Apple Watch Remains Tough Sell For Nearly 70 Percent Of Americans

The tech press is making a big stink about the upcoming Apple Watch, a device that will start at $349 (Apple Watch Sport, 38mm aluminum casing) and top out at $17,000 (Apple Watch Edition, 38mm 18-karat gold casing, with Bright Red Modern Buckle). Apple is definitely excited about the smartwatch, with design Guru Jony Ive giving rare interviews that talk up the development of Apple’s newest product line.

However, in a new poll conducted by Reuters, it seems as though many Americans are rather “meh” when it comes to the Apple Watch. According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 69 percent of Americans have no interest whatsoever in purchasing the Apple Watch. 25 percent of respondents said that they were interested in purchasing the Apple Watch, while another 6 percent were simply undecided on purchasing the wearable gadget.

Interestingly, the poll also found that 13 percent of respondents were willing to purchase an iPhone (if they didn’t already own one) in addition to the Apple Watch — an iPhone is required to get full use our to the device.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the poll, however, is that 52 percent of Americans feel that smartwatches in general are a “passing fad.” It remains to be seen if the Apple Watch can rise above the rest of the field and graduate past the fad phase, but Apple is funneling a massive amount of resources into making sure that its product succeeds including hiring Tag Heuer VP of sales Patrick Pruniaux and revamping its retail store experience to cater to the needs of customers shopping for wearables.

According to Canalys, there were 4.6 million wearable devices shipped during 2014. Although its Canalys didn’t cite the number of wearables it shipped, Samsung currently leads the market, while Pebble shipped over one million smartwatches last year. Android Wear devices only accounted for 720,000 of wearable device shipments during 2014 with Motorola’s Moto 360 accounting to the lion’s share of that figure.

As for the Apple Watch, The Wall Street Journal estimates that Apple has placed orders for over six million smartwatches from its suppliers for its April 24 debut.