Data: Apple Watch is already seeing more initial success than iPod or iPhone

Slice Intelligence, which measures digital commerce by tracking consumer e-receipts, has said that with an estimated 957,000 Americans putting in orders, Apple Watch is seeing more initial success than iPod or iPhone.

The data from 9,080 online shoppers showed an average of 1.3 watches bought per customer, with $503.83 spent per item. It’s likely some buyers went for more than one.

The calculation means Apple could have shifted 1.24 million watches on its first day of preorders on Friday.

It definitely marked an important date in Apple's history, as back in 2007, it took the company 74 days to sell its one millionth iPhone, and it took two years to pass this threshold with the iPod.

The bar is set higher these days for Apple, however, which trades at a post seven-for-one-split of $127.10 a share.

Among those who bought an Apple Watch, 72% had bought an Apple product in the last two years, said Slice Intelligence. And 21% preordered an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus just months ago.

Most of the customers were reluctant to spend too much with 62% of those preorders went for the less-expensive Sport model, with an average $382.83 spent.

As Edward Yruma and the team at KeyBanc Capital Markets opine, there are signs of a strong start for preorders and Apple is set to sell all of its production volume for the first three months. And with that, the “moment of reckoning” has arrived for the traditional fashion watch market, they said in a note dated Sunday.

“After trying on the Apple Watch, visiting stores and based on our field work, we are now more convinced that the Apple Watch will be disruptive to the fashion watch market. At a minimum, the widespread buzz may cause something of a standstill in the watch market,” said the KeyBanc analysts.

Economists lowered earnings-per-share estimates for Fossil Group Inc. and Movado Group Inc., saying those watch producers probably haven’t “explicitly factored in any level of cannibalization.”

Apple will either “decimate the watch market or expand it by nearly 50% in the first year,”  given the company is ordering component volume that would allow it to build well over 20 million units in the year, said Yruma and the others.