New Supply Chain Rumor Reiterates Apple Watch Headed For Mass-Production in January
Supply Chain and production woes with certain components for Apple's $349 smartwatch have allegedly been resolved, according to Taiwanese media.
A report by Taiwan’s United Daily News claims that Apple supplier Quanta will begin mass-production of the Apple Watch in January, echoing an earlier supply-chain rumor from September.
It claims that the initial production run will be between three and five million units.
The report says that there have been ‘breakthroughs’ in yield issues, and that the company increased its production staffing from 3000 to 10,000 workers in the second half of the year, with further recruitment ongoing.
While Apple still hasn’t given a more specific launch date than ‘early 2015,‘ a leaked comment by retail head Angela Ahrendts said that the launch would be in “the spring.”
We have, though, been seeing increasing signs of Apple gearing-up for the release of its smartwatch. The company recently updated its microsite with interactive images and new sections with greater detail on the functionality of the device, and we exclusively revealed that Apple Stores have begun recruiting fashion and luxury experts to help sell the watch. The iOS 8.2 beta released to developers yesterday includes WatchKit, allowing them to create apps and Glances for the device.
Morgan Stanley predicted last month that around 10% of owners of the iPhone 5 and up will buy an Apple Watch, putting first year sales right at the top-end of the 10-30M range suggested by other analysts.
Our 30M Apple Watch unit estimate in CY15 [Calendar Year 2015] is at the high end of consensus and arguably still conservative. Street estimates run the gamut,with most ranging between 10M and 30M units in the first year. We believelooking at penetration into the Apple installed base yields the most realistic assessment of demand potential of the Watch. Our 30M unit estimate implies 10% penetration into Apple’s 315M iPhone 5 or newer installed base exiting 2014, which is lower than iPad penetration of 14% in its first year.
Source: 9to5Mac
Related: How Apple Has the Power to Make or Break a Supply Chain Supplier
