• The First Edition Apple Watch being displayed

The First Edition Apple Watch being displayed (Photo : YouTube/Bloomberg)

The Apple Watch has quickly become the most popular smartwatch often outselling Android Wear offerings and this year the holiday season saw it setting another sales record.

Information about the sales of the Apple Watch was provided by none other than Apple CEO, Tim Cook when he replied to query. In the reply to an email Cook indicated that the smartwatch has sold more units this holiday season compared to any other week since it became available in the market, Reuters reported.

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While this has been labeled as a positive development for the Apple Watch and the future of the lineup, Cook did not provide any details of exactly how many units were sold. So it is uncertain right now how the smartwatch has performed compared to other devices like those in the iPod lineup. Also in its latest earnings report, Apple did not break down the sales for each of these devices so there is no official numbers of how the Apple Watch is selling.

Cook's statement via email happened when figures pertaining to the Apple Watch sales were released by IDC on its website. According to the press release from IDC the smartwatch from Apple sold 1.1 million units in the third quarter of this year and this was a decrease compared to the 3.9 million units sold in the same quarter last year.

The reply from Cook about the sales figures of the Apple Watch around the holidays is a clear indication that the device was one of the most popular gifts purchased. Meanwhile the fall in sales in the third quarter is being attributed to the fact that the lineup was not refreshed with a second edition until September this year. Also the user interface of the first edition device had a number of flaws which is thought to have hampered sales.

With the wearables marketplace being dominated by fitness trackers and devices from Fitbit outperforming others from Xiaomi and Garmin, smartwatches from Apple and Samsung have a lot of catching up to do.

Since the holiday season is the prime occasion for gifting items like smartwatches Cook's announcement that the Apple Watch sold well is not being viewed as something out of the ordinary. However, the fact that the device managed to hit high sales is going to be closely watched, as analysts continue to express skepticism about the smartwatch marketplace.

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