Is the Apple Watch a failure so far?

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According to media reports today, analysts at UBS recently said that judging from online search traffic, people's interest in Apple Watch has dropped significantly compared to when it was first launched in April. UBS said that in most countries and regions, searches for Apple Watch have dropped by at least 60%. The regions with the highest search traffic are the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, China, and the United Kingdom, but in Japan, searches for the watch are "very weak" compared to the strong performance of the iPhone.

I can relate. Since the launch of Apple Watch, both user feedback and sales analysis have almost without exception predicted the failure of this product. Generally speaking, Apple will announce the sales of new products soon after they are released, but it has always remained silent on the sales of Apple Watch. This silence is particularly abnormal and has attracted many speculations from the outside world. However, a large number of consulting agencies have analyzed the sales of Apple Watch.

In mid-last month, data released by Slice Intelligence showed that Apple Watch sales have recently fallen below 20,000 units per day, and sometimes even below 10,000 units. Moreover, two-thirds of the units sold are low-profit "sports" versions, which sell for only $349. Apple's gold version, which is priced at more than $10,000 and is betting on the luxury market, has been unpopular, with total sales in the U.S. less than 2,000 units to date.

In early July, US financial media CNBC reported that Apple Watches in some Apple retail stores were unsalable and in stock. A poll released at the time showed that consumers' interest in Apple Watches was fading rapidly, and some consumers considered it a cumbersome and boring electronic product. In June, Slice Intelligence's analysis pointed out that as of the middle of that month, the total sales of Apple Watches were only 2.79 million units. Compared with the 53 million sales of iPhone 6 in the second quarter of this year, this is almost negligible.

In mid-May, Slice Intelligence estimated that Apple Watch orders were 2.5 million, and pointed out that more than half of these 2.5 million watches were ordered on the first day of ordering. Since then, demand has been low, with less than 30,000 orders per day. In total, Apple Watch orders for the year are 11 million. After the orders began to be shipped, Apple Watch orders increased slightly, and the reason for the slight increase was that many reviews and unboxing videos stimulated the desire to buy. Overall, demand has been quite weak.

When Apple Watch was launched, Apple announced to the outside world through the New York Times that Swiss watches were in trouble and that Apple was going to subvert the watch industry and launch limited edition gold and rose gold Apple Watches priced at up to $17,000.

Although the slogans were shouted loudly at the time, looking back now, they are a bit laughable.