- 'cuz here's my perspective: I read about the Watch all day and it has me surfing eBay for vintage Omega Speedmasters. I read about Pay and it's got me realizing I need a new wallet (the leather kind). I look down at my wrist and feel naked 'cuz Bjorn has my Zulu and my dad has my Worldwatch and I'm waiting for it to get here so I can send 'em both in at once. And I realize that all that wonderful data that the Watch can give me... just isn't something I need.
FTA:
- The Apple Watch’s biggest advantage in China is deceptively simple: Few Chinese consumers laugh when Apple touts the device as a luxury item. Apple became China’s top luxury brand for 2015, outranking labels like Louis Vuitton and Gucci. More recently, Apple’s status has risen as Chinese consumers of luxury goods prioritize functionality over ostentatiousness—a taboo that China’s President Xi Jinping deplored as “unhealthy,” criticizing Chinese elites’ obsession with status symbols like Rolex watches.
So... the US launch of the Apple Watch is relevant the way the opening box office of Iron Man 3 is relevant. Yeah, it sets the stage... but the real money is in the overseas markets.
- That gesture thing might be damn handy if your native language is ideogrammatic. Maybe the Watch is for the Chinese.
Best analysis I've seen so far. Time's not mine.
I just cannot get excited by the Apple Watch. I really hate wearing watches and even most jewellery, and I can't see why I would want it or need it. My fear that Apple will end up creating a need, in that there will be services created where an Apple Watch (or smart watch in general) becomes required. Just as there are increasing things that you really need a smartphone for these days. For me, my iPhone is both a productivity and an entertainment device. I have loved the larger screen of the iPhone 6+. I just struggle to see where a watch would fit in to my life.
If anyone has a good idea for wearable tech, it's Google. The big prohibiting factor of Google Glass is the fact that it cost $1,500 to purchase a pair and they looked quite goofy in their prototype stage. Drop the price considerably and I think you'd have a hit.
Having worked in China for a while, I know their love of brands is unhealthy, but I think the Apple watch will still do well in the US. We care less about brand, but it's still a good portion of the population that does. Also, despite the fact that Apple is very late to the smartwatch game, and nothing about their watch seems nearly as good as something like the Moto 360, they have the automatic exposure of being a huge company everyone talks about. Sadly, this means the Apple watch will be the first smartwatch some people have ever heard of, and I'm sure some Apple fans will automatically assume it is the only high quality one on the market without even looking at alternatives.
It might be their strategy, but I don't buy that it will work. Luxury watches are supposed to age well. Consumer electronics do not. The first Apple Watch might sell better in China than the U.S., but I don't think it will have staying power as a luxury item.
I saw a headline the other day that said something like "with the introduction of the watch, Apple has lost its soul" As a lover of watches, and even as kind of an apple fanboy - I tend to agree. I looked through the pricing of the watch. The most expensive from the apple store is $17,000. I then maxed out the specs on the top of the line machine that apple offers. The Mac Pro, fully loaded with displays, and for good measure, I threw in an 8TB high speed storage array. The cost - MAXED OUT is $16,158. so there it is. if you had $17k to burn, you could buy a pipe-hitting desktop computer that would likely remain relevant for longer than most desktop computers and be screaming fast while you have it. Or... you could buy a fashion accessory that will likely be obsolete in 2-3 years. Oh - and clocking in at $17,000, you're getting exactly the same functionality as a $349 watch. too right - I still have the original iPhone (in a box in a drawer)... it was truly obsolete in 4 years.Luxury watches are supposed to age well. Consumer electronics do not.
Well - they've changed the store since I priced the last one - I can no longer add displays or the array... so I can only get the machine itself to $9737 - but this proves the point all the more... the most expensive machine I can configure is now sub 10k, but I can buy a watch for $18k? ridiculous IMHO.
I dunno - they convinced me. By arguing that Apple has become the most recognizable luxury brand in China, they can pretty much rewrite what luxury watches are "supposed" to do. After all, they've done a pretty good job of convincing their customers to buy a new phone every eighteen months or so. If they can convince the 300m people in China's middle class that luxury items need charging and are to be replaced every 18 months, they can create an entire category of luxury items. The fact that there are no Android Wear rip-offs available on the black market but there are already a half-dozen fake Apple Watches was pretty compelling evidence of the soundness of the strategy as far as I'm concerned. But only time will tell.
>After all, they've done a pretty good job of convincing their customers to buy a new phone every eighteen months or so. I think that has more to do with carrier contracts than anything else. new products in all categories come out all the time, and most people don't upgrade until theirs breaks. my cable company won't give me a new TV free with a 2 year contract, but the cell phone company will.
Small sample size, but I was at lunch with my nouveau riche Chinese brother-in-law yesterday, and I asked him what he thought about the watch. He said it would have to be very useful before he considered it because you need to charge it so often. Yesterday night, my wife was browsing WeChat, and started laughing. I asked her why, and she said that it was a thread making fun of the Apple Watch. Doesn't seem a slam dunk from my limited Chinese market research.