🍏 How Apple built a 10-year lead in wearables

PLUS: The $4B hard seltzer market.. June 3, 2021 [The Hustle] [The Hustle]( Theater chain AMC saw shares nearly double on Wednesday (and the stock is now up 25x in 2021). In an absurd stat: 500m+ AMC shares exchanged hands yesterday. That’s more trading volume than Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft combined. The big idea [Apple watch]( Apple’s AssistiveTouch in action (Source: Apple / YouTube) How Apple built a 10-year lead in wearables technology Apple’s latest reveal looks like it belongs in a sci-fi movie. Called AssistiveTouch, the technology allows users to control their Apple Watch without having to touch the screen. Instead, you can pinch and clench your hand or roll your wrist to do black magic activate apps. Tech analyst [Neil Cybart]( says Apple’s latest innovations give it a 10-year lead on the competition. In 2021, Apple is on pace… … to sell 100m+ wearables units. Including the Watch, AirPods, and select Beats headphones, Cybart estimates that Apple’s wearables division will do $30B in 2021 revenue. “That would rank Apple wearables on a combined basis just shy of a Fortune 100 company,” he writes. How did Apple build such a strong wearables business? Cybart cites 5 reasons: - Early to the game: One of Apple’s guiding principles is to make technology more personal, and it started investing in wearables in the early 2010s, including its own silicon chips. - Other companies bet on voice: Few Big Tech firms have Apple’s hardware expertise, so they invested big on voice (e.g., Amazon’s Echo) as the new computing paradigm. It looks like the wrong bet. - Design expertise: People have to want to wear wearables. Apple has a track record (and talent) for creating hardware people show off for looks as much as computing power. - Supply chain advantage: Wearables tech is built on top of parts made for smartphones. Apple has been able to leverage lessons and relationships from its iPhone manufacturing experience. - Ecosystem advantage: Apple’s entry-level AirPods and Watch are both under $200. It’s able to hit these price points because the wearables effectively share computing power with the iPhone. At the current pace, Cybart believes Apple’s wearables division will soon hit $50B a year. With a clear lead in such a fast-growing category, Apple execs must be pinching themselves. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=How+Apple+built+a+10-year+lead+in+wearables+technology%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06032021-Apple-wearables%3Futm_campaign%3DApple%2BWearables%26utm_content%3D06032021-Apple-wearables%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS NEW! Introducing our new and improved [Snippets](. You can now get extra snippets on your favorite topics. Follow the button below to get started. (It takes less than 30 seconds!) The SEC admonished Elon Musk over 2 tweets (from 2019 and 2020) that violated a [settlement agreement]( between the Tesla CEO and regulators around his Twitter usage. Etsy acquires Depop -- a Gen Z fashion platform -- for a whopping [$1.6B](. The startup is the “resale home for Gen Z consumers,” according to Etsy’s CEO. Amid widespread semiconductor chip shortages, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announced it broke ground on a [$12B]( chip plant in Arizona. Join the 43,579 others who are now enjoying extra, personalized snippets. Click the button👇 to choose your favorite topics and see your list grow in tomorrow’s email. [Personalize Your Snippets]( Retail [White Claw]( Hard seltzers are bigger than ever In case you thought [White Claw Summer]( ended in 2019, it’s only just begun. Sales of hard seltzer shot up to $4B in 2020 compared to $500m in 2018, [per]( The New York Times. Big at bars and at home Hard seltzer sales increased by 73% at bars and restaurants in 2019, according to [NielsenIQ](. But even as those venues closed amid the pandemic, retail sales [surged]( in 2020. Analysts told the NYT they predict sales will bubble up to $8B+ in the next 4 years. Why do people love fizzy adult water so much? - Seltzers are seen as “[healthier](” because they have less sugar and fewer calories than beer, wine, and cocktails - You can mix them with other beverages - They’re generally low-ABV (5%), which reflects the [changing]( drinking culture - Unlike the much-maligned Zima, hard seltzer [appeals]( to all genders - They’re insanely meme-able -- “ain’t no laws when you’re drinking Claws” (unfortunately, [not true]() The top-reigning seltzer champs... … are currently Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw and Boston Beer Company’s Truly, accounting for ~70% of the market. But new challengers are popping up everywhere: - Michelob Ultra [launched]( an 80-calorie organic seltzer - Coca-Cola and Molson Coors Beverage [teamed up]( to debut a hard seltzer Topo Chico - E&J Gallo Winery’s High Noon [entered]( the market as the first brand to use vodka instead of malt liquor - Even PBR [got]( in the game, though its “Stronger Seltzer” is 8% ABV The worst seltzer? Probably [this Four Loko]( that comes in at 12% ABV. Want more insights on the hard seltzer market? Check out this 5-slide [deck]( that Trends contributor [Alex Moskov]( wrote in 2019. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Hard+seltzers+are+bigger+than+ever%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06032021-hard-seltzer%3Futm_campaign%3DApple%2BWearables%26utm_content%3D06032021-hard-seltzer%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Free Resource Go Mad Libs on these elevator pitch templates Could you pitch your business in 1 minute? If you don’t have a tightly spun rundown ready for that elusive moment with a prime executive or potential investor, someday it might slip by. Thankfully, there are simple formulas for great fastball pitches. HubSpot covers all the bases in [8 crisp templates](. Fill these in real quick to stay sharp Take a few minutes to complete these done-for-you templates. It’s a good look to revisit them every so often to keep the narratives fresh. You never know when that chance encounter is coming... And luck favors the brave. [8 elevator pitch sinkers →]( Clean energy [7-Eleven sign]( 7-Eleven is adding 500 new places to charge your car What if you could get a Slurpee and a car charge all in one place? 7-Eleven says it will bring 500 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to 250 US and Canadian locations by 2023, per [TechCrunch](. The Texas-based convenience store chain currently operates 22 stations at 14 stores in the US. The convenience chain will own... … and operate all of the new Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC) stations. It’s a good move for 7-Eleven because it has [~1800]( locations -- 19% of its US stores -- in California, which will require all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be [zero-emission]( by 2035. Other retailers are plugging into the trend: - Walgreens currently [offers]( EV stations at ~400 locations throughout the US - IKEA now offers EV charging at all stores with parking But we still need more! There are 5k+ EV stations in the US, [per]( the Department of Energy. But, as Bill McKibben of The New Yorkers’ “The Climate Crisis” [notes](, some only offer slow charges. This was an issue for him when trying to drive his Kia Niro from rural Vermont to suburban Boston and back. As an optimistic start, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan [includes]( $15B to be invested in building 500k stations nationwide. But is it OK to drive with a brain freeze? [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=7-Eleven+is+adding+500+new+places+to+charge+your+car%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F06032021-7-Eleven%3Futm_campaign%3DApple%2BWearables%26utm_content%3D06032021-7-Eleven%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( TRENDS Remote job board breakdown (source Trends) $100k a month from niche job boards Are you capitalizing on the niche [job board market](? Our Trends report covers... 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