Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks Apple will sell 300,000 Apple Watches during the first 24 hours of pre-order availability, and a million units during the smartwatch's launch weekend. Apple's entry into the smartwatch market will start on April 10 with pre-orders, and take off on April 24 when its available in stores.
Piper Jaffray sees 1M Apple Watch sales for launch weekend
Apple plans to start pre-orders for all three Apple Watch styles on Friday, April 10, and will start selling the devices in its stores two weeks later on Friday, April 24. Pre-orders will be delivered on the 24th, too.
Apple will offer Apple Watch in three different styles: Apple Watch Sport with an aluminum body and Ion-X glass display, Apple Watch with stainless steel body and sapphire glass display, and Apple Watch Edition with gold body and sapphire glass display. Pricing stats at US$349 and tops out at $17,000.
The company is hoping to streamline the purchase process with an appointment reservation system where customers get to try on different models before buying. While Apple would rather everyone make a viewing appointment, they will have time slots open for walk-in customers, too.
The new try-on and purchase system will likely keep lines down, and should also help the company process more orders in a shorter time frame. If so, Apple may be able to hit Mrt. Munster's launch weekend sales expectations without much trouble.
Selling a million watches over the course of the launch weekend will quickly make Apple the dominant player in the smartwatch market, and that control will likely grow through the rest of the year. Analysts are predicting sales ranging from 8 million units up to 20 million by the end of the year. Even at the low end of those models, Apple would still be a top seller in the market.
[Thanks to Invest Correctly for the heads up]