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:apple:Watch Edition - Top or Flop?

  • Top

    Votes: 29 56.9%
  • Flop

    Votes: 22 43.1%

  • Total voters
    51

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,835
5,430
Atlanta
The reality is that if its $5000, it is a product that is targeted at the extremely wealthy.

When a wealthy person buys a traditional watch that is 5-30k, they most likely will use it for many many years, likely over 20 years with service every 5 years.

When someone buys a 5k or above apple watch, the watch will be functionally obsolete and even worse, possibly rendered useless by year 3 because of degradation of battery performance from many charging cycles.
Furthermore, apple will not have parts to service the watch at some point...

They will not be buying an heirloom meant to last and cherish. They will be buying this years fashion statement and a perfect watch to wear to the country club for tennis match or round of golf. In a year they simply throw it in the back of the draw and buy a new one. For the target audience $5000 is the cost of a hotel room for a couple of nights, a bottle of wine or a spur of the moment clothing shopping spree (chump change or less).

The Sport will cost far, FAR more of my relative income that the Edition will to the intended Edition audience. I fully expect my Sport to be obsolete in a couple of years. So why should Edition buyers be any different than me and expect their inexpensive (to them) toy to last years and become an heirloom?

Watch enthusiast will still buy heirloom type watches and won't place the Edition in the same category type.

The Edition is just inexpensive disposable fashion to the intended buyers.
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,109
3,974
I don't know how dumb celebrities are in general.
I guess varies with each one :D

But people with money are often quite shrewd with their cash.

I know you can get stunning items if you pay enough with gold, platinum, snake skin etc, all over custom made items.

Is there much of a market for people like this, buying the exact same quality of item as everyone else has. Not better in any way, other than it's in a gold case.

To me, I think you'd look dumb as you have the same item the kids in the street have, but you paid XXX times more for it.

Is there a market for this?

As I say, if everyone had a machine made one, and yours was made by hand the case was a different shape, perhaps some other enhancements, that made your one better.

There are expensive mobile phones, but they are very very different items to the ones everyone has looks wise. Not just the exact same one but the case is a different colour.

the prior knowledge that it will be useless very quickly as people know Apple and the tech industry in general which is totally and utterly different to the hand crafted and jewelry industry.

Just how much would a celebrity pay for a Intel Celeron CPU with a gold heatsink rather than an aluminium one, esp as the chip will be out of date after a couple of years? :D
 

SHNXX

macrumors 68000
Oct 2, 2013
1,901
663
They will not be buying an heirloom meant to last and cherish. They will be buying this years fashion statement and a perfect watch to wear to the country club for tennis match or round of golf. In a year they simply throw it in the back of the draw and buy a new one. For the target audience $5000 is the cost of a hotel room for a couple of nights, a bottle of wine or a spur of the moment clothing shopping spree (chump change or less).

The Sport will cost far, FAR more of my relative income that the Edition will to the intended Edition audience. I fully expect my Sport to be obsolete in a couple of years. So why should Edition buyers be any different than me and expect their inexpensive (to them) toy to last years and become an heirloom?

Watch enthusiast will still buy heirloom type watches and won't place the Edition in the same category type.

The Edition is just inexpensive disposable fashion to the intended buyers.


U must be watching too many YouTube videos.
Most rich people are not like this.
Also shopping sprees do cost a lot of money but I think when you are buying a pair of christian louboutin shoes or balmain jeans, you know you are getting something that the avg person doesn't have.
Apple watch is not like that.
 

kerosene

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 13, 2008
108
4
Whether $1,000 to $10,000 the Edition is not targeted as an Android competitor or even for the average user. The Sport is going head to head against Android watches and is meant to be the bread & butter seller to the public at large. If the average person wants to move upscale they can buy the Watch. The aWatch will succeed or fail on the back of the Sport and not the Edition. The Edition is 'bait' to lure 'normal' people into buying the Sport. In many ways the more the Edition costs the more desirable the Edition will be to celebs and the more desirable the $350 Sport will be to the general public.

Apple famously invited the fashion and jewelry industry representatives to the event to preview the aWatch. If Apple doesn't offer a fashion/jewelry statement in the Edition they will be ridiculed as a fashion poser/charlatan in the fashion/jewelry press.

Apple used to be cool and accessible to everyone (well, in 1st world terms). Going into the bling market is a clear departure from that already, charging exorbitantly just for the use of a different material because 'everyone else does' would just be really uncool and damage the brand.

I imagine a future Android ad like this. Justin Long's the Android guy, and John Hodgman a pimped up Apple guy in a white suit with dark sunnies, gold chain around his neck and a gold :apple: watch on his wrist. I leave the rest to your imagination.
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,835
5,430
Atlanta
...Going into the bling market is a clear departure from that already, charging exorbitantly just for the use of a different material because 'everyone else does' would just be really uncool and damage the brand....

Fashion/jewelry/style doesn't = bling. Apple was not a consumer electronics compony when it targeted Rio and Sony. Apple wasn't a handset maker when it targeted Nokia and Blackberry.

While the aWatch isn't a slam dunk, it does look like a pivot into the fashion industry. All evidence seem to point in this direction and Apple has itself added to this.

Could be wrong and the Edition may be a 'cheep' $999 imitation fashion piece but the evidence strongly contradicts that.
 
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