Why Apple Watch Is 'Guaranteed To Sell A lot Of Units'

Many Apple Watch customers are still waiting for Apple Inc. AAPL to ship its long-awaited device, but that that may not have any impact on its long-term success.

Vladimir Tenev, co-founder of Robinhood, told Benzinga that the watch is "pretty much guaranteed to sell a lot of units." He's so convinced that he already dedicated resources to Apple Watch development.

"A lot of people will be using their watches and there will be expectations from those people that their financial services are available and provide native experiences," said Tenev. "And for us, having built an iPhone app, implementation-wise, it was relatively simple to extend that to the watch. It's the same programming language, a lot of the same tools. It was a no-brainer for us to be available on the watch on day one."

Robinhood is one of many fintech companies that has released an app for the Apple Watch.

Related Link: Apple Watch Ignites Fintech Community, Inspires New Apps

'Phenomenal Home Run'

SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci told Benzinga he thinks the watch is "going to be a phenomenal home run for them."

"People are saying, 'Why do I need the watch for? I've already got the phone,'" said Scaramucci. "I think [Apple CEO] Tim Cook's point about the watch is that there's a ton of things we're gonna use the watch for. It could be biometrics, it could be psychometrics. It could be just keeping track of things that are just going on in our day in an easy, wrist-like way."

Strengthening Apple

Tech industry expert and analyst Jeff Kagan does not believe the Apple Watch will transform the industry, but it could do wonders for its manufacturer.

"It's going to strengthen Apple," Kagan told Benzinga. "It's not going to be as big as the smartphone. Who knows what it's going to look like in five or 10 years? We don't know where the mind of the marketplace is going to be. Not everybody is interested and excited about it, but the people who are think it's the greatest thing in the world."

Scaramucci pointed out that there were other times when customers wondered if they really needed what Apple was trying to sell them.

"The immortal Steve Jobs had a great line about Apple," said Scaramucci. "It goes back to what Henry Ford said: 'If I asked my customer what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.'"

Scaramucci said that when Jobs unveiled the original iPhone, a lot of people looked at it and said, "What do I need this for?" They already had flip phones and BlackBerry devices. It wasn't immediately clear that they needed to replace them with an iPhone. Jobs explained that he had just placed, as Scaramucci put it, "the power of the world" in their hands.

Scaramucci said that consumers had a similar reaction to the first iPad.

"I'm not a guy that would bet against these guys," Scaramucci added. "I have ordered [an Apple Watch]. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be using one for. But in three months, I bet you I'm gonna have a good idea. I'm betting on these guys' understanding of what people will want."

Throwaway Device?

The fashion element could actually help Apple in training customers to treat the watch like a smartphone and upgrade every 12 to 24 months.

"The fashion element means that you market it differently, means the customers buy it differently and it means they don't keep it as long," said Kagan, explaining that the existing model could go out of style very quickly.

"It's cool today when it comes out, but what happens when next year's model comes out?"

That may not matter if consumers are won over by the technology. Scaramucci said that he thinks Apple is going to "capture the imagination of people because it's integrated back into the computer and it's integrated back into the phone."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.