Is the Apple Watch, released in April, a success or a flop? Apple isn't sharing numbers, although CEO Tim Cook did say in July that sales for the watch in its first quarter exceeded "internal expectations" and the watch is now on sale in 19 countries.
One of those countries is China, where the Watch appears to have some traction.
Sales of Apple Watch in China have exceeded 1.07 million total devices, according to a big data analysis by a Chinese company called TalkingData.
TalkingData is a mobile app monitoring platform used by 80,000 apps, including China's extremely popular chat app WeChat. WeChat has over 1 billion registered users, and 549 monthly active users.
Given the type of people likely to be early adopters of the Watch, and the kinds of things people will do with the watch (like send and receive messages), we'd guess that many (if not most) Apple Watch users in China are also WeChat users.
Cook's unprecedented letter to to CNBC's Jim Cramer, late last month promised investors that Apple's business in China is doing just fine. The numbers TalkingData shared with Business Insider give some insight on how Apple's newest product is doing.
For context, UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, who was once bullish on the Watch, has tempered his enthusiasm. In mid-August, he said interest in Apple Watch is trending lower, based on internet searches. Milunovich estimates that Apple sold 2.2 million units in the June quarter and predicts it will sell 20 million watches in fiscal 2016, worth roughly $10 billion of revenue. He predicts that sales are highest in US, Canada, UK, and Hong Kong, noting "China is difficult to read, though Hong Kong can be a good indicator."
This chart shows the total number of Apple Watches identified in China by TalkingData. Notice that the increase in sales really flattened out once the initial excitement of the product's launch wore off.
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