Analysts: Apple Could Sell 10 Million iWatches in First Year

On the eve of Apple's September 9 special event, the Financial Times has released a new look at how Apple is impacting the wearable market despite not having officially announced its first wearable product. Specifically, the paper cites Forrester Research, who notes Apple could sell 10 million iWatches in its first year, which would make it the best-selling wrist-based wearable ever.

Forrester Research believes Apple will sell as many as 10m iWatches in its first year. That, Forrester says, is more than all the other manufacturers of wrist-based wearables have sold to date, including Nike’s Fuelband fitness tracker, Samsung’s Gear smartwatches and devices by younger companies such as Fitbit and Jawbone.

Other analysts, like Morgan Stanley, predict that Apple could sell as many as 30 - 60 million iWatches within the first year. Both research firms predict that Apple would lead the wearable market, with Forrester Research analysts James McQuivey and JP Gownder saying that only Google and Amazon would be "close behind", while everyone else would be the equivalent of the "next Flipcam, Palm Pilot or Nook eReader".

Late last week, Sung-jin Lee, LG's director of watch product planning, told Reuters that Apple offering its own wearable product would expand the market. Sunny Lee, CEO of Samsung Europe, agreed, noting that that is "what [Samsung] wanted". While it doesn't seem like LG and Samsung's comments corroborate McQuivey and Gownder's prediction, it does seem to indicate that both companies think that Apple could give the wearable market a boost.

Today's event, which looks to be one of the biggest Apple events in some time, will begin at 10 a.m. PST. The company is expected to debut its long-rumored wearable and a brand new mobile payment initiative alongside the debut of the iPhone 6 in both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch varieties.