Obsolete in one year.

[cmChimera]

This bit of speculation is highly unlikely IMO. Considering you can't even swap RAM in the last few years of MacBooks, the likelihood of an upgradeable watch is slim to none.

This is a poor comparison to make. People don't wear MacBooks. This is a fashion item, and a far more personal item than Apple has made before. It's not guaranteed, but it's at least plausible that Apple has something in place to allow users to upgrade their existing watch.

 

[dctid]

This is a poor comparison to make. People don't wear MacBooks. This is a fashion item, and a far more personal item than Apple has made before. It's not guaranteed, but it's at least plausible that Apple has something in place to allow users to upgrade their existing watch.

For the watch to be upgradable will require a good deal of precision engineering, if you look at tear downs of Apple products there an awful lot of glue holding things together, won't happen trade in yes but anything else nah

----------

This is a poor comparison to make. People don't wear MacBooks. This is a fashion item, and a far more personal item than Apple has made before. It's not guaranteed, but it's at least plausible that Apple has something in place to allow users to upgrade their existing watch.

For the watch to be upgradable will require a good deal of precision engineering, if you look at tear downs of Apple products there an awful lot of glue holding things together, won't happen trade in yes but anything else nah really cant see it

 

[cmChimera]

For the watch to be upgradable will require a good deal of precision engineering

Right, and we know Apple employs terrible engineers.

 

[nfl46]

People that spend 20K on a watch don't care about price...so upgrading every year is not a big deal for them. Hell, you have these females out here spending 100K on a Hermes purse.

 

[cmChimera]

People that spend 20K on a watch don't care about price...so upgrading every year is not a big deal for them. Hell, you have these females out here spending 100K on a Hermes purse.

However people spending $700-$1000 on tech DO care about price. We keep talking about the Edition pricing as if the other models don't exist. Someone that spends $500 on the stainless steel version, and buys 3-4 bands just might want an upgradeable watch.

 

[jabingla2810]

This is changing the whole industry if the Apple Watch is a success.

Sure, top quality watches can last 50+ years.

But what do you think a 'Watch' will be 50 years from now?

Do you think people will be wearing their family heirloom on their wrist? No.

Who know's what will happen in 50 years time, but it's not an unreasonable guess that you won't be wearing your grandad's rolex.

 

[Night Spring]

However people spending $700-$1000 on tech DO care about price. We keep talking about the Edition pricing as if the other models don't exist. Someone that spends $500 on the stainless steel version, and buys 3-4 bands just might want an upgradeable watch.

I expect the bands will be compatible for at least the next 3-4 watch generations. And if the stainless steel watch is $1000, I can see people wanting it to be upgradable, but for $500, they'd just keep it for 2-3 years, and buy a new one once the old ones become too slow or incompatible with the latest OS.

 

[amirite]

I also think there'll be an upgrade program for the Edition.

Absolutely. At $20k they can afford to swallow some of the costs.

 

[DC Wallaby]

People that spend 20K on a watch don't care about price...so upgrading every year is not a big deal for them. Hell, you have these females out here spending 100K on a Hermes purse.

I love it when people make these assumptions about what motivates people to buy expensive watches. "Oh, they don't care about the price," "It's not a big deal for a rich person to buy another watch in two years," blah blah blah.

Give me a break. I have neither the ability nor the desire to buy an Apple Watch Edition at this point in my life, nor any luxury Swiss watch, but I'm not so arrogant to assume that the majority people who do buy those watches do so impulsively and don't care one iota about how good of an "investment" the purchase will be two or three or ten years down the road.

Just because there are people out there who have that kind of money to throw around, does not mean that every person who has it (or even most of the people with that kind of money) actually do just throw it around. And using that kind of mentality as an excuse for Apple to think inside their usual box is baffling to me.

 

[nfl46]

I love it when people make these assumptions about what motivates people to buy expensive watches. "Oh, they don't care about the price," "It's not a big deal for a rich person to buy another watch in two years," blah blah blah.

Give me a break. I have neither the ability nor the desire to buy an Apple Watch Edition at this point in my life, nor any luxury Swiss watch, but I'm not so arrogant to assume that the majority people who do buy those watches do so impulsively and don't care one iota about how good of an "investment" the purchase will be two or three or ten years down the road.

Just because there are people out there who have that kind of money to throw around, does not mean that every person who has it (or even most of the people with that kind of money) actually do just throw it around. And using that kind of mentality as an excuse for Apple to think inside their usual box is baffling to me.

And that's your personal opinion...just like my opinion was mine. Thanks for your comment, though.

 

[xraydoc]

People that spend 20K on a watch don't care about price...so upgrading every year is not a big deal for them. Hell, you have these females out here spending 100K on a Hermes purse.

I could afford a $20,000 watch if I wanted one. And if I did buy one, I'd do it knowing it would work for generations and that I could pass it down to my children or grandchildren. That's one of the things that makes them as expensive as they are.

No one short of someone with a net worth of $10M is going to drop $20,000 on a watch every other year without flinching. It just won't happen. Rich people may be rich, but they're not stupid (certain celebrities excluded, and there aren't enough of those for Apple to think they can sell just to them).

Either the gold watch will somehow be upgradable (either by a component swap or a reasonable trade-in) or the thing won't cost $20,000.

I'm going with the 'won't cost $20,000' reasoning. Apple wants to sell some watches. There's exclusive, then there's exclusive to the point where there's not enough customers to bother tooling a factory for production.

 

[rjlawrencejr]

And that's your personal opinion...just like my opinion was mine. Thanks for your comment, though.

Unfortunately not all opinions are created equal. Just because it is your opinion does not necessarily make it a valid one. I don't think he/she was disagreeing with you, he/she was disagreeing with the resolute tone of your initial message. Of course there are many wealthy people who have no qualms about the price of anything and spend freely. But I can assure you there are wealthy folks who watch every penny and even clip coupons.

 

[DC Wallaby]

And that's your personal opinion...just like my opinion was mine. Thanks for your comment, though.

Except that your opinion is based on a personal bias and close-mindedness that is detached from reality, and mine is not. Thanks for your response that completely misses the point and refuses to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, your opinion is wrong, though.

(And I'm sorry, but it's not an "opinion" that not all rich people spend money frivolously and are happy to piss away $20k on a wrist-trinket that they have to replace every couple years. The Apple Watch needs to be compelling for its price. I'm certain Apple knows that and won't let people down. But expecting "rich people" to ignore their better judgment and just replace it every so often "just because" is idiotic.)

 

[gregvet]

Unfortunately not all opinions are created equal. Just because it is your opinion does not necessarily make it a valid one. I don't think he/she was disagreeing with you, he/she was disagreeing with the resolute tone of your initial message. Of course there are many wealthy people who have no qualms about the price of anything and spend freely. But I can assure you there are wealthy folks who watch every penny and even clip coupons.

I would go so far as to say that most of the people I know worth more than a million are pretty miserly when it comes to spending on non essentials, and would think it madness to spend $20,000 on a watch that could be obsolete within a couple of years.

They often buy much nicer essentials than me however (cars, houses, food etc) ;-)

It will be very interesting to see how it pans out with the pricing next week

 

[rowdt1]

I don't believe the Apple Watch will be upgradeable. It would cannibalise their sales and it would mean the company would make less of a profit. I do believe however that once the second gen Apple Watch is launched a certain special trade-in program is introduced. This is a fashion item and people will want to upgrade it either way but they will not want to pay another couple of hundreds of dollars for it. Or maybe they will. Who knows. I'm a stranger from the internet.

 

[cmChimera]

I don't believe the Apple Watch will be upgradeable. It would cannibalise their sales and it would mean the company would make less of a profit. I do believe however that once the second gen Apple Watch is launched a certain special trade-in program is introduced. This is a fashion item and people will want to upgrade it either way but they will not want to pay another couple of hundreds of dollars for it. Or maybe they will. Who knows. I'm a stranger from the internet.

Cannabalize sales? I doubt it. Believe it or not, Apple's ridiculous iphone sales are mostly from new customers. If the case holds true for the watch, their sales will increase the same way. But for those that don't need a shiny new watch, they'll sell you an S2 and and some sensors at high margin.

 

[rowdt1]

Cannabalize sales? I doubt it. Believe it or not, Apple's ridiculous iphone sales are mostly from new customers. If the case holds true for the watch, their sales will increase the same way. But for those that don't need a shiny new watch, they'll sell you an S2 and and some sensors at high margin.

What makes you think Apple would let you upgrade your watch?

 

[nfl46]

I could afford a $20,000 watch if I wanted one. And if I did buy one, I'd do it knowing it would work for generations and that I could pass it down to my children or grandchildren. That's one of the things that makes them as expensive as they are.

No one short of someone with a net worth of $10M is going to drop $20,000 on a watch every other year without flinching. It just won't happen. Rich people may be rich, but they're not stupid (certain celebrities excluded, and there aren't enough of those for Apple to think they can sell just to them).

Either the gold watch will somehow be upgradable (either by a component swap or a reasonable trade-in) or the thing won't cost $20,000.

I'm going with the 'won't cost $20,000' reasoning. Apple wants to sell some watches. There's exclusive, then there's exclusive to the point where there's not enough customers to bother tooling a factory for production.

How about you buy me one then?

----------

Unfortunately not all opinions are created equal. Just because it is your opinion does not necessarily make it a valid one. I don't think he/she was disagreeing with you, he/she was disagreeing with the resolute tone of your initial message. Of course there are many wealthy people who have no qualms about the price of anything and spend freely. But I can assure you there are wealthy folks who watch every penny and even clip coupons.

Thank you!

----------

Except that your opinion is based on a personal bias and close-mindedness that is detached from reality, and mine is not. Thanks for your response that completely misses the point and refuses to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, your opinion is wrong, though.

(And I'm sorry, but it's not an "opinion" that not all rich people spend money frivolously and are happy to piss away $20k on a wrist-trinket that they have to replace every couple years. The Apple Watch needs to be compelling for its price. I'm certain Apple knows that and won't let people down. But expecting "rich people" to ignore their better judgment and just replace it every so often "just because" is idiotic.)

Thank you as well!

 

[cmChimera]

What makes you think Apple would let you upgrade your watch?

For these reasons.

This is a fashion item, and a far more personal item than Apple has made before. It's not guaranteed, but it's at least plausible that Apple has something in place to allow users to upgrade their existing watch.

People spending $700-$1000 on tech DO care about price. We keep talking about the Edition pricing as if the other models don't exist. Someone that spends $500 on the stainless steel version, and buys 3-4 bands just might want an upgradeable watch.

Watches have a different cultural consideration, the good ones are meant to keep forever.

"But won't Apple lose money that way?" If they are upgradable, they'll sell more to begin with, and they'll sell the upgrades, and it keeps customers "sticky" with the ecosystem, it gets people using Apple Pay. Either way they make money.

The Watch is a whole new category. Gold, Stainless Steel versions will be expensive. It has to be able to have longevity.

There are Apple products that have upgradability - iMacs, MacBooks, Mac Mini's. Not full upgradable, but adding RAM or a SSD improves it a lot.

It's a highly personal, wearable. It's not meant to be replaced every two years.

The brains in the Watch is a sealed unit that can easily be made to pop out and pop a new one in.

Under the band attachment area, there's probably screws. Take those out, the thing comes apart. Pop new system-on-a-chip in and you are now using an up to date device.

There's no way they do this [only] with the Gold one, no way. If you think that is plausible, then you have to consider that the ability to do it has been engineered. Then what, make two versions of the underlying tech? No way. If the Gold does it, they all do it.

And Gold Edition will most certainly do it.

 

[NeilHD]

No one short of someone with a net worth of $10M is going to drop $20,000 on a watch every other year without flinching. It just won't happen. Rich people may be rich, but they're not stupid (certain celebrities excluded, and there aren't enough of those for Apple to think they can sell just to them).

Even if I won the £50m lottery tonight I still wouldn't be buying a $20k watch that will be obsolete in a couple of years. I'd maybe spend $20k on a watch that'll outlive me, but I'd still just buy a cheaper smartwatch!

 

[Andropov]

How about a return program like the ones for the iPad, iPhone, iPods and Macs? I'm pretty sure gold won't become "obsolete" in a couple years...

Go to the store with your old Apple Watch Edition --> Change it for the new one for less than 349$ (the price of the internals of the Apple Watch, as it'll have the same internals as the Apple Watch Sport). No need to "upgrade the internals". Just melt the gold and make a new one.

 

[Foss]

This is a poor comparison to make. People don't wear MacBooks. This is a fashion item, and a far more personal item than Apple has made before. It's not guaranteed, but it's at least plausible that Apple has something in place to allow users to upgrade their existing watch.

You are missing the point entirely. Apple is not in the habit of allowing upgrades period. Out of their entire product line, the only officially upgradeable parts would be RAM in iMacs and more parts in Mac Pro's. Zero for iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and iPods. An upgradeable Apple Watch would be a very, very poor bet IMO.

 

[Julien]

You are missing the point entirely. Apple is not in the habit of allowing upgrades period....

Is Apple in the habit of selling high fashion expensive jewelry? Think Different Looks like Apple is.

It may or may not happen but you can't make a definitive judgment off past products.

 

[cmChimera]

You are missing the point entirely. Apple is not in the habit of allowing upgrades period. Out of their entire product line, the only officially upgradeable parts would be RAM in iMacs and more parts in Mac Pro's. Zero for iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and iPods. An upgradeable Apple Watch would be a very, very poor bet IMO.

I don't think I'm missing the point. I just don't think trying to determine whether or not the Watch will be upgradable based on prior products is the best way to go about it. This is a totally new product category for Apple, and it's being marketed and presented in a totally different way. As I said, it's not guaranteed to be upgradable, but it's a distinct possibility.

Is Apple in the habit of selling high fashion expensive jewelry? Think Different Looks like Apple is.

It may or may not happen but you can't make a definitive judgment off past products.

^ This.

 

[TheAppleFairy]

Obsolete is the most overused word in the tech industry. Yeah it will no longer be the latest and greatest when a new one comes up, but it still works and you still have what you paid for.

The product will still do everything it was advertised to do, and usually they add features to it over time.

Usually you can't add faster or newer hardware, but often they do add new software features.