Neil Hughes
With some new Apple Watch orders scheduled to ship as late as July, Apple already has another smash-hit product in its lineup, RBC Capital Markets believes.
Analyst Amit Daryanani of RBC issued a note to investors on Monday, indicating that strong demand for the Apple Watch after preorders began on Monday will translate to blockbuster sales. His forecast calls for Apple to sell between 3 million and 5 million units in the June quarter — Â numbers he said Monday are "reasonable" expectations with the immediate sell-out of preorders.
For the first year of Apple Watch sales, Daryanani sees Apple moving between 15 million and 20 million units. While he expects those numbers to only add 5 percent to the company's bottom line, he did note that sales at that level would be "very impressive" for a first-generation product.
Daryanani's estimates call for an average selling price of $550 for the Apple Watch.
The analyst also noted that lead times for new orders haven't changed much since preorders for the Watch began last Friday. To him, that suggests that Apple will be able to ramp up its supply over the coming weeks and months in line with recent orders.
Analysts have been quick to weigh in on Monday after Apple declined to announce first-weekend preorder numbers for the device. Earlier, Timothy Arcuri of Cowen and Company revealed comments from retail employees who indicated that nearly all try-on appointments for the Apple Watch have resulted in preorders.
Arcuri is more bullish on the Apple Watch than Daryanani, with a forecast calling for sales of 31 million units in the first 12 months.
While Apple didn't officially announced preorder figures, Slice Intelligence reported data suggesting orders may have reached 1 million in the first 24 hours of availability. It was said that buyers were most interested in the space gray aluminum Apple Watch Sport.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
76 Comments
Later this year get ready for the long list of "Apple Watch killers".
Apple would love to sell 31 million in 12 months, even 5 million in the quarter seems optimistic. I bet there is some supply manipulation going on to juice their marketing efforts, but I think 5-7 million units sold by the end of the year is realistic. Price aside, committing to wearing a device that promises to be far more invasive than a phone in your pocket is a tough pill to swallow. Wonder how many people will buy the watch, wear it for a time, and decide its just overkill.
As an Apple shareholder, I'm glad to see the strong release quarter sales. But the real issue is how good a product the Apple Watch turns out to be in the wild, not least because it will determine how well the product sells in outlying quarters. It's reasonable to expect issues as the watches are rolled out en masse. Apple nearly always has had a shadow product that preceded any successful product (Newton for iPhone, for example). If they truly got this right the first time, that would be unprecedented in their history.
I think most don't realize that profit from selling aWatches is actually not as important as Apple continuing to grow its mindshare, brand and ecosystem.
Because along with customer satisfaction numbers (which are great), Apple secures itself as THE platform to buy into, live with...and die with.
To die with?...Apple has in its hands the hardware/software platform of the century. Many will literally die with an Apple device in our pocket, around our wrist or on our finger...Apple Ring anyone?
[quote name="cali" url="/t/185742/strong-preorder-demand-for-apple-watch-could-signal-5m-sales-in-june-quarter-rbc-says#post_2709080"]Later this year get ready for the long list of "Apple Watch killers".[/quote] Samsung are adapting a fridge as we speak.