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Apple Watch U.S. Sales Estimated at 2.8 Million, Sports Band May Have Base Cost of Just $2

H2SO4 said:
Gotta admit. This is it.
I’ve slowly learned, (as much as I might love and still buy their products), that Apple amongst other companies don’t give a hoot about me, or probably anynody else for that matter.
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"This is it"? Can you be any more overdramatic?

# Passionate leadership, including Steve Jobs and Tim Cook.
# Passionate designers, including Jony Ive.
# Passionate programmers, working towards something they truly believe in, and being in a great campus-like environment which is great for creativity and happiness.
# A core company mission of striving for the greatest quality in the world to make the world a better place; which has earned them a reputation for quality and reliability -- and the trust and sales to match.

But no... a $49 watch band proves that Apple doesn't care about you or its products.

Crybaby.

---

By the way: My designer computer desk was custom built for me by a prestigious designer, and the price landed at $2000. The wood and metal is worth around $100.

Should he have charged me $100? Would he still be in business?

Should Apple charge the bill of materials cost of $2? Would they still be in business?

Make your own d#mn wrist strap if it's out of reach of your income. See how far you get!

We pay builders to build. We pay designer builders an extra premium. Deal with it and GROW UP, MACRUMORS. The endless whining and sensationalist titles is why I didn't sign up to the site until this tuesday. This place is truly awful. The cool people don't make up for the insane clickbait news titles, "OMG!" sensationalism in every word of writing, or the endless whining that ensues. MacRumors staff are mostly responsible for this, with their irresponsible "journalism" which riles up the less informed portion of the users and causes false controversy and panic, which drives site traffic and increases ad revenue. I want no part of it and I'll go back to real life now.
 
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MacBH928 said:
how do you think Apple went from bankruptcy to $732 Billion worth company?
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Introducing the world to OS X, streamlining the product line and killing the third party licensing of Mac OS Classic. Mainly OS X. They dropped the prices on their computers in the process. Those gawd awful Performa were selling for more than an iMac.

They started overcharging once they became the 800lb gorilla and their products became the "It."
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Dunno why some folks complain about the price. It's what the market will bear. Enough folks are willing to pay that price that Apple is comfortable keeping that price.
 
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ColdShadow said:
The price of band is literally roberry and misusing people.
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You don't understand either the word "literally" or the word "robbery," or both.

I really don't get why it's even slightly relevant or interesting what Apple pays for materials. The product is either worth it to you as a consumer or it isn't. I just can't fathom why it would matter to me what apple's costs are.
 
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thasan said:
u forgot:
1. Allergy testing
2. Wear and tear/abrasion testing
3. Stiffness change over time
etc etc
There are hundreds of test for a company like apple. But well, you will always have moaners.
And NO, I havent bought an apple watch and I dont intend to buy one.
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Allergy testing...very important to me. I was really initially skeptical that I would be able to wear a band like the sport band at all. My track record with such products has not been good. I'm quite prone to contact dermatitis. I read that Apple put a lot of attention into this area and it's why I didn't mind shelling out the $$$ on additional Sport bands after my success wearing the one that came with my watch. It must have paid off somehow because I've been able to wear the Apple Watch and the Sport bands all day in nasty conditions (sweat, heat, dirt) and not get the rashes and irritations I've usually gotten trying to wear plastic or rubber-type bands on watches or bracelets. I've read accounts of the Fit Bit rashes and rashes people have gotten handling a certain model of Canon SLR. Do not want!

I know some people have gotten defective black sport bands and that's unfortunate and I know Apple will make it right for them. Mine has been put through a lot in my yard and housework and looks and feels great.
 
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Attirex said:
And ask your local bar/restaurant how much they pay for a bottle of wine, and then ask what they charge for a glass of said wine. Robbery! Hate! Death! Outrage! Get on Twitter!
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Very true, though I suspect even the markup on a bottle of wine vs a glass of wine is nothing compared to what Apple are making from a piece of molded rubber.
 
Jsameds said:
Material
Stress testing
Length
Colour
Design of buckle
Hole spacing
Hole design
Detail design
Finish
Packaging design

Basically there's a lot more to it than you'd think, despite it seeming like a rather simple item. I can see R&D for the sports strap alone easily running in to the tens of thousands, possibly into the hundreds.
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Let's pretend that 1/3 of the watches sold have been Sport edition. That's just over 900k watches.

Now, let's go to the upper range of your estimate and say $300k in R&D.

That works out to 33 cents in R&D per band on new watches, and costs fully recouped. That would make R&D on the current stand-alone band a non-issue when calculating Apple's cost.
 
These bands already go for around $5 or less on EBay, from third party manufacturers...
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Way less than that. A burger cost 1 cent to at cost when I worked there more than 15 years ago. And that was cost to the store, not the main company which had sold the material to them.

Worked at Radio Shack in high school. 100ft of phone cable was $19.99 and cost the store 5 cents.

Everything has a large markup. Do you think your car costs anywhere near what you pay for it? Or the food you buy? Remember there are other costs here. While the Apple band may cost just $2 to make, they're not accounting for the R&D, factory costs, packaging, shipping, and everything else that goes into it. While it certainly doesn't make the band cost them $49 but it's not simply $2 and that's the end of it.
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Those figures sound way too low. I worked Radio Shack and remember retail markup on parts and cable being 5X store "cost".
 
dannyyankou said:
People do realize that employees have to be paid and there's R&D costs, right?
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Yes, and there's the ongoing costs of maintaining their retail presence in some very pricey locations. And let us not forget their latest humanitarian efforts: the cost of all those Editions they had to give away to needy celebrities who couldn't buy their own without losing face among their peers.
 
RogerWilco said:
... What about the sales number, 2.8 million watches? That estimate is far below the whisper numbers (one was seven million) that were being floated recently.
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The story shouldn't be sales are below whisper numbers. The story should be analyst whisper numbers are far removed from reality... proof analyst pull numbers out of their butts ;)
 
just like the Smartcase for the iPad costs like 79€ from Apple and i can get literally the exact same replica for 10 bucks on aliexpress. nothing new
 
senseless said:
Those figures sound way too low. I worked Radio Shack and remember retail markup on parts and cable being 5X store "cost".
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That's what our computer said. Managed the place for a couple years. We certainly saw huge revenue. Bonuses of over $100k in a year. Speakers would run say $200 and store cost would be $30. The markup was always silly but we have to remember that they also have to pay commissions, pay my wage, insurance, shipping to the store, packaging, and pay those running corporate plus all the development and manufacturing costs.

It's not as simple as "They pay $2 to make something that they charge $49 for." There are countless other costs that go into it. Apple and everyone else would be 100000x richer if it was just as simple as these articles make it seem to make profits.
 
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If there's one thing that the price of the bands makes scaringly obvious, it's the fact that Apple has succeeded in raising and maintaining a very special breed of customers who will literally buy everything that bears an Apple logo without ever questioning whether it's worth it's price.

What a total lack of economic education. And - I know I'll receive a bit of beating for that - it seems sooo American...
 
I've bought several third party bands from $29-$99 and none are nearly as nice as the apple band. I had high hope for Monowear link bracelet for $99 and out of the box, the clasp shows some corrosion. It does look ok though I prefer the Milanese Loop that came with my watch.
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The $29 leather bands don't fit on the connector very well and fell apart after a couple days worth of use.

We also got another $49 Apple Sport band in black and even though it probably cost them a total of less than $10, fit feels very nice and high quality.

To those that say the pricing is crazy, have you looked at other sport watches like Tag Heuer? Those only tell time and cost much more. If you can't afford it, maybe you should buy an Android Wear.
 
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GrumpyMom said:
Allergy testing...very important to me. I was really initially skeptical that I would be able to wear a band like the sport band at all. My track record with such products has not been good. I'm quite prone to contact dermatitis. I read that Apple put a lot of attention into this area and it's why I didn't mind shelling out the $$$ on additional Sport bands after my success wearing the one that came with my watch. It must have paid off somehow because I've been able to wear the Apple Watch and the Sport bands all day in nasty conditions (sweat, heat, dirt) and not get the rashes and irritations I've usually gotten trying to wear plastic or rubber-type bands on watches or bracelets. I've read accounts of the Fit Bit rashes and rashes people have gotten handling a certain model of Canon SLR. Do not want!

I know some people have gotten defective black sport bands and that's unfortunate and I know Apple will make it right for them. Mine has been put through a lot in my yard and housework and looks and feels great.
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I feel for you... My band rubbed a little skin off of me where the under-band ends, and I thought I had it bad. I just had to build up callouses, but allergies to the material do not sound fun.

-from the father of a daughter that had dermatitis
 
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Mercifull said:
Another pointless bill of materials article. It's obvious that apple is making an absolute killing on the bands but the $2 figure is just ridiculous. It doesn't take into account other manufacturing costs such as tooling or machine design. It doesn't take into account any research and development costs, packaging, distribution, marketing and promotion etc. Apple are no doubt making a tidy profit off all the bands, not just the rubber ones but $2 is misleading and wrong.
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lol, researching.


theres probably hundreds of factories making all these bands right now in china, that did no researching.


the metal band is nice, but no where near $500
 
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bbeagle said:
It's not robbery when somebody CHOOSES to spend their money on something that they don't have to.

A bag of potato chips costs $3. It takes about 5 potatoes at 20 cents each to make a bag of chips. That's $1 worth of potatoes. And they charge $3. That's a 300% profit! Is that robbery too?

Pretty much everything you look at is the same. A wooden chair costs $50, yet the price of it's wood is only about $4. A plastic chair costs $10, yet the price of it's plastic is less than 50 cents.

The materials that a product is made out of are not the primary cost to make something.
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i hate beagles, that is all.

your picture brings me fear, anger, and frustration all at once. (not a beagle owner, just living with one and had to watch it one weekend)
 
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