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Apple Watch price drop?

I expect an Apple watch price drop this year, on Black Friday. A one day drop. Some may actually wait on buying one until then.
 
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Yixian said:
Agree but what's the other new product that has had significant drops to maintain sales?

Apple TV

They could also cut the price of bands or bundle other bands than the Sport band with the entry price models.
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Very true but the Apple TV is not very well known as a must-have flagship product, that has very fierce competition with Amazon and Google which I believe are still at lower price points? Feel free to correct that.

A fair point about the iPhone though, never say never.

silverblack said:
They should drop the price of the bands, not the watch.
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Agree massively. All of the bands could realistically be halved in price which would make them a lot more tempting to buy, multiple times for some customers. That would also take a sizeable price chunk out of the higher end SS models too which I know would be welcome to most people, myself included.
 
zaquinho17 said:
I've owned 3 Micahel Kors watches ($250-350) in the past 2 years and they all had malfunctions or parts came off, scratches easily and in one case the watch face became cloudy. NO HELP FROM MK WITH ANY ISSUE, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.
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What do you expect? Michael Kors is just a brand slapped on a crappy watch with a high price. Not sure how you can compare it to the Apple SS Watch, which has excellent build quality.
 
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precision stainless steel watch bodies and sapphire crystals are not cheap materials to produce.

When people ask me how I 'justified' the price,

I just say I don't wear aluminum jewelry. I prefer the feel and look of stainless steel.
 
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sjinsjca said:
More likely, models below the current Sport will be introduced as production constraints ease. Consider the iPhone 5C two years ago: resin body (think Casio watches), many colors, perhaps different styling, a notch lower price, maybe an acrylic crystal (don't laugh, some very dear Omegas use those... extremely hard to break--way more impact-resistant than sapphire or mineral glass--and scratches can be buffed out).

That would be a sensible strategy, but only when production smooths out. Otherwise, why waste capacity on lower-end models while they can sell every Watch they can make?

Given the pace of things, this might be something to look forward to for this coming Holiday season... or next.

Such a "Watch C" wouldn't be vastly cheaper, since just the case and maybe the crystal and band would have savings. But then, the 5C wasn't vastly cheaper either, and it sold well and helped higher-end models enjoy component economies of scale.

But consider your premise. "Studies" have shown Watch sales have dropped? There's precisely one "study" with any data, and it merely showed that online sales dropped coincident with availability in the Apple Stores. The pundit-o-sphere took that one claim and metastasized it all over the web. Meanwhile Tim Cook just stated that June was the best month for Watch sales... and I rather doubt he'd risk charges of material falsehood (a serious securities-fraud charge) by stating that if it were untrue. And then there's the price-drops of the Moto360 etc that you mention. Those price drops were pretty obviously a consequence of the Watch sucking all the air out of the smartwatch room.

The market pressures on Apple to cut prices may be less than you think. If and when demand softens or inventory starts to pile up, that's the only economically sensible time to cut prices on existing models. If and when component production capability begins to significantly exceed sales of current models, that's the time to introduce something below the current Watch.

And there might be another twist Apple could consider. Instead of cutting prices on the Watch outright, they could offer an attractive bundle with purchase of a new iPhone. "Choose a Watch when you upgrade to the fabulous new iPhone 6S+. Save $50. It's about time."
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Its not too difficult to estimate the sales of the Apple watch. Look at the total sales of the other category and compare it to previous quarters. The difference gives you a good approximation, unless you want to somehow assume that all their products in the other category suddenly took a nose dive.
 
Yixian said:
Considering competitors like the Moto 360 have dropped their prices considerably and studies suggest AW sales have fallen significantly since launch, do you think Apple could drop the price of the AW in time for the holiday season?

It would seem to me that the sweet spot price range for products like this to sell well and consistently is perhaps closer to $200-250.

Even to myself as a major Apple fan and early adopter, the asking price right now just seems pretty hard to justify, and I'm earning quite a bit above average.
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Nope. There won't be any price drop for the current version of the Watch.
 
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Yixian said:
Probably you're right, I expect they think that holiday spending will increase sales without a price drop. But presumably there will be long periods of pretty rock bottom sales if between now and xmas, and xmas and next September if that's the case.

Can't help but feel they should make the thing more affordable to maintain some of the enthusiasm for the product before it tapers out and loses it's cool factor.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and accept that you've mispriced, I can't help but think that this is the case with the AW. It goes beyond that normal Apple tax into "I just can't justify spending x hundreds of dollars on something that does y".
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If the 4 million number is right, Apple went from 0 to 75 percent market share in the smartwatch business in three months. Looking at the revenue numbers in the "other" category it seemed that Apple pulled in some hefty dollars since Apple TV and iPods are not going to drive that. Apple didn't arrive at these price points by mistake. I don't foresee them changing until at least a new model comes out.
 
iBighouse said:
I think they will drop the prices on the current models ONLY when next year's models are released.
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I'd reword that slightly to next generation, with the caveat that a watch generation will be a lot longer than a year. Two, three or even four years possibly?

We all have to un-learn the yearly improvements iPhone has conditioned us to expect. Annual upgrades will come for the watch, but they will be in software, not hardware. All watch owners will get them and it will help Apple reinforce the value and longevity perceptions of the watch. Both are classic "watch/jewelry" qualities that Apple must demonstrate for this product to justify its premium pricing and, in the long run, kill the competition.

If Apple slashes prices, the watch is dead.
 
zaquinho17 said:
thats my point though... its a justification for the price, you can by ****** quality with a brand name for just as much as the apple watch
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Still don't understand what point you are trying to make. Yes, the Apple watch is expensive, but you can see where the money went. It is worth the price.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Still don't understand what point you are trying to make. Yes, the Apple watch is expensive, but you can see where the money went. It is worth the price.
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my point is that it IS worth the money. People who argue that it isn't worth the money need to take into account you could spend a lot more on something that only tells the time
 
Now that Bestbuy is beginning to sell AW, I can certainly see them having sales from time to time to lower the price a bit, especially the bands, in a similar way for the iPad smart covers/cases.
 
I don't think a price drop is imminent. It's just not something Apple would do so shortly after a product launch. Dropping the prices already is synonymous to we failed to live up to the customers' expectations. Which they don't, frankly. The Apple Watch is the best selling product in its category. Also take into account that there are still many countries where the Watch isn't even being sold yet. Nobody wants to poke early adopters in the eyes for buying it too early when they plan on introducing a price drop.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
The OP is extremely stingy (he was looking to gold plate his Milanese loop on the cheap) so I'm not surprised that he created this thread.
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It's a good job you don't run a business, having that kind of attitude towards customers.

By the way I found an independent jeweler who will gold plate the ML for $90, that's almost half the price Watchplate are asking for.

All you need is a few brain cells and you can save yourself a lot of money :)
 
cambookpro said:
While this may be the bill of materials, I think it's a bit misleading saying that's how much it costs. I'm not saying Apple's margins are small, but you have to take into account years of research and development, labour, marketing, transport, manufacturing costs, packaging, etc.
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Well, other products also have the same costs in research development, labor, marketing, etc., but they've managed to keep their prices at better levels.
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DynamicSausage said:
It's not really very 'Apple' like to drop prices, this soon in to a product life cycle, especially given the watch's success. I agree that it is more likely that the prices may drop when a new generation comes around or they may take the iPod route and just replace this one altogether.

Let's not forget, the prices are dropping because Apple have come along and dominated a fairly dull market, who are they trying to compete with? Themselves?
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They're not COMPLETELY unique.... If somebody wants something to just keep track of health stuff, Apple's competing with FitBit. They also has the advantage of being a standalone device, or using various platforms as their companion (like Windows, Android, iOS). Not to mention they're as low as 1/3 of the price of an AW.

OTOH, if they want to do more, and go for that certain Apple style and experience, then of course, Apple's got them covered there.
 
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