
Why would they hide the sales data?
For competitive reasons and so it’s more difficult to work out ASPs.
Reblogged this on Mohit – The caretaker.
Thats 1 million in the US – no mention about the rest of the world.
Never ever trust companies like this for accurate figures. The way the aggregate their figures means you never get an accurate figure anyway.
Also, bearing mind that these where available to order via Apple only, unless Slice Intelligence has direct access to Apple’s ordering system there is absolutely no possible way they could know any figures whatsoever.
Exactly. This data is quite meaningless. The only data that matters is what Apple reports. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t report until the end of the month (maybe on the earnings call) or report nothing at all.
In their defence, this is more of a typical “USA thing” than anything to do with the company. Most Americans *actually* believe that their country is the only one that matters. Most Americans are blindingly ignorant of the rest of the world and basically don’t care at all about it.
It’s not down to this particular business, it’s a broad cultural blindness, based on a deep disrespect of the rest of the world. It’s Murica baby!
Does anyone have any insight on why the modern buckles are not available for order on their own?
They are for sale on their own but only available for the 38mm
They are only available for “small wrists.” (38mm only) Why no one has taken Apple to task for this blatant sexist bullshit approach I don’t understand. They make out like they are so open and liberal, then they make watch bands that are slightly more effeminate than the rest, and make them only available for “small wrists,” as well as a slightly more masculine looking selection (leather loop) for “big wrists” only.
What if I’m a 6′ tall, effeminate male? What if a tough-ass woman logger, actually wants a leather loop but she has small wrists? It’s bullshit sexist crap. It’s thinly disguised by referring only to wrist sizes instead of gender, but unless “small” is for women and “large” is for men (as most assume), there is no point to making bands for one size but not another in the first place.
It’s obvious what they are doing. I just don’t know why no one calls them out on it.
Maybe a larger version of it would look like ass?
No one finds it troubling that Slice claims to have access to over 9000 email inboxes and the ability to analyze the contents of their messages?
But setting aside the obvious privacy issues and the fact they expect anyone to believe their obviously made up numbers…
If they did have access to over 9000 inboxes, let’s call it 9500 because it has to be lower than 10000. Now let’s look at the numbers they reported. 960k. As a percentage of the adult US population (let’s say 180 million, 960k is just over HALF a percent. So plugging that back into 9500 equals 50.35 – let’s call it 51.
So even if these numbers were true (and they’re not), they would be based on a sales sample of 51 receipts. Laughable.
But the numbers are not based on any samples of any kind, they simply fantasy – completely made up.
The other way to interpret what was mentioned is that 9000 was the number of inboxes with Apple sales receipts, not simply the total number analyzed.
That means the number of emails still has to correspond to a low enough percentage of the total analyzed for them to come up with an estimate of just under a million. It means they have access to over 1.5 million inboxes if they want to claim a credible analysis.
Anyone else think this is realistic?
If you want to lean how Slice “claim” they get their numbers: https://www.slice.com/shopping_intro
They offer a service that you sign up for that grabs all your receipts from your email and uses them to offer you a categorized receipt list, product recall info, package tracking, etc. Mostly fluff to you so they can use the data to run their actual business, which is mining your personal information to sell to others.
They claim 2 million sheep, which is close to the number I extrapolated (1.7 million) by multiplying 9500 by 180 (remember the ballpark for US adult population of 180 million). At the very least they’re using consistent figures for their Watch reports (9000-9500 sales corresponds to just under 1 million extrapolated sales based on their purported 2 million sample size).
I’m closing my access with Slice. Way too invasive.
“No one finds it troubling that Slice claims to have access to over 9000 email inboxes and the ability to analyze the contents of their messages?”
10 years of Gmail popularity would suggest “no”.
1 million pre-orders sold in 1 day, vs. Android Wear’s 700+K sold in a full calendar year (2014) = mind-blowing
I just find it entertaining to see the Milanese loop not charging in the picture on the right. See the felt half loop that is put on backwards? That Milanese loop is not charging because there is no contact with the charger. The little things in life :)
Seriously…???
It seems like the only factor they didn’t poll is the one I find most interesting, which is the mix of 38mm to 42mm Watches.
Google needs to add IOS support to android wear. I still can’t believe people spent $350+ on a watch! And this will be outdated in a few months! I wouldn’t have gotten a smartwatch if groupon didn’t have the lg g watch on sale. For $80 it is a pretty nifty device. Really don’t use it much besides telling time and receiving notifications. Apple for once made a product that tried to do everything, I like google’s approach better. A watch is a watch, you don’t need to make phone calls on it, needs to be an extension of your phone. And that is what my lg g watch is, and it is out of the way when I don’t need it.
So has sold more watches on launch day than all other android watches have sold, COMBINED, ever in the past 2 years or so?? NICE! lol