Slice Intelligence, an opt-in service that scans receipts of two million online shoppers’ inboxes, estimated Friday that Apple Watch sales have cooled off and currently stand at or below 30,000 daily units in the United States, following the launch day spike that saw an estimated 1.5 million U.S. pre-orders of the wrist-worn device.
As noted by Quartz tech editor Dan Former, that suggests that Apple Watch orders fell sharply after the first day and haven’t grown since.
By comparison, it took Apple more than two years to sell two million iPods, and several months to sell that many iPhones.
The Cupertino firm has seen nearly 2.5 million orders for the Apple Watch in the United States through Monday, May 18, estimated Slice based on data from more than 14,000 online shoppers in the United States.
More than half of those orders were placed on the launch day on April 10, indicating a significant sales slowdown since. Since its launch, US orders have remained under 30,000 per day, according to Slice’s projections.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said recently that demand for the device may have softened as most women appear to be ignoring the device.
Kuo revised his estimate down to 15 million Apple Watch shipments through the end of September versus the general consensus of about 20-30 million units.
It should be reiterated that Slice’s projections are based on identifying receipts in the inboxes of U.S. online shoppers. It excludes relevant sales data from other Apple Watch countries, and that from people who would not agree letting the service access their inbox.
Besides, it’s still early days for the Apple Watch to derive accurate and reliable sales data. Unfortunately, we won’t be treated to official numbers as Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors during a conference call that his company won’t be divulging Apple Watch unit sales for competitive reasons.
Even if taken at face value, I don’t think Slice’s estimates should worry Apple. In my mind, the Apple Watch is a slow burner. As Apple gradually introduces the device to additional countries, the Apple Watch will start picking up steam.
And as the company brings more features to the device by way of software updates, and especially after native Apple Watch apps start arriving later this year, I’m convinced interest in the device will start growing beyond early adopters and geeks.
Source: Dan Frommer