Voice messaging app is said to be a feature that is one of its kind till date and would be defining feature in the rumored iWatch from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as informed in a research report released Tuesday by Steven Milunovich, an analyst at UBS Securities. Apple’s stock price too has been raised by an analyst.
Voice messaging a USP
The applications designed to track health and fitness has been at the focus of discussions surrounding the iWatch. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sees the health monitoring apps as an important factor that will attract customers to it, but the USP will be its voice messaging app, according to Milunovich.
Apple showcased the potential of voice messaging capabilities at its June Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Dictating a message was possible with iOS 7, but it was sent and received in text form. This has been taken care of in iOS 8, and as informed by Miluvonich recording a message was possible with the help of a new microphone button that gets activated by touching, and swiping is just required for sending.
While this feature is already available in the mobile phones, but having it on a wearable device is much better option as it’s easier and simpler than pulling out the phone for doing so.
Analysts positive on Apple
The iWatch sales estimates by Milunovich are quite conservative while some analysts are relating the iWatch sales to the iPhone users and have estimated that of all the iPhone users 10-15% would prefer to buy an iWatch as well. Analysts have estimated iWatch sales to be in the range of 40 million-50 million while 21 million is the target set by Milunovich for fiscal 2015. For fiscal 2016, the target is set at 36 million units. The average price could be around $300.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock has been rated as a Buy by Milunovich with $100 as the price target. The higher sales estimates for the iPads and iPhones have led to an increase in the price target from $86 to $112 by the BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk. He also revised his EPS estimate for fiscal 2015 from $6.57 to $7.00.
