Despite poor reviews and an unappealing price-tag, it appears that Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch is turning out to be a solid success, relatively speaking. According to a couple of reports, Samsung has already shipped 800,000 units to retailers world-wide. Additionally, 50,000 units have already been actually sold to customers in South Korea alone. This has far surpassed Samsung's own initial expectations. These numbers also put it far ahead of competing devices from Pebble and Sony.
Samsung issued a statement regarding the surprise success of the device, "It's the most sold wearable watch available in the market place...and we plan to expand its availability by expanding mobile devices that work with the Gear."
One of the reasons for the increased success of the device can easily be attributed to incentive programs to help push the device out the door. This includes bundling it with the Galaxy Note 3, and there were even some UK carriers who offered it for free if customers purchased the 5.7-inch smartphone on a two-year contract.
Of course, there have also been reports that up to 30% of consumers in the U.S. have returned the device, which does not bode well for its future sales. It will be interesting to see how the sell-through numbers match up with the shipping to retail numbers when everything is finally tallied. Regardless, shipping out 800,000 units to retailers in only 2 months is nothing to scoff at. This would mean that retail shipments of the Samsung Galaxy Gear could be on par or better than the Moto X.
Source: Engadget
