Apple Inc.
sold more watches in their first quarter of availability than it did iPads or iPhones.
Research
firm IDC Thursday said Apple shipped 3.6 million Apple Watch units in
the second quarter, after it began shipping on April 24.
The
numbers are among the first credible indicators of Watch sales. Apple
hasn’t provided its own figures, opting to keep its numbers secret to
avoid tipping off competitors.
IDC said Apple’s sales placed it second among sellers of wearable devices behind Fitbit Inc.
The research firm said Fitbit shipped 4.4 million units during the
second quarter, although IDC distinguished between the Apple Watch and
basic wearables like Fitbit that don’t run third-party apps.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the IDC numbers.
The
IDC figures suggest the Watch has gotten off to a better start than the
iPad or iPhone. Apple launched the iPad on April 3, 2010, and sold 3.27
million units in that first quarter. The iPhone went on sale in June
2007 as the quarter was wrapping up and sold 270,000 units. In the
following three months, Apple sold 1.12 million iPhones.
Apple, which typically unveils new iPhones in the fall, on Thursday sent out invitations to a Sept. 9 event in San Francisco.
The
Watch has battled negative publicity and lukewarm reviews since it
appeared in the spring. No models were available at Apple retail stores
until mid-June.
In late July, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said Watch sales had surpassed Apple’s own projections, but didn’t say what those were.
A
new version of Watch software is coming out in the fall. It is expected
to address the sluggish performance of non-Apple apps. In the current
version, all third-party Watch apps run on the iPhone and beam data to
the watch, causing a lag in performance.