Apple Stock News
The launch of the Apple Watch had a successful start on Friday, with nearly 1 million people preordering the device. While customers will not be able to get their hands on one of Apple’s newest devices until April 24th at the earliest, 957,000 Americans paid to be among the first to get their hands on one. With an average price of $503.83 on the device so far, the Apple Watch is on track to be the company’s biggest new product release ever.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sold 10 million devices on its launch weekend in September 2014, but this market was already mature, while the smartwatch market is nowhere near maturity. Android Wear devices, including those from LG Electronics, Motorola Mobility, and Samsung Electronics, only sold 720,000 devices throughout all of 2014, a more reasonable comparison for the wildly successful Apple Watch opening sales. Even more promising, analysts from Cowen and Company found that 85%-90% of all the customers that tried on an Apple Watch in stores were turned into buyers.
Analysts have commented on the company since the sales numbers were released, indicating that the strong demand for the Apple Watch in the preorders will translate into blockbuster sales. Analyst Amit Daryanani of RBC forecasted that Apple will sell 3-5 million units in the June quarter, and between 15-20 million in the first year. Those numbers would only add 5% to the company’s bottom line since it is so large, but is still very impressive. Other analysts are even more bullish, predicting sales as high as 31 million units in the first 12 months.
