Research company Slice Intelligence has reported that Apple has seen a shade under one million pre-orders for the Apple Watch on Friday. Slice’s data is based on extrapolating data from a panel of two million online shoppers where approximately two thirds opted for the least expensive, low-end Apple Watch Sport model, which should come as no surprise. Slice’s data also showed the average number of smartwatches per customer as 1.3, which again should come as no surprise: the devoted Apple fans will be buying the smartwatch at the pre-order stage and many are buying for friends, relatives or presumably their other wrist! For colors, again two thirds opted for black, 22% went for white and the balance consisting of blue, green and pink. 28% of customers went for the black Sport strap, 25% opted for the Milanese loop and 14% bought the link bracelet.
What is surprising is that a shade under three quarters of buyers have recently bought another Apple product in the last couple of years. The Apple Watch needs to be paired with an Apple iPhone in order to be little more than an Apple-branded wrist watch. Perhaps we are seeing a trend of customers who have been bought an iPhone by a loved one and are adding the Apple Watch as an accessory? Or perhaps people will be buying the Apple Watch now in anticipation of buying an iPhone later in the year?
The Watch will be available to buy later in the month, on the 24 April, but Slice Intelligence shows 957,000 Americans having paid up front in order to be amongst the first to be wearing the new Apple smartwatch. This compares with approximately three quarters of a million having bought an Android Wear smartwatch during all of 2014 – given Apple’s devoted fanbase and marketing clout, this is not so surprising either. By comparison, over ten million of the new iPhone models were sold on the first weekend, but the smartphone market is very different to the smartwatch market. Customers are used to the concept of a smartphone whereas the smartwatch is still an immature product. Still: brace yourselves, the Apple Watch is coming.