Will the Apple Watch live up to the hype?

Mixed reviews on the future of the smartwatch

Apple certainly made waves over the last week as news surfaced that the Apple Watch was well on its way to a Spring 2015 release. Some analysts say that the release could come as early as March but the company has not come out with a certain date. Apple also is set to debut the 12 inch MacBook Air in the next couple of months as well. As far as the prediction of how the Apple Watch will do, it all depends on who you ask. There are some who are bullish on the smartwatch and then there are those who see it not being that successful.

One person who is on the bullish bandwagon for the Apple Watch is analyst Trip Chowdhry of the firm Global Equities Research. Chowdhry believes that the Apple Watch will become the biggest selling product in the history of Apple. Chowdhry is predicting that the Apple Watch will be able to sell in upwards of 42 million units during 2015. A lot of insiders have been doubtful of Chowdhry and his advice as last year he predicted that Apple would falter if the Apple Watch was not released during 2014. It did not happen and Chowdhry started to become leery of the Apple Watch. Since the announcement came that the watch would be released sometime in early 2015, he has changed course and is one of the biggest proponents of the Apple Watch.

Then there are the antagonists of the Apple Watch. One of those is the noted venture capitalist in Fred Wilson. In a recent report, Wilson predicted that the Apple Watch will not take off like the iPad, iPod, and iPhone did. Wilson thinks that the thought of wearing a computer on your wrist will be a turnoff to some consumers. Numbers wise, the Apple Watch probably will not come close to iPhone numbers but should be able to rival the iPad. The iPad sold 19.5 million units during its first year. With the Apple Watch having a companion to the iPhone, only a small percentage of iPhone users would have to get an Apple Watch to be able to pass those iPad numbers. In the end as always, it will be the consumer who will decide if the Apple Watch will be the next iconic product in the Apple line.