Apple Watch is 'showing signs of life' among holiday shoppers

Apple Watch

(REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)

The Apple Watch is "showing signs of life" heading into the holiday shopping season, according to channel-checks by FBR Capital Market's analyst Daniel Ives.

With Black Friday underway and a continued shopping fervor still ahead, Ives writes in a note to investors this morning that observations at various Apple store as well as Target and Best Buy show customer interest — and willingness to shell out at least $349 for the cheapest version of the watch — ramping up.

Target even called out the Apple Watch as one of the three items that helped it achieve record-breaking online sales on Thanksgiving.

This report follows many others indicating that Apple's smartwatch wasn't selling as well as Wall Street had hoped. Price and the newness-factor have reigned as two reasons for why people have chosen not to take the plunge.

FBR analysts pegged total Apple Watch sales at roughly 6 million so far, while research firm Canalys estimated a slightly rosier 7 million earlier this month.

But FBR sees the holiday season alone ringing in between 5 million and 6 million additional units sold.

"While supply constraints/a choppy launch period have caused stumbles out of the gates for Cook & Co. on the Apple Watch front since April's unveiling, we have slowly seen momentum in the field over the last few months," Ives writes.

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