eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Apple is planning to sell millions of its upcoming Apple Watch smartwatches to iPhone users so they can pair the devices together and get news, phone calls, health information and more on their wrists, but a new Reuters/Ipsos poll asserts that some 69 percent of Americans say that they don’t plan to buy the watches.
Apple, meanwhile, is also reportedly pulling competing smartband products, such as the Jawbone Up and Nike+ Fuelband, from Apple stores in preparation for the launch of the Apple Watch starting April 24, according to a report by Modern Readers.
The Reuters/Ipsos study also said that only about half the 1,245 Americans who were surveyed between March 9 and March 13 about the Apple Watch had even heard of the device so far. Apple took the wraps off the device on March 9 in a showy presentation in San Francisco. The smartwatches will start at $349 for a Sport version, while its luxury Watch Edition begins at a cool $10,000 for an Apple Watch in 18-karat gold.
Preorders for Apple Watches begin on April 10 in the United States, while the devices will be available, starting April 24, when they will be in Apple stores and available for perusing and purchasing. A standard Apple Watch will start at $549 for a 38mm-wide watch, or at $599 for a 42mm-wide standard Apple Watch. Prices for the 38mm version can rise to $1,049, while prices for the 42mm version can rise to $1,099, depending on the watch band that is selected. The most costly luxury Watch Edition model will sell for $17,000.
The study concluded that 25 percent of the respondents said they are interested in buying an Apple Watch, while 69 percent said they had no desire to make such a purchase, according to Reuters. Six percent of the respondents said they were unsure.
At the same time, some 13 percent of the survey respondents who don’t own iPhones said that they would consider buying one so they could use an Apple Watch, according to Reuters. About 52 percent of the respondents “agreed with the statement that smartwatches are a ‘passing fad,'” the news story reported.
An Apple spokesperson did not immediately respond to an eWEEK inquiry seeking comment on the poll results.
Apple Watch also includes health and fitness features, including the ability to track users’ daily movements, such as how long they are exercising or getting brisk activity, and displaying it in a graphic on the device’s face. At the end of the week, the Watch will send the user a report of his or her activity.
As the Apple Watch prepares to head to the marketplace, the company is reportedly making some moves to clear out competition from its own stores so that Apple Watch buyers can focus on the company’s newest offering.
Since the Apple Watch was unveiled March 9, Apple has allegedly been pulling competing similar products, including smartbands from Jawbone and Nike, from its Apple physical and online stores, according to a report by Modern Readers. Missing since the Apple Watch announcement are the Jawbone Up and Nike Fuelband devices, the article reported.
The long-awaited Apple Watch was first announced in September 2014 at an Apple new product event, along with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones. The Apple Watch screen is controlled by touch, by arm movement and by the “crown”—the circular wheel button on the side that traditionally was used to wind a watch. The watch, which must be used with an iPhone to get full usability, can do much of what a smartphone or laptop can do, just on a smaller scale.