Success is not always 100% certain. Even the most successful companies can fail.
Apple is The Most Recent to Fail 
It’s been over a year since the Apple watch was introduced. Sales have been very low.
Mike Murphy, a writer for Quartz who covers technology wrote an article on the Watch. The title is “More than a year after its release, and still no one wants to buy an Apple Watch.” The article appeared on Quartz’s website on 7/11/16.
In the article, Mike referred to a poll Quartz did of 534 US iPhone users. The poll revealed only 8% of those surveyed owned an Apple watch. Less than 5% of those who haven’t purchased the watch yet said they were either extremely likely or very likely to purchase one if a new version is released this year.
Over the years Apple customers have been very loyal to the company. Any time Apple has introduced a new product, their past customers have rushed to buy it. An example is the iPhone. Almost every time a new version has been released, past customers have lined up in advance at every Apple store prior to its release to be the first to buy it.
That did not occur with the Apple watch. There are no indications that will change in the future.
Although the concept of the watch is great and many unique features are built into it, the average American consumer did not see it as an indispensable item they needed to have.
Even Great Marketing Could Not Generate Sales
Check out the marketing on the watch’s web page – http://www.apple.com/watch. The marketing for the watch is cutting edge and just as good as it has been for all of Apple’s other products.
What happened? Why hasn’t the Apple Watch been a Success?
It just was not a product the average American wanted. They did not have a desire for it. It did not offer enough unique items that made them feel they had to have it. Those who did buy it were the Apple purists who have to have everything Apple comes out with.
The Lesson for Other Companies
Prior to developing a new product make sure you do adequate research to determine that this product is something that the average person needs to have and actually wants.
The greatest marketing will not generate sales if the customer does not need or want it.
Learn from Apple’s failure here. Do not do what they did with the watch.
