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Apple's iWatch Could Come With IOS, Earn $6 Billion a Year

Posted by samzenpus on from the better-than-a-swatch dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple's long-rumored "iWatch" could earn the company $6 billion a year, if an analyst quoted by Bloomberg proves correct. Citigroup analyst Oliver Chen estimated the global watch industry's annual revenue at $60 billion a year, with gross margins of roughly 60 percent. "This can be a $6 billion opportunity for Apple, with plenty of opportunity for upside if they create something totally new like they did with the iPod," he told the newswire, "something consumers didn't even know they needed." Meanwhile, The Verge reports that Apple has " chosen to rework the full iOS to run on the watch instead of building up the iPod nano's proprietary touch operating system," which has led to battery issues: while Apple would like the device to last "at least 4-5 days" between charges, the current prototypes give somewhat less. While an "Apple TV" long dominated the rumor mill as Apple's next big product, the frequency and detail of "iWatch" rumors over the past few weeks suggests that a timepiece could be the company's next big project."

7 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. "totally new like the ipod" by sneezinglion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Say what? Exactly what was totally new about the ipod?

    I suppose you could say the design of the case was new, but MP3 players were out before the iPod.

    1. Re:"totally new like the ipod" by SilentStaid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly what was totally new about the ipod?

      It worked out of the box, as intended and easily for everyone from soccer moms to geeks and everything in between. It looked slick, the marketing campaign was tight and most importantly it fulfilled the needs of 'the majority' of consumers better than any other product on the market. Bash Apple all you want, but if you deny that I'd assume you're being deliberately obtuse.

    2. Re:"totally new like the ipod" by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It was "totally new" in terms of being the first commercially viable product of its kind. There were flash-based players that held a few songs, laptop-drive based players that held more music but were not pocketable, and even MP3-capable CD players with the same problem. And then there was the issue of connectivity - the iPod used a much faster 1394 connection which made it feasible to sync. Even the similarly-sized Toshiba that came out shortly after the iPod - using the same drive - used a horrid DRM that made the device extremely painful to use. It was not a new idea, but then neither was the first airplane, telephone, or lightbulb.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. very uncertain conversion by Algae_94 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not sure how well traditional watch sales would convert to iWatch sales. traditional watches are really more of a jewelry piece, not a highly functional device, they just happen to have a couple of functions. At the same time, it is very much not clear if iWatch devices would cannibalize iPad/iPod/Iphone sales. To just estimate $6 billion of sales at a product we don't even know if its real sounds like analysts trying to pump up AAPL share price.

  3. Come On! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    (Posting AC because I'm at work)

    Look, I'm a huge Apple fanboy, believe me, but come on! We're posting articles from FINANCIAL ANALYSTS now? When these nimrods have something valuable to say, it'll already have been old news for several months. His entire job is built on speculation and generating (or deflating) interest in a company. He does NOTHING OF VALUE! And we're going to put stock in his thoughts?

    Come on. I know the Slashdot of yesteryear is gone and dead but let's not post commentary from financial analysts, even if it is about Apple.

  4. Re:Does anyone use watches anymore? by tyrione · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This could be really cool if they were able to pack the functions of an iPhone into a stylish looking watch.

    However, until they've got the tech that well established, it's going to be a hard sell for most of us: we replaced our watches will cell phones and, in the interest of not carrying duplicate expensive devices, rely on the phone exclusively to tell time.

    Watch sales are nearly $20 Billion, annually, so yes, ``someone still uses a fucking watch.'' http://www.fhs.ch/en/statistics.php

  5. Re:What time is it? by poetmatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    don't worry, your comment is about as valid as the article's magic math.

    Basically: let's come up with a value for a market
    and then: let's imagine apple getting 10% of that market. Forget costs, forget how they get to 10% or how long it takes them to get there. Let's just magic that they do.

    cause/reality/logic? None of the three exist. Possibly the dumbest people on businesswatch aside from everyone else at businesswatch.