Few People Want Apple Watch, Survey Says

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Maybe Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) new smartwatch is too expensive or too complicated to operate, or it does not have all the features consumers hoped it would have. For one reason or another, new research shows demand for the Apple Watch is tiny.

Wallet Hero management has produced a survey of 500 people who get its email newsletter. The company tracks coupon offers from dozens of retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar. The research cannot claim to be scientific, and it is impossible for outsiders to say whether the Wallet Hero subscribers are a reasonable sample of people who might consider smartwatch products. Given all that, the Wallet Hero findings:

An overwhelming amount of those surveyed said that they’re not planning on purchasing the Apple Watch. Since this is more of a niche product it’s not completely surprising, but when you look at our past surveys about the iPhone it shows that demand will of course probably be nowhere near that of the iPhone. Of the 500 surveyed, around 98% (492) answered that they aren’t planning to purchase the Apple Watch. As pre-order sales start it will be interesting to see if the most hyped product within the “smart watch” category can hit projected sales numbers or if the watch will be a flop.

Left out was whether people prefer to get the Apple Watch by standing in line outside Apple retail outlets (as they have for new iPhones) or by ordering the product online and avoiding the elements, as well as human contact.

ALSO READ: Why This Analyst Downgraded Apple Ahead of Good News

Wallet Hero management also has decided to compare demand for the Apple Watch to that of the iPhone. Smartphone use eclipses wearables, and it will for some years to come, since demand for wearable products is hard to peg because it is a new category of consumer electronics devices.

Surveys about Apple Watch demand and reviews of the product features have multiplied since Apple’s announcement and the proximity of its April 10 launch shrinks. If Apple sells as many of Apple Watches as there are surveys about it, the product will be a runaway success.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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