REUTERS/Toru Hanai
Not as many people are buying the Apple Watch as was expected.
Sadly, on Apple's Tuesday investor relations call, the firm chose to keep investors guessing and CEO Tim Cook would not confirm any solid Watch sales figures, saying he did not want to reveal "metrics that could aid competitors."
The only hint Cook gave was that Apple "sold more Apple Watches in nine weeks than it sold iPhones and iPads when they first launched."
However, using this figure combined with some mathematical wizardry cross-referencing the firm's departmental revenue and sales figures, experts from Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and PiperJaffray have issued several Apple Watch sales estimates.
The current Apple Watch sales estimates are:
- Credit Suisse : 2.5 million Apple Watches sold, which is inline with its prior estimates.
- Morgan Stanley: 2.2 million Apple watches sold, down from its three million estimate.
- Deutsche Bank: 2.7 million Apple Watches, down from its 3.9 million projection.
- Goldman Sachs: 2.45 million Apple Watches sold, down from its 3.4 million estimate.
- PiperJaffray: 2.5 million Apple Watches, down from its three million projection.
The combined average indicates Apple sold around 2.47 million smartwatches over the quarter. PiperJaffray also said it believes the average Watch price was $500, which would imply Watch revenue of $1.2 billion.
Apple reported total revenue of $49.6 billion, up 33% annually. Within that, "Other" revenue, which includes the Apple Watch rose to $2.6 billion, up 56% from $1.6 billion the year before. Business Insider reached out to Apple for comment on the experts' estimates.
A stuttered start
PiperJaffray said the Apple Watch's lower-than-expected sales are likely due slow adoption of the platform within the developer community.
"Recall that when smartphones begun to be an important new development platform, developers first used PC techniques on mobile and it took time to develop best practices for mobile. We believe there could be an adjustment period for Watch developers as well," read PiperJaffray's research paper.
PiperJaffray remained cautious on Apple Watch growth despite the push. PiperJaffray expects Apple to sell 2.5 million Apple Watches over the next quarter.
Despite the lower than forecast sales, the estimates indicate the Apple Watch is ahead of its key rival, Android Wear.
Google has not revealed Android Wear sales figures. However, according to Slice Intelligence research only 720,000 Android Wear device were sold in 2014.
Business Insider has reached out to Google for firm Android Wear sales figures.