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Without a model that costs $5,000USD+ I doubt Selfridges really wanted the Apple watch in their area of the store reserved for luxury timepieces.
 
Actually I think they were right in market Ng it as jewellery first, utility second. The other way around makes it too geeky and not likely to replace your regular watch full time.

It doesn't matter how they position it - it's still too geeky. I laugh every time I see some famous person wearing one. It looks super-nerdy and out of place.
 
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LoL yeah ok..... the billions in the bank say they are doing just fine. You people crack me up.
Those billions were made when they understood their customers better. Just because you've had success doesn't mean that you're infallible. Ask Nokia, BB, Palm, and Apple from be 90s how well that worked out for them. All the billions do now is provide a cushion on the way down. Is that enough to prevent a decline? No, not outright, but it hopefully gives them more time to change their ways on the way down.
 
This is the sort of rubbish you get from employing someone like Angela Ahrendts. No one gives a toss about getting tech from fashion 'boutiques'. The early Apple stores had actual real products - lots of peripherals, lots of software. I even bought a proper M-Audio condenser mic from one in the early days and a midi interface.

They could do so much more with retail but they have a dim fashionista in charge.
 
As an Apple specialist IT person, I know of nobody with an Apple Watch. It seems that they have utterly failed to capture imaginations. (and I prefer the somewhat random timekeeping of my Rolex!)

THIS!

This forum has a HUGE bias towards the Apple Watch; So much so, when somebody criticises it, the lynch mobs appear with their pitch forks to burn them at the stake.

The fact of the matter is the Apple Watch was only successful initially due to the hype generated by Apple through the media. It was a truly unique master-class at marketing and it's why Apple are world leaders in this area.

The product is ultimately useless. I've yet to see that killer app that makes it stand out of the crowd. One app to make the watch unique and special to use. Celebs wear them because they are paid to. I work in an online technology business with over 400 in my office (150 developers), and I know of just one person that wears one and I also know of many gathering dust in drawers.

However, if you you like using it, that's genuinely great; But don't kid yourself. It isn't the life changing product like the iPod, iPhone, iMac or the unibody MBP was....
 
Its just another one of "Tim's not knowing where to lead Apple" . Fashion technology watch that will be outdated in a couple of years. Fashion watches lasts a lifetime and retain value or increase.

The iPad Pro is no different, the outdated hardware is no different, the abandoned displays are no different, ... it goes on.
 
I will never understand anyone that would pay so much money for a specific type of shiny rocks.

No extra functionality, performance, etc.

Just, rocks.
 
Wow. MR takes click baiting to a whole 'nuther level.
Maybe they don't understand the concept of "POP UP" shop? (even more so, the concept behind "holiday shopping season popup"?)
 
I was once skeptical, but when the series 2 was released I decided to take a punt and form a valid opinion instead of moaning like a girl about something I've never tried.

I now love my Apple Watch and wouldn't be without it. It's the best tech gadget I've ever purchased. I am free from the shackles of peering into a smartphone half the day. My iPhone now sits on a windowsill at home, and stays in my pocket when I'm out and about. I never check it for emails or messages, as the watch tells me when something is worth taking notice of.

I also don't give a toss what anyone else thinks of it when they see it on my wrist. And especially not the supposed opinions of some morose, bitter sad acts on a tech forum who think they themselves are the entire world.
 
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Actually I think they were right in market Ng it as jewellery first, utility second. The other way around makes it too geeky and not likely to replace your regular watch full time. I guess the transition was always part of the plan.

I agree with everything except your last sentence (on which I have no opinion). For the Apple Watch to work, Apple had to get it in the hands of fashion trendsetters, and it did. The original Edition prices were absurd and the overall sales no doubt fell short of Apple's hopes, but that doesn't mean the style-focused introduction was a bad idea.

I tend to think of the Apple Watch as a good-to-excellent product (I don't have one, but a large minority of people I know have them and seem to love them), but hampered somewhat by the lack of a clear use-case (for some) and overly high expectations. Also, many of those expectations may have come from outside Apple. Apple is at the point where any new product release must either be a smashing success or it is viewed by many as a failure. That's a tough position to be in.
 
Wow. MR takes click baiting to a whole 'nuther level.
Maybe they don't understand the concept of "POP UP" shop? (even more so, the concept behind "holiday shopping season popup"?)
there are pop-ups, and then there is hugely expensive retail square footage in what is probably the top department store in london. Apple paid a fortune (obviously) for that space, and it performed way below anticipated levels from almost the beginning. The whole thing was basically a marketing exercise, and in one sense it worked - because for a while there lots of people were talking about the watch - but they would have kept it going had the high-end versions actually made anything like the the money they hoped for. Maybe in other 'boutique' (apple never used the word 'pop-up') locations the story was different, but I know that in Selfridges this was anticipated many months ago.
 
The biggest problem with Apple today is that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of their customers.

Nailed it

Over pursuit of thinness and minimalism while forcing a future that is still a ways off onto us NOW.

Can one dongle themselves out of every situation? Apple thinks so.

iPhone 7 and 2016 MBP support your theory...
 
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In my opinion, Jony wanted to do it, and that was all there was to it.
Yeah he seems really really into that angle and with no SJ to put the brakes on we got a $10,000 device that does exactly the same thing as the $499 device. It was aimed directly at people that are happy to part with a lot of cash for an exclusive luxury item.
 
It doesn't matter how they position it - it's still too geeky. I laugh every time I see some famous person wearing one. It looks super-nerdy and out of place.

Do you think? I kind of think of the Watch as about as fashionable as any other Apple product. A celeb holding the iPhone clearly isn't holding jewelry, but then it isn't holding a beige box from the 90s either.
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Never mind 1G. how about 3G for the new 15" MBP, base model here in Canada.
Played with it at Staples just tonight. True the display & speakers *are* nice. The gimmick bar (+$500), the thinness and utter lack of port variety and upgradability, are making me smh. As for the watch, I was a skeptic from the start and my 1st thought was, after growing the screen size on the iPhone line, why on earth would people now use a small "remote control" screen for your iPhone (that's right there in your pocket) and stick it on your wrist ?
The 1.5secs it takes to take your iPhone out of your pocket or purse, is really too much time ?

"Pros" want to tinker, upgrade & interface, Apple watch wearers certainly wouldn't do that and would never be Apple's target market, but yet, it's so geeky a device and too thick. Leave the MBP thicker and with more battery and the Watch thinner. Never mind, I'd never wear one anyways.

Most people find incoming calls notifications on the Mac useful. How hard is it to pull out your iPhone then? Not hard, but if you're in the middle of something it's nice having the notification a glance away.

The Watch is the same. You wouldn't buy a Mac just for the notifications any more than you'd buy an Apple Watch just for the notifications. I feel this is bad communication on Apple's part.

It's a health and fitness device first. Most people agree needs to be on your wrist not in your pocket (look at Fitbit users - no one says "just use your iPhone" to them). It's also designed to be fashionable. One of my friends, and my partner both have Fitbits. Neither wear them with a nice outfit on a night out.

But once you already have a device on people's wrists for Health and Fitness, let it display notifications. People liked glancing at their wrist for the time with traditional watches. People like the notification forwarding to the Mac while they're working. Why not have key notifications on your wrist so as you're getting into the car/cooking yourself dinner/walking to the next meeting you can glance and go "no, that call isn't important" or "oh, it's so-and-so, I really need to take this".
 
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Honestly, I feel Apple should do what they did first with iTunes, iPod, and Safari is make the Apple Watch available to Android users and I feel it would pick up so more steam. But, I know they won't because they feel it keeps people tied to their platform but ok - enjoy limited sales then.

From Wikipedia:
Though the iPod was released in 2001, its price and Mac-only compatibility caused sales to be relatively slow until 2004.

2004: 3 years after release. It's still early days for the Watch.
 
THIS!

This forum has a HUGE bias towards the Apple Watch; So much so, when somebody criticises it, the lynch mobs appear with their pitch forks to burn them at the stake.

The fact of the matter is the Apple Watch was only successful initially due to the hype generated by Apple through the media. It was a truly unique master-class at marketing and it's why Apple are world leaders in this area.

The product is ultimately useless. I've yet to see that killer app that makes it stand out of the crowd. One app to make the watch unique and special to use. Celebs wear them because they are paid to. I work in an online technology business with over 400 in my office (150 developers), and I know of just one person that wears one and I also know of many gathering dust in drawers.

However, if you you like using it, that's genuinely great; But don't kid yourself. It isn't the life changing product like the iPod, iPhone, iMac or the unibody MBP was....

Your sampling of 400 people may seem compelling to you but it doesn't match my sampling at all. I think you may be the one kidding yourself. I see more and more of these every day in the wild (for example, every single nurse in my doctor's office yesterday had one on). Apple was selling them like hotcakes over Christmas. Yes it's still early days and the product has some flaws, but it's getting better all the time while all the other smartwatch players are struggling mightily.

Also, why does a product have to be "life changing" to be a good product that's worth owning to many people? No one claimed it is. Actually I take that back... I've read a handful of stories from people who said it was life changing. A few got early warning of a heart issue. Others found it motivating enough to get healthy for the first time in their lives. But for most it's just a really nice companion to their iPhone.

I was once skeptical, but when the series 2 was released I decided to take a punt and form a valid opinion instead of moaning like a girl about something I've never tried.

I now love my Apple Watch and wouldn't be without it. It's the best tech gadget I've ever purchased. I am free from the shackles of peering into a smartphone half the day. My iPhone now sits on a windowsill at home, and stays in my pocket when I'm out and about. I never check it for emails or messages, as the watch tells me when something is worth taking notice of.

I also don't give a toss what anyone else thinks of it when they see it on my wrist. And especially not the supposed opinions of some morose, bitter sad acts on a tech forum who think they themselves are the entire world.

I agree completely. You know, I was the first one in my circle of friends/associates to get an iPhone back in '09. At the time, most viewed it as a "toy". I was using mine for business. Some questioned it, but a few years later the iPhone absolutely dominates business now. The other day, my company's owner came to me talking about buying an Apple Watch, and he's the last person who would buy a new gadget on a whim.
 
Someone might be asking that, never seen them sell for anything close.

Bonhams sold one for 28k in November. I know that this was a new boxed rose gold. Some in the Far East sold for more. Clearly eBay is not the platform here. Also there is a small trade in celeb watches.

Point is relatively very few of these sold and if you keep even some of the higher end normal ones in good condition with boxes they will be worth money. Don't expect your sport to though.
 
Lets see Swarovski's attempt...

Interesting news, but nothing much is revealed in that video! :(

My report below:
  1. Dramatic music plays
  2. Fade in/out of assorted captions with fatuous marketing blurb
  3. Swarovski box comes into view
  4. Ordinary blue cardboard box spins around a bit (at this point I'm starting to think it's a spoof)
  5. Caption reveals the watch is for ladies only (interesting)
  6. Dramatic music blasts to a climax
  7. Box slowly opens
  8. Fade to white! (seriously! :( )
  9. Fade to black
  10. Caption implies all will be revealed at Baselworld 2017 (late March)
  11. End
 
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