
Samsung’s Galaxy Gear Watch has only mustered up sales of 50,000 units sold since its debut in late September. The numbers suggest that the device hasn’t managed to gain sizeable interest from the mass market. Daily sales of the device to date are said to be between 800 and 900 units, according to a recently published report by BusinessKorea. The publication mentions the sales are “far below the initial expectations” market watchers had for the wearable device.
The Galaxy Gear launched in September to a great deal of hype and fanfare from Samsung, including a series of television spots pushing its debut. The reports have revealed that the South Korean electronics manufacturer quickly scrambled to finish the product and push it to the market as the wearable computing space continues to heat up.
For those of you who didn’t know, the Galaxy Gear was widely panned in reviews at launch as critics cited a high $300 price tag that came with limited functionality and poor battery life as significant knocks against the wrist-worn accessory. The device was also initially limited to connectivity with the Galaxy Note 3 smartphone but support for the Galaxy S3, S4 and Note 2 was eventually added. Earlier reports also indicated that resellers such as Best Buy were seeing exceptionally high return rates on the Galaxy Gear of up to 30%. This allegedly prompted concern among Samsung, who asked employees on its Best Buy-based Samsung Experience shops to ascertain reasons for the high incidence of dissatisfaction.
There has been a lot of speculation mounting about Apple planning to release its own so-called “iWatch” at some point in the next year. It’s been claimed that such a device would focus on biometrics and health information feedback. The rumored impending launch is probably why Samsung rushed to get their product out the door.
We’ll have to wait and see if Apple releases a competing product and how it stacks up to the competition.
Source: BusinessKorea
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