Apparently Samsung’s Galaxy Gear Smartwatch has only sold 50,000 units, despite a huge marketing campaign.
But why the surprise? It was only compatible at launch with the Samsung Note 3 and no other phones. This is changing with compatibility with some other Samsung smartphones. But it won’t work with other brands. Therefore initial sales would always be constricted. And then there was the price. £299. Total ripoff. And the battery life was poor. Charging daily or every other day.
Compare this with Pebble smartwatch. This works on most android phones and iPhones. The battery lasts a week. And it costs $150. Less than half the price of the Samsung Galaxy Gear.
And then there is the bigger issue. Who wears a watch anymore. If you want to know the time or see your missed notifications you look at your phone. It’s instinctive.
Update – Reuters has gone on record saying Samsung sold 800,000. The press were way off the mark. 800,000 is a staggering and amazing achievement.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 
My Gear was less than £250. I really like it. It is a wearable not a watch. A wearable is not easy to misplace compared to a Smartphone. But combination only works for large non pocket able smartphones. I predict wearables will be big business soon and Samsung will have real experience in developing wearables because they took the risk to try something. No shame in making an error as long as you learn from it. Business is and about risk.
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Also you can only say it is flop if its comparative sales are say 20% of a similar product available for a similar period. So the Gear has been widely available for a month. So that means in a month the Pebble should be selling 250,000 units for the Gear to be considered a flop.
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SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co said on Tuesday its Galaxy Gear has become the world’s most popular smartwatch with sales reaching 800,000 since its debut two months ago, defying some market concerns the accessory would fail due to a lack of compelling features.
http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-elec-says-gear-smartwatch-sales-hit-800-093353174–finance.html
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Great find.
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2 months but really only one month in major markets, so 800k is not bad at all for a device that was written off by all tech reviews except Pocket Lint. Just like when the Note 1 was introduced.
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But not wishing to take away any of the shine of the 800k announced figures but they are shipped numbers as such. Samsung’s customers are not actual direct sales. And returns are rumoured (so I know rumoured) to be very high.
However, even if half or even if 75% returned it still represents a huge number. And if 800k is accurate that is truly staggering. And I actually think it’s probably a figure around 500k if you take returns into account.
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I’ve got to say Jah if I didn’t have the 5S I would have a Note 3 and probably the Gear too. Or the 1020. In my mind these are the only options.
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Sad that the tech press is so off beam so often now days. Perhaps because it is very US centric and us Europeans and Asians have different needs.
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Maybe. It’s annoying too. How can 50k get reported. Then 800k. The difference is nuts and poor reporting. I’ve just been looking at the apps for the Gear and it seems Samsung has certainly got off to a good start with a number of third party developers.
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