Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'I don't even look at what the analysts say'
Cook visited Ireland last week and gave an interview to the Irish Independent about Apple's current suite of products and its presence in Ireland.
Adrian Weckler asked Cook about Apple Watch sales, mentioning that some analysts have seen Apple's refusal to provide hard numbers over the amount of devices sold as a sign that the product isn't performing well.
"I don't even look at what the analysts say," Cook said. (Back in April, however, Cook did admit that he looked at estimated cost breakdowns for Apple products - which are often published by analysts - saying, "I've never seen one that is anywhere close to being accurate.")
He went on to tell the Irish Independent that "I think it's going to be a huge holiday season. We're extremely optimistic. We shipped the Watch first in the June quarter and we sold a lot. We sold even more than that in the September quarter. And we're looking for a big holiday season."
Later on in the interview Cook made more confident comments about the Apple Watch. He said that "I just feel confident that we're going to sell a lot. We announced new cases and bands in September along with Watch OS2. We're already shipping our second version of the Watch operating system. And we've got almost 1,500 native apps from developers for the Watch. Including the Irish Independent."
Here's what Cook said about Apple Watch sales numbers during a Wall Street Journal conference in October:
We are not announcing the numbers. This is competitive information. I don't want to help the competition. We shipped a lot [of Apple Watches] the first quarter, then last quarter we shipped even more. I can predict this quarter we will ship even more.
Analysts have been scrambling to find an estimate for Apple Watch sales since Apple failed to disclose a number. Fortune reports that analysts reduced their sales expectations following Cook's refusal to provide numbers.