Sounds like a part of their refocus on health and fitness. I feel like the fashion element was second to that, at best. After all, people wear awful looking Fitbits without anyone really worrying because they value the function so much.
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One thing is for sure: Apple is willing to keep tweaking their Apple Watch game plan at a fast pace until they hit the sweet spot.
Since the first watch was released, they have significantly modified the strap offerings, the tone of the advertising, the way the OS works, the naming of the collections, the price points, the watch case colors, and the price/material of the Edition line. They have deemphasized some features and emphasized others.
Whether we agree with all their choices or not, the competitors are going to have a hard time catching up.
I know this will get a lot of down-votes but I wonder if the iPad was only succesful from day 1 because the concepts it debuted were developed for (and proven with) the iPhone. So in many ways, it wasn't totally new.
The iPod needed growing time, and grew massively in 2006 (5 years after launch):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#/media/File:Ipod_sales_per_quarter.svg
The iPhone overtook iPod in 2010, and seemed to grow massively around 2012 (5 years after launch):
https://brandtao.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/global-apple-iphone-sales-q3-2007-to-q3-2014.png
We'll know relatively soon how well the Watch will do, but I imagine eventually they will add a feature that hits the press and gets enough people talking that it'll become mainstream. Just it's not mainstream straight away like iPad.
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A properly designed wristwatch is timeless. I have no qualm spending $1000's on a watch at all. In fact, I own several ranging from $500 to close to $10k. But the difference with a quality timepiece is I will be able to sell my watches at close to the same price that I purchased them in 20 years time. In fact the watch I'm wearing today has gone UP in value since I purchased it. With only 2,000 made, I'll make a nice profit if I ever chose to sell it (which I definitely will not 😉 ). I'll also be able to continue wearing them in 20 years time and they'll look as good on my wrist as they did when I first bought them.
The point I'm trying to make is the Apple Watch is not jewellery. It's a gadget and a brilliantly hyped up fad. Apple's marketing machine did very well stirring up public excitement, but there's only so much you can hype up something that has little if any purpose for the average Joe.
A classic timepiece will always serve a purpose:
1) It tells you the time
2) It looks amazing on your wrist.
3) A decent watch will always hold value.
Either way, this is my opinion and I'm positive many will disagree with me but I'll happily place a good bet on the Apple Watch fizzling out in a few years unless somebody can come up with a killer app and the battery can be made to last at very least one realistic week.
That's because with a wristwatch you're not solely paying for function. If all you needed was the time on your wrist you could buy a very cheap watch and get that function, right?
A beautiful swiss timepiece bought today does the same thing as one bought 50 years ago, and does the same as one bought in 50 years time. That's why it holds it's value - because there's nothing coming to make it look irrelevant. Not so with the Apple Watch.
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The biggest problem with Apple today is that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of their customers.
I think the biggest problem to forum users is that they don't understand Apple customers as well as Apple does.
