A lack of sales data is fuelling widespread speculation over the level of success achieved by the Apple Watch since it launched in April.
Last week Slice Intelligence released its analysis of Apple Watch sales, based on monitoring electronic receipts sent by email to US online customers, which concluded that sales had dropped by 90percent since launch week.
Other analysts have since called into question the quality and scale of Slice’s sample.
As Apple continues to sell its Watch through its own retail outlets, both bricks and mortar and online, accurate figures are impossible to determine and Apple does not look as though it is in any hurry to help clarify the situation. It is a markedly different stance from that taken by Apple in the past when launching new generations of iPhone and iPad, when it consistently heralded record-breaking launch sales.
Apple Watch sales estimates from industry analysts have so far ranged from three million units to five million units in the quarter up until the end of June.
Quarterly results due next week won’t help either as Apple Watch sales have been added to the ‘Other’ category which includes a number of Apple products outside of the core iPhone and iPad business. Analysts will be closely monitoring the performance of the Other category to see how it performs compared to previous quarters.
In October last year Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer, went as far as saying he didn’t want to release specific Apple Watch figures, which he said would aid competitors.
As would be expected Slice Intelligence has come out in defence of its figures, suggesting that the decline noticed in online sales, the only ones covered in its sample, mean customers may be returning to Apple Stores to make their Watch purchases after pre-orders and launch sales were conducted online only.
