Android Wear Sales Numbers are No Indicator for Apple Watch Success or Failure

Analyst company Canalys released a report about the Android Wear sales in 2014.

A new report Canalys says that 720,000 Android Wear devices have shipped in 2014. The total wearable bands sales volume was 4.6 million units. The best-selling Android Wear device was the Moto 360 despite supply issues. As we are just 2 months away from the Apple Watch launch, the Android Wear sales number has been immediately brought into connection with the Apple Watch.

There is already a controversy on how to interpret the 720,000 number. Is this a success or a failure? Several reports paint a picture of failure and hail the Apple Watch already as the winner of the smartwatch. It is very likely that the Apple Watch will sell over a million units in the first days of the launch, just because there are that many Apple fans that want the newest creation the Cupertino based company is releasing. 

To say though that Android Wear is a failure based on the initial sales numbers is far fetched. The smartwatch market is just about to mature into the mainstream. The game is still very open. Apple will give the smartwatch market a huge push. Swiss Watch makers will jump on the bandwaggon as well and consumers will have a wide range of smartwatch choices in 2015.

Canalys said in the report: “Apple made the right decisions with its WatchKit software development kit to maximize battery life for the platform, and the Apple Watch will offer leading energy efficiency,” said Canalys Analyst Daniel Matte. “Android Wear will need to improve significantly in the future, and we believe it will do so.”

The verdict on the battery life of the Apple Watch is still out. We expect that it will not significantly be better than what Android Wear smartwatches offer. Battery life is a huge deciding feature for adoption. The first company that can solve the battery life problem on a full featured smartwatch will have a major advantage in the market.

2015 will be an exciting time for wearables, especially for smartwatches. The next highlight is the launch of the Apple Watch in April. Apple is likely to host a media event for the Apple Watch launch that will highlight new Apple Watch apps that show the user value of the Apple Watch. 

Apple Watch apps like the DexCom Glucose meter are grand use examples for the Apple Watch. We see Apple focus on apps like that with obvious consumer value when the company launches the Apple Watch. The exact date has still not been disclosed.

Apple is though ramping up the hype around the Apple Watch. Earlier this week Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about the Apple Watch and how it will change our lives.