Will you buy the iwatch first generation?

FourFourRED

GrayFox208 wrote: »

The iPad battery is the full size of the iPad..

Great observation.

Snake

Aodhagan wrote: »

Great observation.

That's why the iPad has a better battery than everything else. I don't think an iPad sized watch would sell well

adamski8

This will be perfect for people who never see that someone is calling or texting them.... ie women

seamus

Dades wrote: »

€300 to €500? As an accessory for a €700 device? That would be ludicrous.

An iPod Touch is only €259 and is basically everything an iPhone is without a phone.

I'd say the pricing will be closer to an iPod nano - it'll have an equivalent level of functionality, smaller battery, much smaller memory. But it'll have a hipster wristband and you'll pay hipster premium pricing for it. I'm going to shoot for €199.
You could even fit an FM radio in at no extra cost :pac:

Blazer

agree ^^ they'll want a fast win with the iwatch to reassure the Cook doubters on Wall Street that Apple has nothing new up their sleeve.
I'm wondering about the Apple TV..sooner or later they are going to release their own tv as well.

Snake

Blazer wrote: »

agree ^^ they'll want a fast win with the iwatch to reassure the Cook doubters on Wall Street that Apple has nothing new up their sleeve.
I'm wondering about the Apple TV..sooner or later they are going to release their own tv as well.

Yeah 22inch will be 1,000 quid.

Creamy Goodness

Going off topic but the solution to TV isn't apple selling tv's. People don't upgrade their tv's every 4-5 years let alone the bracket apple want you in 1-2 years.

If apple is to continue with TV it will be in the form of a set top box.

Triangla

Also a bit off topic but could influence the decision to purchase.

Will these be legal to wear while driving, if they are basically a phone (text, email, calls) on your wrist.

Zcott

I don't see why they wouldn't be legal. I haven't seen any legality questions with the Pebble, and because you can't text back or call someone from the watch it's legal.

_Redzer_

I'm interested in getting a fuelband and am keeping my mind open to this. Will not be buying it for years because it'll be expensive and I'm purely interested in the health/fitness side of them, not the extended phone capability. But Apple do have a habit of making things desirable, so who knows, they could sell it to me yet.

I hope it looks like the mockups that resemble a classier fuelband than the android watch-like designs.

Zcott

The fuel band should still work with all the health kit stuff in iOS 8, so it might be worth picking up.

OU812

The fuelband is being discontinued, isn't it?

Sad Professor

Triangla wrote: »

Also a bit off topic but could influence the decision to purchase.

Will these be legal to wear while driving, if they are basically a phone (text, email, calls) on your wrist.

Its functionality and usefulness will be mostly tied to your phone. It might make use of Continuity to let you know you have an incoming call or text message, but nobody's going to be using it to actually make phone calls or type out texts.

Frank Lee Midere

I can see them having a version of the iwatch which is €1-2k along with cheaper more disposable models. It will have great design and expensive components, liquid metal, sapphire etc. It probably will have some lifelong guarantee and have an over specced CPU for what it can do.

Zcott

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

I can see them having a version of the iwatch which is €1-2k along with cheaper more disposable models. It will have great design and expensive components, liquid metal, sapphire etc. It probably will have some lifelong guarantee and have an over specced CPU for what it can do.

I don't see this happening. I doubt they'd even consider making a €1k watch for all a watch could do. I'd say max €300.

Frank Lee Midere

Zcott wrote: »

I don't see this happening. I doubt they'd even consider making a €1k watch for all a watch could do. I'd say max €300.

Apple have a great design team and are spending billions on materials which are just too expensive and slow to mass produce iPhones. They also love high margins. I wouldn't rule it out.

Dades

A grand for a digital watch? You must be mad!

squonk

Dades wrote: »

A grand for a digital watch? You must be mad!

Alright then... 2 grand!

seamus

Sad Professor wrote: »

Its functionality and usefulness will be mostly tied to your phone. It might make use of Continuity to let you know you have an incoming call or text message, but nobody's going to be using it to actually make phone calls or type out texts.

The law is interesting in this regard, I can see there being some questions of it.

Basically any device which allows you to communicate with other people (except a two-way radio) is considered a "mobile phone" for the purposes of the legislation.

However, I suspect challenging the particular law will hinge on the fact that the watch itself does not allow you to communicate with other people, only with your phone - the phone is doing the communicating with others.

Could be an interesting one though.

Frank Lee Midere

Dades wrote: »

A grand for a digital watch? You must be mad!

No. Why would a grand for a digital watch be any crazier than a grand for the old technology in a spring based watch.

Watches cost money because they are status symbols.

murpho999

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

No. Why would a grand for a digital watch be any crazier than a grand for the old technology in a spring based watch.

Watches cost money because they are status symbols.

Sorry but mass produced plastic digital watches are in no way the same status symbol as well crafted "old technology" watch. Don't forget branding and it's also jewelery.

Can't see an iWatch being more than €200.

Zcott

Also, Apple love high margins but they want you to upgrade your watch regularly, instead of buying one €2000 watch once in your life.

Frank Lee Midere

murpho999 wrote: »

Sorry but mass produced plastic digital watches are in no way the same status symbol as well crafted "old technology" watch. Don't forget branding an it's also jewelery.

Can't see an iWatch being more than €200.

That would be a good argument against someone who said the iwatch would be plastic and €1k. Since I didn't I am not sure why you quoted me.

Dades

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

That would be a good argument against someone who said the iwatch would be plastic and €1k. Since I didn't I am not sure why you quoted me.

I don't know why you bothered quoting me if you going to pretend your post means something else.

The difference between an iWatch and something like an Omega/Rolex/Patek is depreciation and longevity. Any Apple product has around a five year life span after which the batterty becomes dodgy, the OS stops being supported and new functionality won't work.

A classic old-school watch won't depreciate a lot and will run forever if maintained. There's a huge market for classic timepieces, as a wearable item and as an investment.

The iWatch will be a novelty for a few months until it becomes commonplace. In 12 months the iWatchS will be released and the first iWatch will be selling on Adverts for half what you paid for it.

Frank Lee Midere

Dades wrote: »

I don't know why you bothered quoting me if you going to pretend your post means something else.

The difference between an iWatch and something like an Omega/Rolex/Patek is depreciation and longevity. Any Apple product has around a five year life span after which the batterty becomes dodgy, the OS stops being supported and new functionality won't work.

A classic old-school watch won't depreciate a lot and will run forever if maintained. There's a huge market for classic timepieces, as a wearable item and as an investment.

The iWatch will be a novelty for a few months until it becomes commonplace. In 12 months the iWatchS will be released and the first iWatch will be selling on Adverts for half what you paid for it.

My post said nothing about plastic. You quoted me and assumed plastic.

And you are making assumptions here about iWatches being disposable and having 5 years lifespans. I am assuming they will use the best materials, have great industrial design, possibly sport some rare metals, and have a lifetime guarantee.

At the price I am assuming they have have a top end CPU but being devices which are merely accessories that will he overkill, but guarantee longevity. Assuming an iwatch will be replaced by an S version after a year assumes that they need to be upgraded to run as a full mobile OS. That is not true. A wearable could run on a 300Mhz CPU. They don't need a GPU. So there is no incentive to upgrade. Might as well over spec them sand go for the top end.

Also they will be produced in very low quantities at the high end.

There are enough rich people - the real rich - who would flock to that.

EDIT: I also think there will be a mid level maybe plastic version.

copacetic

So apple steal the VP of sales from Tag Heuer and apparently are going for the 'Swiss made' title for their watch.

Sounds like they are possibly looking at something along the lines of the withing activite but with added features?

Zcott

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

My post said nothing about plastic. You quoted me and assumed plastic.

And you are making assumptions here about iWatches being disposable and having 5 years lifespans. I am assuming they will use the best materials, have great industrial design, possibly sport some rare metals, and have a lifetime guarantee.

At the price I am assuming they have have a top end CPU but being devices which are merely accessories that will he overkill, but guarantee longevity. Assuming an iwatch will be replaced by an S version after a year assumes that they need to be upgraded to run as a full mobile OS. That is not true. A wearable could run on a 300Mhz CPU. They don't need a GPU. So there is no incentive to upgrade. Might as well over spec them sand go for the top end.

Also they will be produced in very low quantities at the high end.

There are enough rich people - the real rich - who would flock to that.

EDIT: I also think there will be a mid level maybe plastic version.

This whole idea goes against Apple's DNA. They sell what 90% of the people what, and don't go for the 10%. I'm not part of any watch forums but I don't see people clamouring for a €2000 Apple watch when there are much nicer analogue watches available.

Cantremember

I'm enjoying this discussion! I wonder if Apple have hired luxury brand retail placement expertise to flog a €200 item? Have they gone through a discussion like this internally and decided that they can't go top end like Dades says? Have they added value to it so that it's not just an accessory, it's a new thing that replaces a phone for alerts, texts, timekeeping and health monitoring? Throw in retail localisations and it gets interesting. Make the CPU replaceable and put it in a special case....all will be revealed. It's fun waiting this time!

Frank Lee Midere

Zcott wrote: »

This whole idea goes against Apple's DNA. They sell what 90% of the people what, and don't go for the 10%. I'm not part of any watch forums but I don't see people clamouring for a €2000 Apple watch when there are much nicer analogue watches available.

Apple go for the top 10-20% worldwide. They may reduce prices with iPhones eventually but not yet.

And "DNA". Companies change. I hate that term.

The problem is apple do not like commodified markets - with the exception of music players where their success probably surprised even them - they don't go cheap and they certainly don't go cheap initially. The original iPod was $400. Probably $500 in today's money.

Add to that the fact they are spending hundreds if millions on metals which look like they make no sense for something as big as an iPhone and can't be produced in volume.

So there will be an Apple cheapish iwatch I agree. Also they may have a $2k watch. Worth a shot.

Zcott

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Apple go for the top 10-20% worldwide.

Just not the top 1% unless they're demanding it. Which I don't see from watch communities...

Add to that the fact they are spending hundreds if millions on metals which look like they make no sense for something as big as an iPhone and can't be produced in volume.

I assume you're talking about Liquid Metal? Where have you read it's not suitable for an iPhone? Apple are great at refining production techniques in upcoming technologies: retina display, unibody, Touch ID.