Apple has an event scheduled for March 9th where it will talk more about the Apple Watch. This is the company’s first smartwatch so there is no historical data that will help us ascertain how it will perform in the market. Analysts believe that it is going to perform quite well. Research firm Strategy Analytics goes one step ahead and claims that the Apple Watch will “ignite” the global smartwatch market.
Strategy Analytics predicts that Apple is going to ship 15 million units of the Apple Watch in 2015 alone. That doesn’t say how many of those units will actually be sold, this obviously depends upon customers, but given how nascent the global smartwatch market is 15 million units shipped will certainly be a big feat.
To put things in perspective the research firm expects all other companies in this arena, like Samsung, Pebble, Motorola and other Android Wear manufacturers, will collectively ship 12.7 million smartwatches in 2015. Apple Watch is predicted to outperform all of them.
It remains to be seen though how consumers react to the Apple Watch. Some of its models are likely to be priced as much as $5,000, even the base model comes in at $349, so it’s quite expensive then other smartwatches out there.
The fact remains though that Apple is positioning this as more of a fashion accessory as opposed to a conventional smartwatch. Will that be enough to entice customers to spend a few hundred dollars on a smartwatch? Time will tell.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Watch, Smartwatches and Wearable Tech.