Apple’s Not Sharing Apple Watch Numbers and Why That’s a Good Thing

Apple stock took a dive after releasing its quarterly financial report this week, despite world-dominating iPhone numbers and solid Mac and iPad sales. The culprit, of course, is Apple Watch.

Wall Street analysts claim the Watch has underperformed, while Apple says the Watch has exceeded internal estimates. With a new product category, the truth is, they’re both right.

Apple won’t reveal to investors how many Watches they’ve actually sold. Why the secrecy? Tim Cook says its for competitive reasons. Now, the naysayers out there think Cook is just covering his tracks, that this indicates the Watch is a disappointment. We here at Appstem think it’s just smart. Tim Cook has always said initially the goal is not pure sales, but to lay the groundwork for an entirely new product category.

Here’s the problem with any new product category, especially one as nuanced as the smart watch. We haven’t come close to exploring its potential. Right now we only have an amazing idea, but none of the infrastructure in place to truly capitalize on that idea. Sure it’s great to use your Watch to open a door at the W Hotel or buy a coffee at Starbucks, but the Watch needs to do more than work with select partners. It needs to open all the door and buy all the coffees. That’s the real goal, and it’s still a long way off.

So here’s Apple, the leader in this tenuous new product category. They could give away sales numbers, but that’s giving away a competitive advantage. You can bet every company from Samsung to Pebble wants to know how many Watches have sold so they can respond accordingly. Do they dump more money in? Do they pull the plug and go in a completely new direction? This certainly wouldn’t be the first time companies have drafted off Apple’s success.

We tried to get through this without a stupid watch pun, but in this case, only time will tell. As for us, we dig using the Watch and creating Watch apps. Remember those halcyon days with the original iPhone? No one had any idea the world that phone would go on to create.

Contact our web developers in San Francisco to learn more about Apple Watch and other various Apple products.