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Apple Watch Pricing to Reportedly Start at $500 for Stainless Steel, $4,000 for Gold
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Whatt?? There is really no 4G radio in this thing? You have to pair it with an iPhone to use cellular or wireless internet? For real??
it's the first Apple product that will offer the dual drubbing of fashion obsolescence along with hardware obsolescence.
Just how much do you think the gold used will be worth in 5 to 10 years? My guess is at least a few grand.
$500 for stainless is high.
Probably deliberate. It reminds me of initial MacBook air pricing:
It's aimed at early-adopters. The watch for the masses will come in gen. 3 or 4.
Probably deliberate. It reminds me of initial MacBook air pricing:
- High enough to naturally throttle demand while production ramps up.
- High enough to fund excellent customer support while new-product bugs are worked out (E.g., allow for plenty of "no-questions-asked" replacements for tough customers)
- High enough to repel buyers who just want to bend it on YouTube
It's aimed at early-adopters. The watch for the masses will come in gen. 3 or 4.
You are quite sophisticated, no? Do you feel the same about jewelry? Not art, but just a waste? See, it's called an opinion. You have one, others do as well. Must be nice to think that your opinion is fact. Tell that to the art collectors, the watch collectors, etc.
Hide under your sleeves? Great argument. I know many high-end watch collectors that don't even wear their $200,000 Patek watches....I guess they are just stupid as well.
Do you feel the same about those who collect luxury cars? I mean, it's just a vehicle that gets you places. How does your 1990's Yugo drive these days?
They start at around $8k. You can also get a "pre-owned" one for like $3k. Agree with you, though. A $4k watch that will be obsolete in 18 months is not for the weak hearted.
Someone with awful taste too. Forgot that part. More money than brains. Those types.
So someone who spends $5,000 or more on Rolex has more brain then money!!!
My point is while theWatch will have tons of other uses than just tell the time and date, it will be obsolete in couple years and have close to nothing in resale value while a high end traditional watch will retain value and can be passed from generation to generation.
I don't mind buying an
Again that's my personal opinion, I am sure Apple will sell many of these.
Can these watches really get resold as an investment by a later generation? I have buddies who have Rolexes as their daily watch. So lets say they bought it full price in a store for $10,000 15 years ago. Could they really take that relatively run of the mill Rolex and walk into a watch store and sell it back for $10,000? Or would they have to ebay it to get full value (and is there any chance someone spends $10,000 over ebay on something that could be a fake?)
No i don't think in any way the Apple Watch is an investment. But neither is my iPad mini. It is still a nice thing to own.
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There is no need for a new name since the first generation has NFC and Apple Pay built in.
Self winding movements really don't work that great...they end up not working, and you always have wind them constantly to keep them going. The Apple Watch has to be charged once every two days, but you can be assured, it will ALWAYS have the correct time!! It even syncs up with Apple Time servers to get the correct time from the Atomic Clock, on a daily basis.
My iPad 1 is still being used by my nephew. Hardly obsolete. But not as good as iPad 2.
Price drop was because AT&T offered to subsidize the iPhone, the iPhone never got much cheaper to buy off contract.
But yes this is an early adopter thing where the device is going to be partly cool and partly not finished. But that is the issue with all new technology categories. And most companies are much worse.
My opinion is not a fact, and surely I am not presenting as a fact. I am not a jewlery person and I would not be even if I was rich person. I am not collector of anything either and struggle to understand the purpose of collecting stuff and piling them under the dust while I never use them! But anyway, why bring the subject of collectors? We are talking about a mechanical watch + peace of jewellery that tells you the time and the other one a smartwatch that have been designed for more then one single purpose. Calling it crap juts because you don't like it is not different from me calling useless garbage these mechanical watches.
Is nobody else not seeing what I'm seeing? The sapphire bottom of the
Image
Apple must know that the renewal cycle of these watches can't be the same as an iPhone or even a Mac. If you're buying a gold watch, it's got to be good for at least 5 years or maybe much longer. If you can upgrade the fitness sensors and maybe the CPU, Apple can continue to make money annually or bi-annually from
It is ceramic (or a composite on the Sports model) not sapphire!
Why wouldn't it? It's working perfectly well for them with the $3000 retina Macbook... Likewise, they built a business model where people by iMac with the monitor attached and throw to the garbage both the computer and the screen when the computer is obsolete yet the screen is perfectly fine...
That is a lot of money for something that would reach obsolescence in 2 to 3 years. I don't mind paying for a watch, I have one that I paid almost $900 for in stainless which was a TAG, also a Citizen for $600. The difference between my watches and the Apple watch as others have said, is the Apple watch relies on technology which will presumably improve over time and eventually lose support.
I have a Grand Seiko.
1. It has a self-winding movement, and I assure you it works fine. If you wear it every day, you never have to wind it.
2. It has a 72 hour power reserve, which is probably more than this thing is going to have.
3. Once you set it, it is accurate within 1 second per month.
I paid around $5000 for it, and while it isn't gold, it will last a lot longer than this Apple watch.
No watch fan is buying this thing because it's a "watch". They're buying it as a phone accessory. I think most of us will go with the SS one, because ultimately, I don't think anyone wants to pay more than a few hundred dollars for a watch that doesn't have a mechanical movement.
Right, but you are not the market for that model. The high end Apple watch isn't for people who only want one nice watch. It's for the Rodeo Drive set who own multiple of current year $10K suits, pairs of $2K shoes, ... and own multiple high-end watches, because you can't be seen wearing the same watch twice in a week.
The people who buy the high end watch, especially the first iteration, are one's who will buy it because they can and view themselves, and want others to view them, as trendy and always wearing the latest thing.
That said, future high end editions might be a tough sell because they are designed and sold as accessories and not quality, timeless watches. The design and function would have to substantially change to encourage further purchases. That's really the Achilles heel of the entire concept. But I have a hunch Apple doesn't expect to sell too many high end models and it's mostly a marketing tool like a BMW M3/4.
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With iPad Airs now under $400, and iPad Mini under $250, pretty sure they've already counted you out. You are not on their demographic radar.
Replaceable internals?
I wonder if buyers of theWatch will be able to retain the use of their cases and replace the internal CPU when it is obsolete?
Otherwise gold unit owners will be left with a useless piece of gold after the technology advances, as it surely will. Nothing like this was claimed at the unveiling, however.
I will probably go for a SS unit with a matching link band. I assume the band will add to the cost so I'm figuring $795. That's about what it costs to get the 5 year service on my GMT Master.
I wonder if buyers of the
Watch will be able to retain the use of their cases and replace the internal CPU when it is obsolete? Otherwise gold unit owners will be left with a useless piece of gold after the technology advances, as it surely will. Nothing like this was claimed at the unveiling, however.
I will probably go for a SS unit with a matching link band. I assume the band will add to the cost so I'm figuring $795. That's about what it costs to get the 5 year service on my GMT Master.
Yah, not really.
Yah, not really. It does have sapphire, and it does have GPS with an iPhone. Also, it can be used without an iPhone. The only features that can't be used are the phone, sms and gps features.
Haha. $500 for stainless steel, no sapphire, no GPS, no waterproofing, requires an iPhone and will be obsolete as soon as you open the box.
No thanks, I'd rather just buy a Seiko or Citizen.
Yah, not really. It does have sapphire, and it does have GPS with an iPhone. Also, it can be used without an iPhone. The only features that can't be used are the phone, sms and gps features.
In some cases yes.
This 10 year old Rolex Submariner is on offer at around the same price as the latest model even though it only cost half that when brand new. After two years the seller also guarantees to buy the watch back for at least the same price you paid.
Not all models will hold their value so well so it depends what your buddies bought.