The Apple Watch Outsold Every Other Wearable Last Quarter (engadget.com) 109
According to Strategy Analytics, Apple has shipped 3.5 million wearables in the first quarter of 2017, which is 59 percent higher than the 2.2 million devices it did in the same period last year. Engadget reports: Cupertino captured 16 percent of the global marketshare and stole the wearables crown from Fitbit, which had a much less stellar quarter. Fitbit only shipped 2.9 million devices in Q1, 36 percent less than the 4.5 million units it moved in the first quarter of 2016. Even Xiaomi sold more devices, putting the beleaguered wearables-maker in third place. Those results are consistent with Apple's latest earnings report. The company said its Watch and TV sales jumped up 31 percent year-over-year, and head honcho Tim Cook said Watch sales have nearly doubled since last year. Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics executive director, said Apple's Watch Series 2 has been selling well "due to enhanced styling, intensive marketing and a good retail presence." Were you one of the 3.5 million customers who purchased an Apple Watch in the first quarter of 2017? If so, how do you like Apple's approach to wearables?
Question (Score:5, Funny)
Were you one of the 3.5 million customers who purchased an Apple Watch in the first quarter of 2017? If so, how do you like Apple's approach to wearables?
Do we get a $25 iTunes gift card if we answer your marketing survey?
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Were you one of the 3.5 million customers who purchased an Apple Watch in the first quarter of 2017? If so, how do you like Apple's approach to wearables?
Do we get a $25 iTunes gift card if we answer your marketing survey?
Nope, you get two Samsung Gears. Gotta get rid of inventory somehow.
Booyeah! (Score:4, Informative)
Popcorn for all!
I'll answer the question. (Score:5, Insightful)
And with billions of people in the world, almost nobody did.
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It's the standard slashbot line though. To people like the GP, if Apple were to invent a device that transmutes cancerous tumors into 24-carat gold, but it had no wireless and less space than a Nomad, it would be lame.
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And you have shown why so many people despise apple and apple worshippers.
Re: I'll answer the question. (Score:2)
Look at Garmin's range before you buy and read the very detailed reviews on dcrainmaker. A Garmin is almost certainly a better fitness tracker but may not be the best match for your non fitness needs.
I have a Garmin Fenix 5 and I'm very happy with it. It serves me much better than an Apple Watch would.
So, fitbit falling down? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently they managed to turn themselves toxic by swallowing, then discontinuing, pebble.
Something something nokia, who invented and even owned the smartphone market, then managing to kill themselves over it, by inviting themselves to be taken over by that other toxic maker of smartphones.
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Nah, the writing was on the wall well before that. You can only overhype crappy hardware and mail replacements for so long before people figure it out.
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Nah, the writing was on the wall well before that.
It certainly was. Their major issue was hiring new MBA types that didn't stick to the company's core values but instead started practicing their myopic next quarter numbers racket. Nokia quickly disintegrated after that as their best people started leaving and their product lines quit moving forward. Then apple came around and drove a stake through its heart. Nokia no longer had the talent nor will to answer to the iphone, and they quickly spiraled down the drain.
Who wants to charge their watch daily? (Score:3)
Get a Garmin, better features. Yeah, you lose out on the TV screen on your wrist but I'll take that sacrifice.
Re: Who needs to? Keep up Uncle Luddite. (Score:2)
Can the Garmin summon an Uber with a press?
The Garmin can track fitness data but only easily for Garmin stuff, whereas the Apple Watch has quite a lot of fitness apps that are well integrated with it...
My garmin Vivoactive can call an Uber, if installed the Uber app on it.
My fitness data syncs with Garmin, Strava, Fitbit (for work points), Apple Health and dropbox.
You are partly right, but mostly wrong (Score:4, Insightful)
Garmin is an arbitrary computational device. Read up on ConnectIQ sometime.
Have to admit I did not know that existed, and I did read up on it.
But how does that matter any more than the PebbleAPI? Which was also quite good and expansive.
Charging the device nightly means you're not getting sleep and resting heart rate analysis on a consistent basis.
If you read everything you'd see I also said you can charge while it's in the shower.
Garmin watch will last 10+ days on a charge if you don't do any workouts. If you do workouts it lasts 6-7.
So it's still off of your person sometime. That is not that huge a leap from the Series 2, and what happens next year when Apple is within a day of Garmin's figure?
Quite frankly you'd have to be some epic level of moron to purchase an Apple Watch of either generation considering just how far behind Garmin they are in just about every category that matters, including price.
See posts below about people purchasing the Apple Watch for Swimming, because it was 1/2 the price of the Garmin that could do the same thing...
Furthermore while I'll admit the app support is more impressive than I thought, in what world do you really think Garmin is ahead of Apple on this? If *you* read the AppleWatch API you'd find it's quite a lot more capable than the Garmin API, and there are a ton more Apple Watch apps now than there are Garmin apps.
So how are you not some kind of Epic Moron to claim Garmin is ahead in any way that matters - including price?
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Can the Garmin attach to my light meter and let me know the color temperature of a scene?
The fact that you list this as a number two feature on your list just affirms my belief that you are wearing a useless toy on your wrist.
Re: Who needs to? Keep up Uncle Luddite. (Score:2)
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Useless compared to what? I'm sure I could find a few things in your house that are less useful than a smartwatch.
Of course. Which is why I don't carry those items around everywhere I go.
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I recharge my watch every few years in 5 minutes by taking it to the jeweler at the supermarket. The watch it self is 24 years old and was a 21st birthday present from my Dad.
Your story sounds like a high school math exam question.
So I own an Apple Watch (Score:2)
I notice they don't break the sales down at all, so I have to wonder how many Series 2 watches actually have sold versus how many buyers were like me and weren't willing to spend until they were available for under $300.
I do like my watch, but I want to see how long its useful lifetime is. If the thing isn't good for three years at a minimum, I probably won't be a repeat customer. The argument for why it's useful is fairly narrow.
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Going strong at two years out (Score:2)
I got an Apple Watch at launch. It shows no signs of issues, is still in great condition, and still runs well - the software updates have been really a boon as using third party apps (or even native ones) is much more useful with the side button as app switcher/launcher...
I do find it very useful at this point, for lots of little things.
I also plan to keep mine for three years and possibly get a series three when those come out. But I may wait even one more cycle...
Status symbol? (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems like Apple products have been moving from useful products more toward just being status symbols. Seriously, the Apple Watches provide you with near zero useful functionality and have really shitty battery-life.
Re: Status symbol? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've had the Apple Watch for quite awhile, and it has some convenient features. Using it for payments is faster than credit card chips, heart rate monitor is excellent, it can unlock my computer, reading quick texts/notifications is nice, I like looking quickly to see my next meeting location, outside temperature at a glance is a help, and GPS directions at a glance with taps is often better than looking at the phone (when I'm driving a car that doesn't have a phone mount). I used to take my phone out of my pocket probably 100-200 times a day. Now it's more like once or twice an hour.
The battery has never run out on me. If I've forgotten to charge it overnight I put it on the charger for about 20 minutes while I'm getting ready in the morning and that's enough for the day.
As far as a status symbol, I don't think that's the case. The people I know who have one wear it for the features, not the status. In fact I'd rather not have the that kind of attention.
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" I used to take my phone out of my pocket probably 100-200 times a day"
probably not a typical usage pattern. Maybe you need to see a doctor ?
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6 times an hour * 18 hours is 108 times. With text messages, checking meeting times, news/Twitter notifications, etc. I don't think those numbers are terribly far off. I'm fully willing to admit that I was looking at my phone a lot -- but I also believe many other people follow a similar (or perhaps worse) usage pattern.
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have been moving from
Implying they weren't from the beginning?
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Not for teachers - Re:Status symbol? (Score:2)
I teach at a middle school and I notice that many of the teachers wear Smart Watches. First off, we need to know when the bell will ring. not know close to when it will ring; to know when it will ring.
The school clock is synchronized to the radio time signal, as are most of the teachers watches. This includes the smart watches. Me, I wear a G-Shock with radio sync.
Many of those same teachers receive messages through the day. This includes district messages that we are expected to be aware of immediately aft
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As shown time and again, there is a significant Luddite element around here that is not creative enough to see possibilities. "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame."
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To be a stats symbol, there has to be some rarity or exclusivity.
The Apple Watch was a status symbol for maybe the first four months; when that Burberry castoff severely under-forecast the demand, you couldn't get them in stores, and they were going for 3x the price on eBay. Now? Every third barista you see has one, as do probably 90% of my coworkers. It's thoroughly mainstream and not a status symbol at all.
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Slashdotters have been saying that Apple products are just a "fashion accesory" since the iPod. What normal person would wear a watch that wasn't a fashion accessory?
What is PT Barnum wearing though? (Score:1)
A "brave" customer born every minute...
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Thank you for your obvious knowledge of the massive piles of ca$h that Apple has. How much of that pile did you contribute to? You missed the point. They are constantly banking on the Apple Fanbois/Fangirls to purchase their products outright without shopping for a competitor. I'm not saying Apple is going anywhere as they are the current, virus invested maggot inducing 800 pound Gorilla in the room. What I'm indicating is they are falling way behind in innovation and sooner or later the white-robed di
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Yes, any company can fail, but the richest one still making the most money per quarter is the least likely to fail.
Did you look at the list before getting your panties in a bunch? All of those companies seemed like they were making shittons of money per quarter.
Apple owes more than 100 billions. Of their pile of cash, only 20 billions are available, the rest is stuck offshore and can't be used to acquire DIsney or anything else in the USA. I don't know what spreadsheet you use to make your investments planning but if it's telling you that Apple is a financially sound company, it's broken. If you want to do some speculat
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We already saw that movie. AOL and TimeWarner. Didn't work out well. The sequel (MSNBC) isn't doing so hot either.
Don't think we need to extend this into a trilogy.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Sheep! (Score:1)
Money can't buy me love.
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"Comment scale"? His *user ID* (52032) indicates that he's been a registered user of the site since 1998 or so.
Re:Sheep! (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple is falling behind
Apple is the most valuable private company in the world. You're delusional.
-jcr
And that makes them magically protected from screwing up or falling behind... How?
At one point, IBM was the worlds most valuable company. Hell, we even said things like "You'll never be fired for buying IBM" and "What does IBM stand for, 'Immense Buckets of Money'". Ahh the 90's, good times. The warning goes without saying: Pride goeth before a fall.
I think we've already passed peak Apple and they're going to start to descend into being just another device. Apple have managed to evade this being noticeable by expanding into other markets like China and India, but now they've got nowhere left to expand into and their decline in popularity is going to be noticeable. Apples problem here is that their competitors are just as good, if not better than they are. Sure Apple will be around for a while but their power is waning, just like IBM in the 2000's.
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Re: Sheep! (Score:1)
It's much quicker not to glance at your wrist or your phone. It's much healthier to not be a twitch response organism in a wireless electronic rapid response network.
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I think we've already passed peak Apple and they're going to start to descend into being just another device. Apple have managed to evade this being noticeable by expanding into other markets like China and India, but now they've got nowhere left to expand into and their decline in popularity is going to be noticeable. Apples problem here is that their competitors are just as good, if not better than they are. Sure Apple will be around for a while but their power is waning, just like IBM in the 2000's.
Apple can go a number of ways. If they truly invest in modernizing their desktop lines and keep on top of improving products, They will continue to do well. IBMs problem was that they didn't cannibalize their own business, so others did it for them. Apple has shown no such tendencies, and that is why they are where they are.
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We used to say that companies with huge cash reserves were major targets for takeover operators. When a company has a large cash reserve, you can spend oodles of money in your effort to take it over. You only need to succeed for all the money you spent to be paid back in spades.
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Apple has 1/4 of a trillion dollars tied up in offshore assets they cannot bring into the US to invest and/or use in their defense.
That sounds like a ripe opportunity for somebody with deep pockets to take them over.
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Ah yes...the Big Blue...having (briefly) worked there in the 90s I give you:
Icompatible Bits (of) Machinery
Idiots Become Managers and
I've Been Misled
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Apple is the most valuable private company in the world.
I think someone should call the SEC because lots of people have bought shares of that private company in the public market.
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Microsoft is also more valuable than ever, yet fallen behind.
Who buys this crap? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously....a watch that goes toes up if you don't charge it daily? I know you've got the contingent of folks that buy stuff because "it's cool," but a watch that can't go a couple of days without charging it?
Pass.
Re:Who buys this crap? (Score:4, Insightful)
I inherited a watch from my grandfather after her passed away. He wore it for decades. I'm pretty sure the band isn't original -- it seems much newer than the watch itself.
But get this -- to use it you have to wind it up -- every day! Can you imagine such a thing? This man, and many others like him for decades started their day having to wind their watch, because you couldn't go a couple of days without winding it.
And somehow, perhaps miraculously, his generation won WWII. He himself served in the Canadian Forces, attaining the rank of Sergeant. And yet every day he had to wind his watch.
Yaz
Re: (Score:3)
Seriously....a watch that goes toes up if you don't charge it daily? I know you've got the contingent of folks that buy stuff because "it's cool," but a watch that can't go a couple of days without charging it?
Go through slashdot comments of a few years ago, and you'll find large numbers of people saying the same thing about phones.
I don't mind putting my watch on its charger at night. I don't like wearing it while I sleep anyway. I'd rather not have to charge it every night but it's really not that much of a hardship -- and well worth it for the functionality of the watch.
IMO, a normal timepiece isn't worth the effort of strapping onto my wrist every morning, but a smartwatch is. Especially since mine (LG Sp
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Unless, of course, these gadgets are advertised as useful for health monitoring, including the time when you are asleep.
Round (Score:2)
>"Were you one of the 3.5 million customers who purchased an Apple Watch in the first quarter of 2017?"
Uh, nope. Moto 360, and now Moto 360.2. Round like a nice watch should be, and always-on display like a watch should be! Oh, and works with ALL phones. Plus it cost less, has a better band, and has been out longer.
And for years I get stopped all the time with questions about how something some nice isn't Apple .
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The 360.2, perhaps. A smartwatch without GPS is all but useless if you want to use it as a fitness device.
I'm happy with my Garmin Vivoactive. I can get notifications, track my daily run and steps. It works fin with the iPhone and best of all, it didn't cost $300.
I like Seiko approach to wearables (Score:2)
this ones does a snazzy job for me https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0072... [amazon.ca] and my phone in my pocket handles the calls.
Swimmers watch (Score:2)
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Replaced my Pebble Watch... (Score:3)
Unsurprising (Score:1)
Re: Unsurprising (Score:2)
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So you only but products that are unpopular? How's that working out for you?
Non sequitur. Study some basic logic, without or without other iSheep.
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Easily explained (Score:2)
This is because of two factors, the first being that "wearables" are stupid, with the second being that Apple fanatics will but literally anything that Apple markets to them.
Bought a 2nd hand one (Score:4, Insightful)
I've been wearing an automatic Swiss watch for years now. It's needing a service though, when I take it off before bed it's dead in the morning.
I write Apps and I thought I'd buy a 2nd hand Apple Watch to try it out and see if I could do anything with my own Apps on it.
Wasn't convinced when it first came out but now that you can pick up a series 1 for 1/4 of it's price new it's not too risky to try, i could punt it on again.
So I got a stainless steel 42mm S1 for under $200
The battery on this used watch lasts a whole day easily, I take it off and put it on the charger when I go to bed. Better than the Swiss watch.
The health monitoring is neat, I like that it reminds you stand up, take a breath and move my ass if I've been sitting coding too long.
I feel like I can leave the phone and I don't carry it around as much. Phone calls aren't missed, I like that I can answer them on my wrist.
It's the little things about it that I've come to appreciate that my very nice Swiss automatic doesn't do.
Cooking dinner, I set a timer so I can leave the kitchen and that tap on the wrist when I need to return is really handy.
Logging into PayPal, which I do a lot for work, I have 2 step verification and the Symantec VIP app on the watch is so much quicker than using the phone.
The smart watch isn't a smart phone and never will be.
It's probably not for everyone but anyone who hasn't tried it probably shouldn't critique it until they've tried it.
It's one of those things that until you've tried it and had one for at least a month you probably won't get the point of it.
I just can't see myself going back to the Swiss automatic.
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People I know who have them really like them (Score:2)
OK; so I'm a serious watch nerd, and have a decent collection of all kinds of stuff...can't see myself getting one of these but people I know like 'em a lot.
Female colleague has a bunch of nice timepieces, including a beautiful ladies classic Rolex Datejust in gold and steel. Also has a Cartier - fine piece.
Yet since she got a cheap-looking iWatch in pink she wears it every day. Why? Utility.
If you're an iPhone user, looks like they are genuinely useful.