10 years from now Apple won't be a tech company, they will be an international luxury brand that creates products in many different areas. This is just the first step.
On the Pricing of Apple Watch
51–60 of 80 posts
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#52Considering the rapid obsolescence of electronics, why would I put a quickly decaying piece of hardware my wrist? In the luxury/heirloom department, I much prefer high end mechanical wristwatches. Those have an appeal that will last much longer (decades) then quickly outdated hardware (months). I only have to look at the replacement cycle for cell phones, which is already insane.
The point is you aren't most people and most people simply don't give a rip about mechanical watches. Just like most people didn't use blackberries in 2007 even though that was the most popular high end phone. The people that did have blackberries by and large preferred their blackberry's features -- just as the people who like mechanical watches prefer mechanical watches -- but that didn't mean Apple's new product didn't/can't find a market.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was thinking about how long an Apple Watch could take to become obsolete, given how quickly electronics, and particularly mobile electronics, become obsolete. I kept coming back to the idea that these things could last quite some time, possibly a very long time. The watch shouldn't need to do substantial processing, only has a limited number of pixels to push and shouldn't rely on substantial processing like graphi…
That all sounds reasonable. But I have to believe it's completely wrong. Because it's the same sort of "reasonable" that says every level of technology is pretty much all you need. That is finally (decades later) pretty much true of desktop computers (but not displays). And it's getting there for laptops (excepting their displays and batteries). It's still years away for phones. And to think that the very first gener…
I could just be completely off their target markets, but I just can't fathom why someone would spend $1,000 on a watch every two years. With phones, the case for upgrading every two or three years can be reasonably built. How much tech are they really going to add to a tag-along device that will require more hardware?
If the technology is going to change that quickly, I think those speculating of some sort of update process have to be correct.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#54There is one massive different with usual watches. Expensive watches are often sold under the idea you will never have to buy another watch, and neither will your children, or your children's children. I will reasonably surprised if any new Apple Watch hasn't been made forcibly obsolete by Apple within 5 years or so, and shocked if it is still functional in 10. Furthermore (and more worrying perhaps for people paying…
I was thinking about how long an Apple Watch could take to become obsolete, given how quickly electronics, and particularly mobile electronics, become obsolete. I kept coming back to the idea that these things could last quite some time, possibly a very long time. The watch shouldn't need to do substantial processing, only has a limited number of pixels to push and shouldn't rely on substantial processing like graphi…
> if Apple launches with good enough hardware, that software updates can keep the watch hardware relevant
The first release of the Watch is completely dependent on the iPhone, and that's mostly due to hardware limitations. It's wrong to believe that hardware won't see an update -- the battery life would soon start to seem very dated, new less power consuming processors would arrive and better communication chipsets would help reduce the dependence on iPhone. So a hardware update is imminent.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#55There is one massive different with usual watches. Expensive watches are often sold under the idea you will never have to buy another watch, and neither will your children, or your children's children. I will reasonably surprised if any new Apple Watch hasn't been made forcibly obsolete by Apple within 5 years or so, and shocked if it is still functional in 10. Furthermore (and more worrying perhaps for people paying…
The idea he presented previously is that you'd be able to go in to Apple and upgrade the tech innards of your fancy gold iWatch when new, faster, more awesome bits are released.
This wouldn't even need to be a quick process, they could swap out the watch face and harvest the materials from them at a later date. Do a quick restore from your iPhone to get your apps/settings back to the watch and you're done (just like buying a new iPhone, the only difference is you keep the watchband).
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm absolutely amazed that Gruber and the smart folks who read him have missed this. My dad has a Rolex. It belonged to his dad. My eldest brother will likely inherit it one day. That Rolex is a family heirloom. It's style is timeless (sorry) and it isn't going to run out of RAM or processing power anytime soon.
Gruber's talked about that before on his podcast, so he hasn't missed it -- but I think you're right that it'd be good to address in print. I know I'd be hesitant to fork over even a "mere" $1000 for the stainless steel one if the expectation was that it'd be obsolete in a few years. I can't imagine, however, that this hasn't come up within Apple already; if you're really going to sell a $10K smartwatch, this will ha…
Has there been anything official from Apple that they plan to sell a $10K smartwatch other than as a novelty?
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#57There is one massive different with usual watches. Expensive watches are often sold under the idea you will never have to buy another watch, and neither will your children, or your children's children. I will reasonably surprised if any new Apple Watch hasn't been made forcibly obsolete by Apple within 5 years or so, and shocked if it is still functional in 10. Furthermore (and more worrying perhaps for people paying…
Yes, exactly, this seems so obvious that I don't understand why Gruber is ignoring it. The iWatch will be obsolete in 24 months at most (less if you are the type who values status and want a "$20,000" watch as the next model will probably come out 12-18 months later) Maybe there are enough uber-rich people that are ok buying $20,000 watches every year, but that seems like a really, really small market. Then again, ma…
The Apple watch will tell time far better than a Rolex for decades to come. CPU and memory and Moore's Law can't change that.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#58I think his $5k estimate is much stronger than his $20k estimate. An Apple Editions is not a Patek Phillippe. There is a dramatically different replacement cycle which means that any attempt to cut and paste lux strategies is going to either fail entirely, or narrow the market so thoroughly as to be indistinguishable from failure.
That's assuming there's no upgrade story to be told at the launch event. I agree it would be a little weird coming from the modern Apple, but I just can't see a marketing pitch that sells even a "merely" $5,000 device that's functionally equivalent to a $350 one and essentially guaranteed to be obsolete within 5 years. Obviously there's a market that can afford to treat such a luxury as disposable, but that doesn't s…
As long as a watch powers on and shows the correct time, it is not obsolete.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#59There is one massive different with usual watches. Expensive watches are often sold under the idea you will never have to buy another watch, and neither will your children, or your children's children. I will reasonably surprised if any new Apple Watch hasn't been made forcibly obsolete by Apple within 5 years or so, and shocked if it is still functional in 10. Furthermore (and more worrying perhaps for people paying…
As long as a watch holds a charge and tells accurate time, it is not obsolete.
Re: On the Pricing of Apple Watch
#60There is one massive different with usual watches. Expensive watches are often sold under the idea you will never have to buy another watch, and neither will your children, or your children's children. I will reasonably surprised if any new Apple Watch hasn't been made forcibly obsolete by Apple within 5 years or so, and shocked if it is still functional in 10. Furthermore (and more worrying perhaps for people paying…
The other difference is that Rolex doesn't sell a $200 watch. I can't think of any legitimate luxury brand in the world that successfully sells to the common man and the uber rich. There's no $20,000 Rolls Royce. There's no $100 Prada bag. There's no $50,000 Ferrari. Any brand that dips too low into the mass market loses its cachet among the top tier of the market (i.e. BMW and Coach as two examples) Apple Watch will…
Mercedes has marketed and sold low end (in terms of price) cars without tarnishing its image. And if you don't think they're a legitimate luxury brand, then I don't understand your definition. B&W speakers are a luxury brand, yet they make affordable headphones. I'm sure others can chime in with similar examples.
Prada also makes $200 handbags, so one of your examples is flawed.