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Will Apple sell the next gen Watch without a band?

OlavA

OlavA

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 8, 2015
24
0
I wonder how they are going to handle the next gen Watch for people who are heavily invested the link bands.

I guess going forward you would walk into the Apple store and they would simply put the new Watch on your original band and you just pay for the Watch part.

I hope that is the case.
 
OlavA said:
I wonder how they are going to handle the next gen Watch for people who are heavily invested the link bands.

I guess going forward you would walk into the Apple store and they would simply put the new Watch on your original band and you just pay for the Watch part.

I hope that is the case.
Click to expand...

I don't think they would ever do that - at least not right now for the foreseeable future. Thats like offering the iPhone without the charger/EarPods just because many people already own loads of them.

Selling the case on its own would dramatically reduce the price, but it would also decrease the sales on bands - which Apple really wants to push as a factor of 'customisation' for the Apple Watch.

It would mean that people would save money by re-using their previous band, and we all know Apple (or any company) don't want us to save our pennies ;)

Also think about the increase in the number of SKU's they would have to produce:

  • Apple Watch Sport Case (Space Grey) (£249?)
  • Apple Watch Sport Space Grey 38mm with Black Sport band and Space Grey Pin (£299)
  • Apple Watch Sport Space Grey 48mm with Black Sport band and Space Grey Pin (£339)
  • Apple Watch Sport Case (Aluminium) (£249?)
  • Apple Watch Sport 38mm with white Sport band (£299)
  • Apple Watch Sport 42mm with white Sport band (£339)
  • ....

They may ultimately let you choose a finish, and choose a band, rather than giving you a predetermined combination, which might work a bit better. Similar to the Moto Maker.

Apple has always been one to give you everything in the box to get you up and running, and I don't see this strategy going away soon (except the new Macbook).
 
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I guess they will only let you buy a watch with less restriction on the band choice.

e.g. Black SS with sports band. Otherwise, not many people will pay extra few hundred dollars again for an extra black link just because they want to upgrade the watch.

By doing this, they will force you to buy an extra band. At the same time, people can choose to buy the cheapest band to just upgrade the watch.

If no cheap choice to just upgrade the watch. It may end up less people buy the 2nd gen watch, not a good situation for Apple.
 
Most people would need a band. Yes you can have extras but unless you had a watch that died, then get another one,I can see how there would be an extra. But If you sell the watch the buyer would probably want a watch. Besides it just gives them another Reason to keep the price a little higher and make some more cash.
 
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Part of me wants the new Watch to stay the same size so I can use old bands, the other part of me wants Apple to gradually make the Watch larger and larger like they did with the iPhones because even the 42mm is really freakin' small. Entering a PIN on this screen is a challenge.
 
Just buy v2 with a sports band if your old band is holding up.
You can always use an extra sports band or a different colour :)
 
my guess is that in the future, the only way apple will be able to sell the watches in the stores, is by packaging the watches and the bands separately, to allow for customization. there is no way that they will stock all of the different combo's as are now shipping.
ergo, you will be able to buy just the watch,without a band.
my 0.02 cents.
 
I felt that they should have sold them separately from the beginning. You get the timepiece and the bands separately. Seems like it would be faster to make them that way and deliver them to customers. Maybe even keep the same packaging but better materials on the inside. But at the same time it might not be that pleasing to get a timepiece when you are buying a watch.
 
Not likely of them to do that, as wristwatches are traditionally not sold without a band. Don't fool yourself into thinking people are heavily invested in the link bracelet, as it's not a lot of money in the watch world.

It's very simple if you want to transfer your link bracelet to the next generation. Simply purchase the base SS v2 model and sell your old watch with the new, unused Sport band. You'll recoup more of your initial cost that way, as the base models almost always have better resale value than the higher models.
 
If you are buying Gen 2 after buying the expensive version of Gen 1, then you really like the watch and you will probably like one of the Gen 2 bands. You can just buy that version and then have two bands you like. Or as stated above, resell the other band with your old Gen 1 watch.
 
I don't think there is any chance of the watch being sold without a band. The band is an inherent part of a watch and has to be sold with it.
 
They do this every day with the existing iPhones/iPads/iPods. I don't need any more chargers/cables, but I get them included in every iProduct I buy. I have a ton of the 10W chargers, but I get stuck 'paying' for the smaller 5W chargers from my iPhones. I just keep them all on the side and sell them with my device when I upgrade.
 
I think there will be an upgrade path, not sure if it'll be just selling you the watch without a band or where you give them your old watch and they give you a new one. It just seems very hard for me to believe that Apple would sell a $17k gold watch and then tell the customer it won't work with their latest phone.

One thing is for sure, though, we haven't nothing to go on in regards to predicting what they'll do, as this is Apple's first piece of jewelry.
 
baller1308 said:
I felt that they should have sold them separately from the beginning. You get the timepiece and the bands separately. Seems like it would be faster to make them that way and deliver them to customers. Maybe even keep the same packaging but better materials on the inside. But at the same time it might not be that pleasing to get a timepiece when you are buying a watch.
Click to expand...


Then on launch day tons of people would have complained that they got their watch and had no band to strap it to their wrist. Or vice versa!
 
Selling them worth bands was a disaster this initial launch so I hope they sell them separately.
 
The thought of having the apple watch as case only is a good idea. I'd buy it if it's cheaper... Unless they want us to buy a complete set and get the cheapest band. All I really want is to be able to reuse the same bands to the new gen.
 
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