Apple Watch sales in June reached their highest level since the product’s launch in April, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook told analysts in an earnings call yesterday.
The smartwatch became available for sale April 10 and sales thus far have exceeded Apple’s expectations, Cook said, according to a transcript obtained by Seeking Alpha.
However, Apple does not plan to disclose sales figures because it doesn’t want to provide competitors with important information, Cook said.
Bloomberg estimates Apple shipped at least 1.9 million Apple Watches. That would be short of the 3 million smartwatches Slice Intelligence, a digital commerce measurement firm, projected earlier this month.
While Apple didn’t break out unit sales of the Apple Watch, revenue in the category containing the device rose by about $950 million during its most recent fiscal Q3 ended June 27 compared with the first three months of the year. If the Apple Watch had an average selling price of $499, the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, that would suggest the company may have sold at least 1.9 million watches. Depending on the model, the Apple Watch ranges in price between $349 and $17,000.
To put the launch in perspective, Cook said the number of Apple Watches sold is higher than the comparable launch periods of the original iPhone smartphone and the original iPad tablet. The holidays will likely drive more sales for the smartwatch, and Apple expects the smartwatch to be one of the top gifts this holiday season, Cook said.
The holiday period will be important, one analyst says. It’s not uncommon for consumer electronics sales to triple during the fourth quarter as compared to the rest of the year, says Angela McIntyre, research director at research firm Gartner Inc. “A lot will depend on Apple’s marketing efforts to promote the watch for holiday gift giving,” McIntyre says.
The smartwatch currently has 8,500 third-party apps available for consumers to use. These apps are iPhone apps that also can function on the Apple Watch. With the second software release, watchOS2, developers can build native apps for the Apple Watch.
97% of Apple Watch customers said they are satisfied with their Apple Watch—66% very satisfied and 31% somewhat satisfied—according to a Wristly survey of 800 customers between July 14 and 19. Wristly is a research company that focuses exclusively on the Apple Watch. 94% of Apple Watch owners wear and use it regularly, according to Apple’s own research data.
Apple also revealed in its Q2 earnings call yesterday that during the quarter mobile traffic to the Apple Store equaled desktop traffic for the first time, which Cook attributed to the Apple Store app.
Bloomberg news contributed to this article.
Follow mobile business journalist April Dahlquist, associate editor, mobile, at Mobile Strategies 360, @Mobile360April
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