Over $10,000 for a watch that’ll last two years – the price is a feature.
The Apple Watch Edition is a statement piece; whether a whim of Jonny Ive 1 or a treat for China’s rich fashion elite 2. It’s a potentially lucrative experiment.
There are many ways to rationalise why people will buy it. Maybe it’ll be upgradeable, with the S1’s system on a chip 3 you could replace the S1 with an S2. Maybe the Watch won’t see annual updates nor need upgrading, beyond sensors and battery life the Watch is a mere dumb screen, what could need an upgrade so soon? Maybe one day it’ll be a collectable, worth well more than the original cost. Maybe it’s purely an experiment; the Apple Watch 2 won’t come in Edition, but a same-price gold effect like the iPhone, iPad and new MacBook.
Right now if you think $10,000 is too much, then you’re not the target market of the Apple Watch Edition.
I’ll be getting the much cheaper Sports Edition and see how it goes 4.
I am rich
I deserv it
I am good,
healthy &
successful
Notes:
- How else would Ive get to say metallurgist or jewellery artisans. ↩
- The Apple Watch announcement had a strong focus on China – highlighting Apple’s desire to double their retail stores in the next 18 months. ↩
- The S1, beyond a marketing piece, could be a drop in replacement – http://www.apple.com/watch/technology/#chip. ↩
- I loved my first-gen iPad, but it quickly dated and got stuck with an OS now three versions behind, yet its successor, iPad 2, still runs the latest OS four years after it originally launched. ↩