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Apple Watch May Gain Additional Casing Material Options Later This Year

Upgrades

I don't see the Apple watch as being a product that will commonly see upgrades. Computer upgrades happen to add storage, improve screens and processors, change I/O, better battery life, etc. Upgrades to this hardware don't seem too likely on a regular basis- the software will adapt, but the watch itself won't change much.
 
xraydoc said:
Platinum. Great. Something even more expensive than the $17,000 smart watch.
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Why the outrage? The ~$400 Sport models look fine to me. If Apple can find people stupid enough to pay $16600 more for a solid gold version (of a gadget that will inevitably be superseded in 12-18 months and could easily be unusably obsolete in a few years), good luck to them. I hope some of the money gets spent on R&D.
 
gwest said:
I don't see the Apple watch as being a product that will commonly see upgrades. Computer upgrades happen to add storage, improve screens and processors, change I/O, better battery life, etc. Upgrades to this hardware don't seem too likely on a regular basis- the software will adapt, but the watch itself won't change much.
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But aren't there various possible sensors missing? What about waterproof? Isn't still quite (uglyish) thick? ...
 
TheRealTVGuy said:
Aside from the fact that I cringe everytime I see the name Ming-Chi Kuo, I think from other reports we've seen published that Platinum won't be coming to the Apple Watch this year. We know they looked at it as a possibility, but backed off.

Now, next year... who knows!

Sorry Ming Chi, not this time. :cool:
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There's no indication in the article that Ming-Chi Kuo said anything about platinum. That detail appears to be a MacRumors addition.
 
gwest said:
I don't see the Apple watch as being a product that will commonly see upgrades. Computer upgrades happen to add storage, improve screens and processors, change I/O, better battery life, etc. Upgrades to this hardware don't seem too likely on a regular basis- the software will adapt, but the watch itself won't change much.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I'm sure that 'Watch two' will be thinner, better screen, better battery, more memory, faster processor, maybe an enhanced touch screen and a few more sensors.

Overnight, the fancy gold case original will be as desirable (and valuable) as a bejeweled iphone 4s.
 
Tankmaze said:
I'm thinking plastic with lower price point then the sport, about 100 dollars less perhaps. $249 would be a sweet spot.
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I wouldn't hold my breath for this. $249 would poach away too many Sport edition buyers. If the pricing is consistent with the rest, the 42mm would be $299 then. Only a $50 difference to go up to a stronger, aluminum watch, albeit 38mm version. The pricing would be too close for something that has the exact same functionality. At least with the iPad Mini and iPad Air or iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, there's different form factors to separate the two, not just case material.
 
Lepton said:
I was expecting Liquid Metal, but we got Aluminum. Maybe there is still a chance!
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Just like Apple has the exclusive contract with Liquid Metal for consumer electronics, Swatch has the exclusive contract with Liquid Metal for watches. I know there is a fine line here about "is the watch a watch or a consumer electronic device?" but it is called Apple Watch so I'd wager we won't be seeing liquid metal in it anytime soon.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-s-apple-alliance-for-metal-yet-to-bear-fruit
 
dabirdwell said:
I've been saying this the whole time, man. I think you're absolutely right.

In what market do you sell someone a $17,000 piece of jewelry with the potential that it would be obsolete within a couple of years? My guess is that they have a very well worked out roadmap for upgrades that extends far beyond this generation or the next generation of watches. Including specific design constraints for internal components that would allow upgrades even after the physical casing changes.

For instance, first-generation buyers who hold on to their watch for a few years and want to upgrade to fourth-generation internal components could easily do so with the right foresight on the design side. Components will have been further miniaturized by then, so as long as a framework and upgrade path is in place it should be no problem.
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While this would be a sensible policy, it would only make business sense if Apple announced this when they began taking orders. So we will know shortly if that's the plan. I doubt it is, since they have no announced it yet. But perhaps they could do a mini-rollout just for the Edition, and make this part of the Edition value proposition.
 
dabirdwell said:
I've been saying this the whole time, man. I think you're absolutely right.

In what market do you sell someone a $17,000 piece of jewelry with the potential that it would be obsolete within a couple of years? My guess is that they have a very well worked out roadmap for upgrades that extends far beyond this generation or the next generation of watches. Including specific design constraints for internal components that would allow upgrades even after the physical casing changes.

For instance, first-generation buyers who hold on to their watch for a few years and want to upgrade to fourth-generation internal components could easily do so with the right foresight on the design side. Components will have been further miniaturized by then, so as long as a framework and upgrade path is in place it should be no problem.
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Wealth is relative. Imagine you made a million dollars a month (or even every few months) and it will put the $17,000 disposable watch into context... It's no different than the middle class buying the sport version and upgrading it every few years.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Platinum will make it really expensive. Bring on the complaints.
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again - it's not the cost of the raw materials - it's the value of the product.

If it had a small nuclear reactor (or something to match perpetual motion watches) and it was guaranteed to remain compatible for lets say…. 10 years

...then maybe it would be worth making it out of something other than plastic.
 
samcraig said:
Soylent Green!
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Human flesh!

----------
Karma*Police said:
Wealth is relative. Imagine you made a million dollars a month (or even every few months) and it will put the $17,000 disposable watch into context... It's no different than the middle class buying the sport version and upgrading it every few years.
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Honestly, I don't see even the extremely wealthy buying a $17,000 disposable watch. I've never met a wealthy person who didn't want to get value for his/her money. Now, they may define "value" differently from the rest of us...
 
xraydoc said:
Platinum. Great. Something even more expensive than the $17,000 smart watch.

Jony Ive has gone off his rocker.
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Your complaint appears to be against the gini coefficient of the modern world, not against Apple. If someone makes 50x more money than you, and you are happy spending $350 every two or three years on an aWatch, why they not be equally happy spending $17,000 every two or three years on an aWatch? Hell $17,000 is about the price of a trans-pacific First class ticket, and their are people who buy plenty of those.

If you're unhappy at the increasing returns to the 1% of the world, vote for better politicians, but don't blame Apple for providing high-gini prices to the high gini world we live in.
 
Fiestaman said:
I wouldn't hold my breath for this. $249 would poach away too many Sport edition buyers. If the pricing is consistent with the rest, the 42mm would be $299 then. Only a $50 difference to go up to a stronger, aluminum watch, albeit 38mm version. The pricing would be too close for something that has the exact same functionality. At least with the iPad Mini and iPad Air or iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, there's different form factors to separate the two, not just case material.
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It's not the difference, it's the percentage. The Sport would cost 33-40% more. That seems significant.
 
It will be sapphire for the sports model and diamond for the new :apple: Edition Edition at $1,000,000. :D

Either that or it will be made from the frozen tears of poor people.
 
phpmaven said:
Titanium would be really cool, especially if they did a titanium band as well.
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Actually I think the coolest material is the one Apple has referenced in a patent --- a diamond-gold ceramic composite. Hublot ships something similar today, which is a boron carbide-gold composite, but diamond-gold composite sounds even cooler...
 
dabirdwell said:
I've been saying this the whole time, man. I think you're absolutely right.

In what market do you sell someone a $17,000 piece of jewelry with the potential that it would be obsolete within a couple of years? My guess is that they have a very well worked out roadmap for upgrades that extends far beyond this generation or the next generation of watches. Including specific design constraints for internal components that would allow upgrades even after the physical casing changes.

For instance, first-generation buyers who hold on to their watch for a few years and want to upgrade to fourth-generation internal components could easily do so with the right foresight on the design side. Components will have been further miniaturized by then, so as long as a framework and upgrade path is in place it should be no problem.
Click to expand...

Have you heard of the car market? BWM will sell you a $100,000 car in 2015 and then in 2016 come out with a better car for $100,000. And they will even advertise and tell you all the ways the 2016 is better than the 2015.
You car will drop in value the moment you drive it off the lot and then it will drop in value again when the next year cars are available for sale.

And yet, somehow, the car companies manage to sell luxury cars every day.
 
testcard said:
I'd like to see a tough resin case, similar to the material used in Casio's watches.
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I have a hard time believing that Apple would release a new case so quickly, but if they did, I am guessing it would be some type of resin like the iPhone 5c. My thought is that once they get all the early adopters on board and generate sufficient buzz, they might release the "plastic" version for $299 so that parents can buy it for their kids. It would be this years "it" gift for the holidays.
 
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