A new poll suggests that Apple could sell an ‘iWatch’ to as much as 4% of current iPhone owners. That means the company could sell as many as 10 million wearable devices in just the first year on the market.
Investment firm Piper Jaffray surveyed 799 U.S. consumers about Apple’s rumored wrist-worn device and concluded that an “iWatch” could have a penetration rate of between 2 and 4 percent among iPhone owners. With an estimated user base of 293 million iPhone owners, that would translate to between 5 million and 10 million sales in the first year, analyst Gene Munster said.
“While we do not view the watch as a likely needle-mover for Apple in terms of revenue in 2014, we put it in a similar category as the television in that it could demonstrate Apple’s ability to innovate (good for the multiple) and potentially lead to a more meaningful new product category in wearable tech,” Munster wrote.
Survey participants were asked if they would purchased an iPhone-connected watch at a price of $350. 12% replied they would be interested at that price.
Munster noted he pushed his estimated adoption rate downward a bit, as even though a consumer may be interested in a product, they may not actually buy it.
By selling 7.5 million ‘iWatches” in the first year, the midpoint of Munster’s prediction, Apple would bring in an additional $2.6 billion in revenue and $790 million in profit in 2014.
