Mobile
Samsung Bullish on 800,000 Galaxy Gear Shipment
After a story emerged that Samsung may have encountered a major flop with the Galaxy Gear noting that the manufacturer only sold 50,000 units, the company had gone on the defensive stating that it has shipped 800,000 units. Speaking to Reuters, Samsung says that 800,000 units have been shipped worldwide in just 2 months on the market.
The term that Samsung used is confusing as shipped units doesn’t necessarily translate to units sold. This just means that Samsung had managed to ship 800,000 of its latest smartwatches to retailers, like Best Buy and carrier retail stores operated by AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon.
The company remains optimistic with the Gear despite lukewarm reviews where the high price tag was often criticized. The company had since highlighted the emerging wearable computing fashion accessory through a series of high profile advertisements and worked with fashion shows to showcase the watch.
When the Gear initially debuted, Samsung was extremely bullish with the new product category. Executives say that the Gear is the first in a series of products for the family, suggesting that other wristwatches with different specs, designs, and form factors may be in the pipeline to come.
Now, with what is speculated to be more tepid sales of the watch, it’s unclear if Samsung’s plans will change, but it looks like Samsung is investing heavily in marketing to get consumer attention and educate consumers on what the product could do to help simplify their lives.
With the Gear, Samsung may have rushed the product. Rival Apple is rumored to be working on its own wearable smartwatch with the iWatch. Samsung had beat Apple to market with the Gear, but in becoming the first “big name” player with its smartwatch–Samsung isn’t first though as Sony, Pebble, and a few others have walked this path before it–it bears the burden of educating consumers and creating a market for this technology category.