iWatch to Come in Two Sizes With 'Fashionable Appearance', Top End to Cost 'Several Thousand' Dollars

[bobob]

several thousand dollars!?!?!? ohhh man... now i have to choose between a new Mac Pro or an iWatch....


GIVE ME A F$^$&%*^ BREAK!

I realize this thread is littered with many similar comments, but what part of "a variety of materials" is difficult to understand?

If a gold case/band iWatch costs several thousand dollars, then your new gold case Mac Pro is going to cost several tens of thousands of dollars.

 

[GenesisST]

Bracelet and "insides" separate?

Maybe that's been mentioned, but I won't read a billion pages of comments to find out (nor search...)

If the core of the iWatch would be replaceable you wouldn't need to replace a high-end bracelet for the watch, just the inside.

Plus there'd be a market for third-part bracelets

 

[lincolntran]

Please up vote to balance out the ignorance

Can people with a bigger view up vote this post so it might have a chance at balancing out the ignorance in the thread?

1. This "several thousands" is an absolute possibility. We need to stop thinking about this watch as a computer or as all the other smart watches out there that tried to beat Apple with a half ass attempt.

2. Apple smart watch will be a "fashion" device with the "smart watch" capability.

3. The "watch face" will be cheap (as in replaceable/upgradable cheap if you are able to afford an expensive mechanical watch). The expensive part will be the wrist band. So you can have a very expensive band (or several) and will be able to keep up with the technology for years to come. This will open new market just like the iPhone cases.

Cheers.

 

[carlgo]

I favour and own only three watches, an ordinary Rolex when I have to work on the septic tank, the Patel Philippe Ref 5016P for the times an understated look is required and then the Richard Mille Tourbillon for its interesting mechanical look and anti-gravity compensation. I despise gravity.

None of these have diamonds or anything, just simple appliances for those of us cursed with good taste. The mistresses though...they are so greedy, but as long as the watch is pink and has gaudy diamonds around it they are happy. I let them pick them out and have no idea of the brand.

The iWatch...good stocking stuffers for the youngsters I suppose. They will just put them into the toilet and then it is back to fixing the septic tank again.

 

[ColdShadow]

several thousand dollars? LMAO.
not going to happen.
I'd say it will be around $200-$300 max.

 

[yoak]

I favour and own only three watches, an ordinary Rolex when I have to work on the septic tank, the Patel Philippe Ref 5016P for the times an understated look is required and then the Richard Mille Tourbillon for its interesting mechanical look and anti-gravity compensation. I despise gravity.

None of these have diamonds or anything, just simple appliances for those of us cursed with good taste. The mistresses though...they are so greedy, but as long as the watch is pink and has gaudy diamonds around it they are happy. I let them pick them out and have no idea of the brand.

The iWatch...good stocking stuffers for the youngsters I suppose. They will just put them into the toilet and then it is back to fixing the septic tank again.

If you can wear a Richard Mille Tourbillon, I´m sure afford an iWatch just for the hell of it?
Amazing watches the Richard Mille Tourbillon. A bit out of my price range, but I do prefer automatic movement in a watch over a computer any day

 

[576316]

bollocks to the watches, can we have a new Mac Mini with a decent graphics card please?

Having had a MacBook Pro Retina for just under a year now, I'd definitely like to get a desktop Mac at some point. Although I could never go back from the benefits of Retina so it'd either have to have a 4K monitor or a Retina display. To this end, I'd like to see a Retina iMac in which case I'd go for that. However, it would be nice to see a high powered Mac mini with an official Apple 4K monitor (or an Apple Retina monitor).

 

[PlanetFree]

Perhaps the several thousand dollers ment Honk Kong dollers $2.000 is about £155 or $257 USD

 

[PlanetFree]

It's a smart watch. It's going to presumably monitor health related stuff and it might have a small touch screen. Why would I want to use the apps I can use on my iPhone on a small screen on my wrist. Also, it's realistically going to need to be paired to your phone so what's the point if I'm going to always have my iPhone on me anyway. It's also probably going to show you notifications but again, why would I want my wrist going off with notifications all the time? None of this is revolutionary besides the form factor, and that does not make it worth more than an iPhone.

For me having notifications on a watch rather than having to pull my phone out of my pocket every time is a very useful feature.

At the moment my phone is all i have so im walking down the road like a cowboy practicing quick draw, if i was to swap my iPhone for a six shooter i think i could out draw Clint Eastwood,lee van cleef and eli wallach easly lol.

So for me having a smart watch showing notifications would be very useful. I was looking into getting the Pebble but will wait to see what Apple have with their smartwatch before i make up my mind.

 

[SmileyBlast!]

Thousands of Dollars for an iWatch? They've just created another precious product for the criminal element of society to steal.

I hope they build in some anti-theft deterrents like low voltage electric shock for the non owners.

I guess they will also have to add, "Find my iWatch" to iCloud.

 

[Karma*Police]

A lot of these comments remind me of all the naysayers who said that Apple couldn't do retail, couldn't do phones, couldn't sell PMPs for $500, etc, etc.

If the iWatch is made out of high quality materials, well-crafted and can tell time forever so long as it's recharged, why couldn't they sell a watch for the same price as a low end Rolex? Especially if it's far more functional and just as beautiful?

The fashion world is ripe for disruption if you ask me. Why else would two very successful CEO's of well-known luxury fashion brands leave their posts to join Apple?

In a few years, people might be asking, "why did you get a Rolex when you could have gotten an iWatch?" After all, watches were just pieces of tech back in the day.

 

[corygreenwell]

As I mentioned earlier, I'm thinking a base watch + bands that vary the price. But this morning I started thinking about what that could be. Beyond luxury bands, I think the flexible slap-bracelet screen we've heard about would make best sense if the face slips into the band and interacts with it, being able to display content on the band as though it were a screen. This could permit extended functionality over the base watch.

 

[paradox00]

Kuo suggests Apple will release the iWatch at multiple price points and in a variety of materials, competing with low and high-end watches alike. At the high end, Kuo suggests Apple's iWatch could sell for thousands of dollars.

People seem focussed on the thousands of dollars portion of this quote, and rightfully so, but I think the other portion is as equally unlikely.

Since when does Apple introduce multiple models of a new product? Sure, they could offer pricing tiers of the same model spanning a couple hundred dollars, but a variety of watches covering the entire market? No. Apple's first product is always highly focussed, then they slowly expand the line up later.

A lot of these comments remind me of all the naysayers who said that Apple couldn't do retail, couldn't do phones, couldn't sell PMPs for $500, etc, etc.

But this is a rumour. Before the iPad came out, people expected it to cost more than a grand, not $500. This sounds like the same thing.

 

[dannyyankou]

I tuned out the second I read "KGI Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo"

All this is blatant advertising for this douches investment company. Always has been. The only things he's ever been right on have been the bleeding obvious ones like There will be a iPhone 5s and repeating other peoples rumours.

He also predicted the 17 inch MBP being discontinued, the iPad 4 coming out 6 months after the iPad 3, and them restarting iPad 4 production in 2014. But those are "bleeding obvious".

 

[iChrist]

aaaaaand my shares in liquid metal are going to go up tomorrow. yay.

You sure about that?

lol

 

[notrack]

There's definitely a significant market for a high-end luxury iWatch from Apple. For those of us consumers sick of seeing everyone carrying around the same phones and tablets as us, an iWatch that costs thousands of dollars could be very tempting. Let's wait and see before dismissing this idea entirely.

Absolutely. Although it seems ridiculous at first, the Apple brand would profit from a top-line product to further position itself as premium in opposite to Samsung etc..

Also, the low-end products would benefit from that (image wise) and Apple could keep prices and margins up while others might be declining in price wars.

It's a common brand strategy where the top-product often isn't that profitable considering the much larger amount of R&D costs required.

 

[clibinarius]

Actually wouldn't surprise me if they had a low end model for a couple hundred bucks, and if they partnered with a company like Rolex for the high end model.

Exactly. While it doesn't seem like Apple, I could see them licensing it with some features in others to other makers.

 

[DudeDad]

It's a smart watch. It's going to presumably monitor health related stuff and it might have a small touch screen. Why would I want to use the apps I can use on my iPhone on a small screen on my wrist. Also, it's realistically going to need to be paired to your phone so what's the point if I'm going to always have my iPhone on me anyway. It's also probably going to show you notifications but again, why would I want my wrist going off with notifications all the time? None of this is revolutionary besides the form factor, and that does not make it worth more than an iPhone.

I'm giving Apple a bit more credit...everything you described (except for the health apps) is the Samsung smart watch, which to me is a joke. I'm expecting Apple to come out with something quite special, but not overshooting the expectations....time will tell.

 

[handsome pete]

3. The "watch face" will be cheap (as in replaceable/upgradable cheap if you are able to afford an expensive mechanical watch). The expensive part will be the wrist band. So you can have a very expensive band (or several) and will be able to keep up with the technology for years to come. This will open new market just like the iPhone cases.

A luxury watch isn't prohibitively expensive because of the band.

 

[rasputin1969]

If the interface has taken iOS 7 design cue's there's no way I'm going to pay $$$$ for it. A watch need's to be refined and classy - not garish and tacky.

 

[Arn234]

A top-end iWatch at several thousands of dollars? No chance in hell.

Why not? If it's going to have advanced technology that no one else on the planet is producing, it better be at a higher price point.

If Apple blows everyone away with the new technology in iWatch, it won't matter how expensive it is.

If it caters to the price-conscious people, and ends up producing something crappy like Samsung Gear, then it won't matter how low the price is if no one wants to buy it.

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The more I hear about these reports on the iWatch from analysts, the less I want the device. They're probably all wrong anyway.

You are so ungrateful.

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At several thousand dollars, I'd love to see the profit margin. Don't need to sell many of them.

Still ridiculous.

Would you fuss over whether something costs $3 vs $10?

That's how someone who has money sees $300 vs $1000.

Nothing stopping you from having a wealthy mindset either.

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Hmmmm.... let's me get this straight.

Apple Television -OR- Mac Pro -OR- iPad 6/iPhone 6 combo (maxed out memory + a couple extra as gifts) -OR- MacBook Pro - OR- a smart watch.... I could have added many more "several thousand dollar" purchases, including a down payment on a new car.

I was thinking today, before this article, that my budget for a wearable right now would only be sub $300, as in $299.99 the most. That's much lower than several thousand. I'm getting iPhone 6, I know that. If Apple wants to toss in a wearable for another $300, I'll look at it.

I can find much better ways to spend my several thousand dollars.

Why not become rich?

 

[octothorpe8]

A top-end iWatch at several thousands of dollars? No chance in hell.

I guess it's silly to speculate on a rumor, but assuming this is something that looks like a proper watch, that high-end model could be in the realm of an Omega or something. In other words, people *already* spend several thousand dollars on a watch and maybe they're going to put out something to compete at that level.

That said, I'm with you on never spending that much — but clearly people already do so.

 

[Nieval]

I'm calling BS on this supposedly price rumour.

The way I see it, this is an ecosystem war, meaning it would make sense for Apple to make the iWatch as affordable as possible to "lock" as many users as possible to their OS environment.

Make no mistake, AndroidWear will be a viable alternative, even though I feel like both products are aiming for opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of use (with some overlap inevitably of course). Never the less, the average consumer will compare the two.

I vaguely remember a rumour claiming that the iWatch will run a full blown iOS which does open up the possibility that Apple may repeat what they've done in the PC market, basically aiming for a certain "class" of consumers but I can't for the life of me see why, when you can replicate the iPhone distribution model thats proved very profitable.

And you can't argue that this is another "hobby" like Apple TV, because their recent hirings would suggest they're taking this very very seriously.

 

[dumastudetto]

I'm calling BS on this supposedly price rumour.

The way I see it, this is an ecosystem war, meaning it would make sense for Apple to make the iWatch as affordable as possible to "lock" as many users as possible to their OS environment.

Make no mistake, AndroidWear will be a viable alternative, even though I feel like both products are aiming for opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of use (with some overlap inevitably of course). Never the less, the average consumer will compare the two.

Apple doesn't buy into price wars with so-called competitors. They have a brand to protect.

Producing a dirt cheap affordable iOS Watch may put it within reach of the masses, but it won't be a very desirable product. We know very few people walk around sporting cheap watches anymore because they are tacky and unnecessary. So the product needs to be desirable to change consumer behaviour, that means aspirational pricing, and Apple producing a high-end product worthy of being associated with the brand.

 

[Nieval]

Apple doesn't buy into price wars with so-called competitors. They have a brand to protect.

The iPhone is Apple's most recognisable brand, it's not dirt cheap but competitively priced.