Quote:
Originally Posted by 709
That would be insanity, and people would literally laugh Apple off of the smartwatch totem. Nobody would even consider an aWatch after seeing how utterly crass Apple has become. It's like Apple said "fuck you, we're Apple, plebs" and then jumped in a hovercar and sped off.
If Tim Cook thinks his first foray into "one more thing" entails a grand-and-a-half golden watch, and he expects it to sell like hotcakes...
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But here's the thing: $1000 watches in the watch world typically have stainless steel cases, or at best gold plate. They have high quality Swiss or Japanese movements for accuracy's sake, but the Watch is more accurate. With analog watches you pay for cool "complications" but the Watch can go them one better by allowing you to customize your watch face with anything you like. The bands for the Edition Watch, and how they attach and how they buckle, are arguably as good or better than what you'd expect on the average $1000 mechanical.
Now, that doesn't mean Apple is going to take over the middling premium watch segment. Watch ownership is an old school thing, with a lot of intangibles having to do with the perception of elegance and quality and what it says about you. But look at Tesla. They're selling to people who might be expected to be cross shopping Jaguar and Mercedes and the like, with a decidedly futuristic, possibly even "sterile" car. But the upsides are so compelling that they can sell all they can make, with waiting lists.
It's not the smart watch totem that they're looking at, any more than Tesla was looking to compete with other electric cars. They wanted to make a great car, period. I think Apple wants this to be a great watch.
The one thing I wonder about is the fact that the internals are no different than the cheapest one they make. In mechanical watch land, going up the price ladder gets you nicer mechanisms. It would be helpful if Apple could add premium features to the Edition, to further differentiate it from those sweaty Sports people.