Fossil CEO: Wearables Smothering Swiss Watch Business

itwbennett writes: I think technology and the whole idea of wearables ... has taken some of the oxygen out of the Swiss business,' Fossil CEO Kosta Kartsotis told analysts on a call to discuss the watch maker's second quarter results. These new competitors, along with other factors like a strong U.S. dollar, contributed to Fossil's quarterly revenue decline, Kartsotis said. Last week, a report from market research firm NPD Group claimed the Apple Watch was partially behind the largest slump in U.S. watch sales since 2008.

Comments

Two different markets

[The Fat Bastid]

Analog watches are jewelry for people who want to make a fashion statement. Digital watches are for people who want a smartphone on their wrist.

Cellphones responsible not Apple watch.

[bl968]

Sorry I don't buy it. I think the fact that everyone carries cellphones and every cellphone displays the time on the face is what is behind his watch slump. I haven't worn a watch in years and it has nothing to do with apple's product.

Re:Slump?

[skam240]

A "clearly inferior product"?

Any day of the week i will take a finally produced piece of jewlery (what a watch basically is in the 21st century) over a lame fad that at first glance looks like a cheap piece of garbage on my wrist and does nothing usefull that my cell doesnt do better.

The first time i saw an Apple watch on someone's wrist i honestly thought they were wearing an ironic throwback time piece. Then i realized they were wearing an expensive, highly redundant, cheap looking piece of trash.