A Moment in Apple Watch History
Mike Wehner over at the Daily Dot has written a piece titled A Moment in Apple Watch History which covers how Apple’s biggest products – from the iPod to the iPad – all started out with modest sales, only to become massive businesses. I truly loved reading this piece because it highlights exactly how all products, no matter how great they are in hindsight, get started.
Take a look at what the iPod sales looked like nearly two years after it went on sale.
Eventually the iPod went on to become a huge success. But not until a full three years after it debuted. What helped it? A few things. But the biggest I think was the iPod Nano with its lower price point and ultra-portability. Still, look at its growth.
Next, let’s look at the iPhone. I worked for Apple during this time so I witnessed early adoption front and center. I also worked long enough to witness lines getting longer year after year. It was truly amazing.
Look at the first five quarters for the iPhone. It was good, but it wasn’t great. In fact, I remember Apple reducing the price by $200 in order to get more people in the door to buy it. Was the device revolutionary from the start? Oh my God, yes. But even so, these things take time. Tech pundits don’t seem to understand this as Wehner points out:
The iPhone is certain to fade into history as another cool Apple innovation, that others soon rushed competitive, like-products to market, blowing away any significant lead Apple might have.
It wasn’t until we saw the prices get subsidized by AT&T that the iPhone really started to grow. However, with that being said, the real explosion didn’t happen until late 2010 when the iPhone 4 hit. Don’t get me wrong, sales were strong and good up until then, but the iPhone 4 changed the game. It took three full years and 4 different iPhone’s before Apple started seeing the insane growth it sees today. Again, things take time.
This is all to say that it’s way, way too early to call the Apple Watch a flop. You truly have to give this product a few years before you can do that. As with all great products, things take time.