“This is a shockingly strong adoption rate that should serve as a wake-up call to Apple competitors.”
From Cybart’s “Apple Watch Is Now Worn on 100 Million Wrists” posted Thursday on Above Avalon.
It took five-and-a-half years for the Apple Watch installed base to surpass 100 million people. As shown in Exhibit 1, the installed base’s growth trajectory has not been constant or steady over the years. Instead, the number of people entering the Apple Watch installed base continues to accelerate. The 30 million new people that began wearing an Apple Watch in 2020 nearly exceeded the number of new Apple Watch wearers in 2015, 2016, and 2017 combined.
As of the end of 2020, approximately 10% of iPhone users were wearing an Apple Watch. This is a high percentage given the diverse technological wants and needs of those in the iPhone installed base.
Since the U.S. has been an Apple Watch stronghold for years, adoption in the country has trended materially high in comparison to global figures. At the end of 2020, approximately 35% of iPhone users in the U.S. were wearing an Apple Watch. This is a shockingly strong adoption rate that should serve as a wake-up call to Apple competitors interested in the wearables space. Apple Watch turned Fitbit from a household name as the wearables industry leader into a company that will eventually be viewed as an asterisk when the wearables story is retold to future generations.
My take: Cybart has become one of the best Apple device counters in the business, and unlike some sell-side analysts we know, he doesn’t stop at counting iPhones.
The same problem manifested itself again today. Schwab support kicked me up to a higher level where it was discovered that under Safari Preferences – Privacy – there is an option to block cross-site tracking.
TURN IT OFF.
This feature will intermittently prevent pages from fully loading. It is a Safari feature problem, not a Schwab issue. After turning it off I regained full access to my account.
(And I’ve been in a running battle with my own financial company about their website using Google CAPTCHA, which makes my financial data subject to “Google’s terms and conditions”.)
While others rushed in, Apple waited until they could deliver a truly smart watch, capable of becoming a platform. He planned for the future, i.e. waterproofing and the ability to make calls. Counting pre-2015 investments, this represents nearly a decade-long investment strategy. And this leverages the rest of the portfolio.
Apple Car? similar approach but longer, much bigger.
While I know many persons associate health and training with the Watch, I wish more emphasis was placed on all the other tasks one can do on the Watch. The Watch is the Gateway into the iOS ecosystem. It is a miniature iPhone, providing the user a quicker and more accessible use of the iOS ecosystem for payments, event passes, notifications, telephone and messaging, emails, maps & directions, calendar, appointments, reminders, etc.
The exponential growth in Watch users is not surprising because it takes a period of recognition, education and observation of other Watch users to gain fully the inherent value of owning and wearing the Watch. I always say that if I forget my phone at home I keep going to my destination. If I forget my Watch at home I turn around and drive home to retrieve it. That is how critical the Watch is to me in my daily activities of work and living.
I have an App for my meatr cooking thermometer. On the iPhone but not on the watch, darn. Or ‘not yet’.
Soon enough, having a Watch App will be de rigueur.
This year I bought myself a 6 and gave her my 4. Just try it.
Within a week she couldn’t live without it, if she doesn’t close her rings, watch out!
She uses it for fitness+ and it’s the first thing she puts on, last thing she takes off. Totally hooked.
Not talking about Airpods, Homepods, Macs …
“My take: Cybart has become one of the best Apple device counters in the business…”
— correction —
Cybart IS one of the best Apple analyst/commenters in the business. Rock solid. If you want your finger on the true pulse of Apple, start with Cybart and Dediu (Horace)
I think of the gravitas of the WATCH as being moreover just one component of the harmonious Apple trifecta — iPhone • WATCH • AirPods.
A symphonic trio of life-utility and (I’ll take the liberty of saying it)…
…fun.
This is the real competition for which there is no equal.