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Today’s the day Apple fanatics have been waiting for for a long time. We finally got details on the Apple Watch, one of the most hyped-up products in the tech world right now, Apple’s first foray into wearable technology.
While details thus far remain pretty murky, we do know a few things for sure. Prices will start at $349 (£230), and will come in three different varieties: a robust aluminium “Sport” model, a sleek stainless steel model and a gold “Edition” version.
As you’d probably already guessed, the Edition watch doesn’t exactly come cheap – it’s going to be $10,000 (which would be £6,611).
The question on everyone’s lips is: who on earth has this much just lying around to invest in a solid gold smart watch? Is there really enough of a market for it to be worth mass producing a watch that costs half of what someone on minimal wage in the UK earns in a year?
How are Apple going to convince the Rolex-wearing market that the costly Apple Edition watch is worth shelling out big money for? According to expert Paul Pinchbeck of luxury watch retailers Harold Pinchbeck, Apple may have a challenge on their hands convincing the luxury watch wearer to invest in its Edition model.
Pinchbeck said: “We find that at this level people are looking for something to treasure for decades – a beautiful example of the watchmaker’s art, probably from a company with some historical provenance.”
He also raises another interesting point: if someone’s looking to splash out on a pricey watch, they’re probably going to want it to be pretty unique, yet Apple have already forecast one million sales of their Edition watch per year. Pinchbeck points out that the watch is “not really exclusive or personal” if there’s 999,999 other people wearing it.
According to Pinchbeck, an Apple Watch buyer just isn’t going to be making the same investment in a smart watch as they are in a more traditional piece of arm candy. He said: “A traditional mechanical watch is a beautiful, highly personal, object that should last for many decades; it’s a properly-engineered machine that doesn’t depend on a silicone chip.”
However, editor-in-chief of A Blog to Watch Ariel Adams disagrees. Adams has no doubts about the prospective success of the Apple Watch Edition.
Adams explains: “As technology becomes more a part of our daily wardrobes, it only makes sense the technology be segmented between mainstream products and those for luxury consumers. The latter is a group that is rarely covered in mainstream or tech media and there is a misunderstanding about their buying habits. The Apple Watch Edition doesn’t need to be anything other than a gold Apple Watch with added exclusivity to do well.”
But Adams does admit there’s one setback to the Edition watch – the fact that it could very quickly become outdated. We’re now inclined to routinely replace a mobile phone every couple of years, a $10k watch is probably something we’re more inclined to hold on to.
Adams, like many other tech commentators, reckons that Apple are going to launch some sort of buy-back or trade-in programme, to make blowing that amount of money worthwhile.
He said: “If they don’t then surely third party companies will so that luxury consumers will feel that when they want to get the next Apple Watch in gold, they don’t have to be stuck with an ageing device that is no longer the newest one available.”
