Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) To Sell 1M Apple Watch In Opening Weekend: Analyst

Apple smartwatch

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartwatch sales could hit the one million on the weekend of its launch that starts on April 24, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, in a research note on Tuesday. Such a number from Munster imply a potential attach rate of less than one percent of the total iPhone users. The iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus hit 10 million units in first three days of their sale.

“We believe given interest in the product and our prior survey work, a sub 1% attach rate in the opening weekend is realistic,” says Munster.

8m Apple Watch units in 2015

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has several loyal customers waiting for the gadget to be released on April 10. It is also hoped that the sales of Apple Watch will touch the mark of 300,000 units in just 24 hours of availability. This has been based on an attach rate of 8% on the pre-orders of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

It is expected that Apple will make revenue worth $4.4 billion by selling 8 million units of Apple Watch in 2015, and by 2017 it hopes to sell as many as 40 to 50 million units of the device contributing 10% of the estimated revenue by the company. Such numbers imply that about 8% to 10% of the iPhone owners would purchase Apple Watch.

Will partner resellers help?

The new devices from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – have helped the company in making tremendously high sales. Encouraged by the sales of its smartphones, Apple has planned to send out the Apple Watch to partner resellers expecting the product to garner good sales number. Munster believe that these channels won’t be able to make a much difference as the device would be available in limited quantity.

Apple Watch will be on sales from April 24th. Pre-orders for the Apple Watch will be made Live by the company starting April 10th. From the same day, a preview of the device will also be offered to the prospective buyers at the Apple stores and other pop-up shops in various parts of the world.