Spring forward - March 9th

Zcott

The original plan was that it would have a whole raft of sensors but they ended up being pretty inaccurate so they all got shelved. This is a scaled back watch and I can see it being similar to the iPhone, where it started off with promise but not much else and improved considerably for the next one.

Also, on a similar theme, this is a watch as much as the iPhone is a phone. It's not about a watch.

DubDJ

I just can't understand the pricing on these watches, charging $250 for a leather band? A steel band that costs more than the sport watch itself? I'd be surprised if they make many sales of these at all other than the ones already included with the watch, it's extortionate.

Space grey + black band Apple watch sport for me, choosing the right watch size will be difficult unless somewhere in Ireland manages to get display models. Can't wait to see that third party straps are released at more normal prices.

Zcott

DubDJ wrote: »

Space grey + black band Apple watch sport for me, choosing the right watch size will be difficult unless somewhere in Ireland manages to get display models. Can't wait to see that third party straps are released at more normal prices.

The Apple Store app has a sizing guide that displays them exactly at the right size.

dloob

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Apple seems to think this is worth $449. If there are people willing to send that sort of ridiculous money on a strap, Apple would be mad to refuse them I suppose.

I've no interest in a smart watch. I haven't worn a watch since I was 10 and don't intend starting now. It was all fairly underwhelming I thought.

That's the strap I like.
I had a feeling the price would be unpleasant once I read the description.
Nine hours per strap of cutting followed by a hand brushed finish wasn't going to be cheap.
Still let's see how the market develops and what version two brings.
I wonder will these update as often as their other product lines?

dloob

DubDJ wrote: »

I just can't understand the pricing on these watches, charging $250 for a leather band? A steel band that costs more than the sport watch itself? I'd be surprised if they make many sales of these at all other than the ones already included with the watch, it's extortionate.

Space grey + black band Apple watch sport for me, choosing the right watch size will be difficult unless somewhere in Ireland manages to get display models. Can't wait to see that third party straps are released at more normal prices.

It's normal pricing for the luxury watch market which is their target.

challengemaster

Unfortunately the space grey steel + steel band was what I had my eye on before pricing was announced... little did I know it would be $1099

Sarn

my friend wrote: »

You need to get out more.

That's what they said about online dating. Encouraging people to get out more would be the idea.

my friend

Sarn wrote: »

That's what they said about online dating. Encouraging people to get out more would be the idea.

Re online dating... Who's 'they'?

Graham Dwyer? Elaine O'Hara?

macpac26

Nothing about the event or the demo itself made me want to buy an Apple Watch. None of the apps on it I would use at all. My phone is enough and I have a watch with physical dials and moving components that I enjoy. Something about the craftsmanship of a watch i prefer to wear compared to a digital screen. Maybe im just too old.

listermint

Nine hours of cutting.. Hand brushing metal. Apple gold apple aluminium.

Do people really fall for this crap the pricing is out of this world plus 500 Euro for something not worth a third of that.

Its a marketeers circle jerk off.

Hand brushing metal means holding a piece of metal against a wheel. People do it with angle bead it's not expensive. Nine hours cutting a strap that is just cloud manufacturing there is no way in hell that happens.


This is the nonsense that is used to justify the pricing. Its apple tax. How people fall for it is beyond me

galljga1

listermint wrote: »

Nine hours of cutting.. Hand brushing metal. Apple gold apple aluminium.

Do people really fall for this crap the pricing is out of this world plus 500 Euro for something not worth a third of that.

Its a marketeers circle jerk off.

Hand brushing metal means holding a piece of metal against a wheel. People do it with angle bead it's not expensive. Nine hours cutting a strap that is just cloud manufacturing there is no way in hell that happens.


This is the nonsense that is used to justify the pricing. Its apple tax. How people fall for it is beyond me

You just don't understand. It's shiny.

mad muffin

listermint wrote: »

Nine hours of cutting.. Hand brushing metal. Apple gold apple aluminium.

Do people really fall for this crap the pricing is out of this world plus 500 Euro for something not worth a third of that.

Its a marketeers circle jerk off.

Hand brushing metal means holding a piece of metal against a wheel. People do it with angle bead it's not expensive. Nine hours cutting a strap that is just cloud manufacturing there is no way in hell that happens.


This is the nonsense that is used to justify the pricing. Its apple tax. How people fall for it is beyond me

You're not the target market, and that's OK. Juts like I'm sure you aren't the target market for, say a Panerai 1950, for $20,000 you get a leather strap, a stainless steel case, and a manual wind movement that only has a 56 power reserve. Oh and that's used price, as it's no longer manufactured.

Apple are aiming for the luxury watch market. You are not a luxury watch market kind of guy.

murpho999

OK, so the models are the same aren't they apart from screen size?

The extra money is for the metals used in straps and casings?

If something is really made of gold then of course it's going to be expensive.

I don't know what people are complaining about then. Have the never seen the prices of real luxury watches?

Are the straps easily changeable? Won't there be thousands of 3rd party straps available just like with phone and iPad cases?

Sarn

my friend wrote: »

Re online dating... Who's 'they'?

Graham Dwyer? Elaine O'Hara?

?

To most the stigma about meeting people online has become a thing of the past. In our increasingly digital world a device that enhances people's ability to interact/make connections with those around them is one way forward.

I won't be picking up one of these for a long time. Too attached to my regular watch. There would need to be a big leap in functionality for me to make the move.

challengemaster

murpho999 wrote: »

OK, so the models are the same aren't they apart from screen size?

The extra money is for the metals used in straps and casings?

If something is really made of gold then of course it's going to be expensive.

I don't know what people are complaining about then. Have the never seen the prices of real luxury watches?

Are the straps easily changeable? Won't there be thousands of 3rd party straps available just like with phone and iPad cases?

Functionality of every single watch is exactly the same. Screen size accounts for a $50 difference in price - the rest is based on materials/straps.

When Apple were designing the case, they came up with their own new method for easily interchanging straps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZpzLFZOFoE

Oafley Jones

mad muffin wrote: »

You're not the target market, and that's OK. Juts like I'm sure you aren't the target market for, say a Panerai 1950, for $20,000 you get a leather strap, a stainless steel case, and a manual wind movement that only has a 56 power reserve. Oh and that's used price, as it's no longer manufactured.

Apple are aiming for the luxury watch market. You are not a luxury watch market kind of guy.

They're really not. The purpose of the editions is to build the image of the other lower tier devices. There is an expectation internally that Apple just might make money on the Edition, but it's really a piece of marketing. Apparently it was an absolute pain in the hole to create. As was the watch itself. The keynote was underwhelming, they didn't have that Don Draper moment of selling its purpose or idea. Very clunky demonstration overall.

Love that MacBook though.

Eugene Norman

listermint wrote: »

Nine hours of cutting.. Hand brushing metal. Apple gold apple aluminium.

Do people really fall for this crap the pricing is out of this world plus 500 Euro for something not worth a third of that.

Its a marketeers circle jerk off.

Hand brushing metal means holding a piece of metal against a wheel. People do it with angle bead it's not expensive. Nine hours cutting a strap that is just cloud manufacturing there is no way in hell that happens.


This is the nonsense that is used to justify the pricing. Its apple tax. How people fall for it is beyond me

I know and look at the people paying $17K!

A watch is a piece of Jewellery. Believe it or not back in the 70's it looked like digital watches would beat and over-take the expensive Rolex. People opined that a new technology had come along, was more accurate, and would therefore prevail. In general that is what happens. It did happen to a certain extent and was called the quartz crisis.

Standard manufacturers fought back by producing nicer looking conventional watches, and sometimes cheaper and nice looking ( like Swatch). They also went high market. Most importantly the use of the digital watch declined but the remaining watch makers survived on higher profits on conventional old school watches.

Apple have learned the lesson to not go cheap. Cheap doesn't work.

Eugene Norman

Oafley Jones wrote: »

They're really not. The purpose of the editions is to build the image of the other lower tier devices. There is an expectation internally that Apple just might make money on the Edition, but it's really a piece of marketing. Apparently it was an absolute pain in the hole

Yeah. Well they will surely make a profit on any watch they sell at that price. But the idea is to push a rocket up the brand. You'll see Dr Dre with one soon, newly minted billionaire that he is. Apple will probably give them away to more models, and to the Oscar gift basket etc. The very rich will have this, and the rich will get the Apple Watch, not the edition.

This is something that Android watch makers can't really compete with, unless Rolex decide to do something with GoogleWear

this kind of thing pushes the whole brand up. A celeb has a $17K watch, you can have the same functionality for just $350.

challengemaster

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Yeah. Well they will surely make a profit on any watch they sell at that price.

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Take for example the Bugatti Veyron. Sold for $2,250,000.

According to a recent report from Wall Street research firm Bernstein Research, Bugatti (and its parent company Volkswagen) loses a whopping $6.24 million for every Veyron it sells.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bugatti-may-lose-6-million-per-veyron-2013-10#ixzz3TyjQML00

Just because something is expensive, doesn't mean its profitable.

the_monkey

dloob wrote: »

It's normal pricing for the luxury watch market which is their target.

Which is crazy, they'll never make it . Who is going to spend that much on a watch that isn't a real classic quality brand ?

I'm assuming their 5k watches will still be made by chinese slave workers in the process of being slowly murdered yeah ?

murpho999

the_monkey wrote: »

Which is crazy, they'll never make it . Who is going to spend that much on a watch that isn't a real classic quality brand ?

I'm assuming their 5k watches will still be made by chinese slave workers in the process of being slowly murdered yeah ?

So Apple isn't a quality brand?

The original Chinese slave workers have been replaced by their offspring as their smaller hands are better for the intricate parts and the children can be disposed of so the parents keep within the one child rule.

the_monkey

murpho999 wrote: »

So Apple isn't a quality brand?

The original Chinese slave workers have been replaced by their offspring as their smaller hands are better for the intricate parts and the children can be disposed of so the parents keep within the one child rule.

If you compare the skill of a watchmaker from Patek Phillipe v Apple ... I think there's no question..

tooth*grinder

mad muffin wrote: »

You're not the target market, and that's OK. Juts like I'm sure you aren't the target market for, say a Panerai 1950, for you get a leather strap, a stainless steel case, and a manual wind movement that only has a 56 power reserve. Oh and that's used price, as it's no longer manufactured.

Apple are aiming for the luxury watch market. You are not a luxury watch market kind of guy.

And apple are not a luxury watch company. You pay for a luxury watch because its something that can become an heirloom, given reasonable care those actual luxury watches will last generations. This is a crappy computer with a worse battery masquerading as a 'luxury watch'.
The battery in of itself will be lucky to last a decade, after which time you're going to have a dead useless chuck of electronics. If you actually bought a real luxury watch you'd still have a luxury watch.

murpho999

tooth*grinder wrote: »

And apple are not a luxury watch company. You pay for a luxury watch because its something that can become an heirloom, given reasonable care those actual luxury watches will last generations. This is a crappy computer with a worse battery masquerading as a 'luxury watch'.
The battery in of itself will be lucky to last a decade, after which time you're going to have a dead useless chuck of electronics. If you actually bought a real luxury watch you'd still have a luxury watch.

So just don't buy one then.

I don't understand what people are getting annoyed about.

tooth*grinder

murpho999 wrote: »

So just don't buy one then.

I don't understand what people are getting annoyed about.

never entered my head to. I was calling bull$hit on the 'luxury watch' nonsense. By all means, if the iwatch does what you want it to, have at it, but under no circumstances can it be considered to be in the same classification as a luxury watch.
Also, I'm not annoyed in the least, quite the opposite, folks I'm reading annoyance from are the "if you have to ask, you can't afford" brigade.

Expensive does not automatically make something good. Any irish person with a memory of the past decade in this country would do well to remember that.

Creamy Goodness

it's a luxury watch, it gets that title because it uses luxury materials and as such has a luxury price.

end of.

tooth*grinder

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

it's a luxury watch, it gets that title because it uses luxury materials and as such has a luxury price.

end of.

wrong. end of.

murpho999

tooth*grinder wrote: »

wrong. end of.

It's a luxury smart watch in a new segment.

If you don't believe it look at Jony Ive's video.

tooth*grinder

murpho999 wrote: »

It's a luxury smart watch in a new segment.

If you don't believe it look at Jony Ive's video.

Ive can say what he wants. Just cause he says so don't make it true. And thanks for proving my point, just cause apple says it, does not make it a factual truth.
If you wish to consider it a luxury, that is indeed your business, you are factually wrong however.

Zapp Brannigan

tooth*grinder wrote: »

Ive can say what he wants. Just cause he says so don't make it true. And thanks for proving my point, just cause apple says it, does not make it a factual truth.
If you wish to consider it a luxury, that is indeed your business, you are factually wrong however.

Aye if Apple say it, it's bullsh*t. But you can say we're wrong and that's okay? Let's just agree to disagree.