Apple Watch aims to boost sales rolling out to Target, Best Buy

Apple Watch is now available at Best Buy and will soon sell at Target stores nationwide. 

|
Kiichiro Sato/AP
Apple Watches are displayed at an Apple store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile Friday, Sept. 25, 2015, in Chicago.

In April, Apple unveiled its latest foray into consumer technology, the Apple Watch. With prices starting at $349, many were unsure whether the Watch was a necessary purchase. But after Apple’s months of exclusive sales ended in September, third party retailers are eager to stock the product as they head into the holiday sales season.

Best Buy was the first to make the Watch available in all retail outlets last week, a change from Best Buy’s original announcement that the Watch would be sold in just 300 of their locations. “Best Buy's eagerness to expand its rollout of the device clues us in to the retail success of the Apple Watch,” wrote Verge.

But perhaps even more convenient to shoppers, the Apple Watch will soon be available at Target. By Oct. 25, shoppers will be able to buy the Apple Watch at 1,800 Target stores (and online starting Oct. 18). According to CNN Money, select models will be available in-store, with a larger variety available online.

“The expansion into Target stores could give the Apple Watch a noticeable bump through the holiday season, restoring the smartwatch's momentum as Apple works on a follow up,” reported Tech Times.

By rolling the Apple Watch out among third-party retailers, Apple hopes to boost sales by reaching a wider audience. 

Apple has remained quiet as to the specific number of watches sold so far. In second quarter reports, Apple CEO Tim Cook reported that “the Watch in its first 9 weeks outperformed both the original iPhone and the first iPad,” reported Forbes.

The WSJ reported that the research firm IDC  said Apple shipped 3.6 million Apple Watch units in the second quarter, after it began shipping on April 24.

The IDC figures suggest the Watch has gotten off to a better start than the iPad or iPhone. Apple launched the iPad on April 3, 2010 and sold 3.27 million units in that first quarter. The iPhone went on sale in June 2007 as the quarter was wrapping up and sold 270,000 units. In the following three months, Apple sold 1.12 million iPhones.

But, as Forbes also pointed out, “Watch sales may have exceeded Apple’s internal expectations, as both Cook and CFO Luka Maestri insist, but they did not exceed Wall Street’s.” Since the watch debuted, Apple shares have fallen about 15 percent.

The Watch was originally designed to mitigate the constant need to look at a smartphone. “After three-plus decades of building devices that grab and hold our attention – the longer the better – Apple has decided that the way forward is to fight back,” wrote Wired.

Kevin Lynch, Apple’s Vice President of technology, explained in an interview with Wired, “We’re so connected, kind of ever-presently, with technology now. People are carrying their phones with them and looking at the screen so much,” he said. “People want that level of engagement, but how do we provide it in a way that’s a little more human, a little more in the moment when you’re with somebody?”

And so the Apple Watch was born.

But the question still remains: do you actually need an Apple Watch? CNet’s wearable tech reviewer, Scott Stein says, “Right now, probably not. Smartwatches may one day be the future of phones, or a seamless extension of both them and your home, or any number of connected devices. Right now, they function as phone accessories. And that's where the Apple Watch lands.”

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Apple Watch aims to boost sales rolling out to Target, Best Buy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/1005/Apple-Watch-aims-to-boost-sales-rolling-out-to-Target-Best-Buy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe