[Robo]

Originally Posted by Messiahtosh Does anyone wonder if the pricing is sort of deceiving? The $349 price might only refer to the price of the watch without a band. It also might only refer to the price of the smaller of the two options. I'm guessing an Apple Watch with a band at the full size will be $450 as the least expensive option for the larger size face/screen.

I think all Apple Watches will come with a band, especially since they don't work with standard watch bands.

Originally Posted by turbulentfurball I don't think they'll make the larger one more expensive. It's a valid assumption that most of the smaller ones will be bought by women and the larger ones by men - it'd amount to some kind of gender tax.

I wrestled with this, in the predictions I posted above. But I decided that I think they will be different prices, just because it's the only way I could make the odd $349 starting price make sense. It's just such a weird price to launch a major new initiative at—it feels sort of leaving-money-on-the-table-y, since they could either bump it up to $399 with minimal impact on volume or drop it to $299 for much higher volumes.

The only way I could make the price make sense to me was assuming that the larger model would be $50 more. That works out nicely—it puts their likely volume sellers at $399 and (assuming a $100 bump for the stainless steel/sapphire "main" model) $499. I think Apple really wanted to get that particular model at the magic $499 point.

And a gender tax? If ladies make 70 cents on the dollar compared to men, a $50 discount is the least Apple can do. And note that they never call them women's and men's sizes. I might get the 38mm, just because I have small wrists.

Originally Posted by addabox My guess is that each model will come with a "base" band (baseband, ha) that's the least expensive option that works with the finish and you can upgrade from there. Maybe the Watch Sport will be the $349 model and be available off the shelf in a variety of band colors, like iPods have been. The Watch will come with, maybe, the link bracelet? And cost, what, another $50? Or would it be $100? Then the Watch Edition would come with a poor person to carry your watch and tell you what it says.

I see the "main" Watch costing more than $50 more than the Sport, and I think the cheapest option will still include the same sport band as the Apple Watch Sport. If it was just $50 difference, it's almost like why would they bother. The Apple Watch Sport definitely has the vibe of a cheaper, cut-down model — "Sport" is almost like "mini" or "lite" in this case. It very deliberately says, this is the entry level, without the shiny steel or sapphire crystal.

I think it definitely says something that this middle Apple Watch is just called Apple Watch. I think Apple views it as their volume seller, at least at first. The Apple Watch with white sport band is the most commonly pictured watch on Apple's site, and it's the one in the front page. I'd bet my ass that exact model is going to be $499 (and $449 for the small one), and then go up as you move to leather or metal bands.