Gene Munster: The Apple Watch Is A Game Changer

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster shared his outlook on the Apple Watch and why it will likely disrupt the watch industry. Piper Jaffray rates Apple Inc. AAPL as Overweight with a $160 price target.

“The real excitement and ramp comes over the next six quarters as more apps come out and start to improve the value of this," Munster told CNBC. "There's a lot of reasons to be optimistic about this as being a big category for Apple.”

Related Link: Are Pundits Wrong About Apple Watch Demand?

Munster believes the demand for the Apple Watch will affect the entire watch industry. Along with the practical aspect of the device including the fitness and health based applications, Apple consumers see value in the watch from a design perspective. The combination of applications that help in everyday life and a beautiful design may cause a complete shift in the way that watches are made and marketed to consumers.

Disrupting The Market

Tiernan Ray of Barron's wrote that the Apple Watch may give trouble to watchmakers such as Movado Group, Inc MOV and Fossil Group Inc FOSL.

According to Pacific Crest's Andy Hargreaves and Ed Yruma, as noted in the Barron's article, "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.

"We do not believe retailers in this case, and by our deduction, Fossil and Movado, have explicitly factored in any level of cannibalization. In fact, we think that 2015 EPS estimates may embed an improvement from tepid 4Q14 trends. We think the level of disruption could be significant and are reducing our estimates for Fossil and Movado. "