|
Rick posted:Sure thing Dad. I know, right, respect is so old fashioned.
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 17:55
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 19:09 |
|
|
Was talking with the Apple guy in the store the other day and he reiterated the fact that the Apple Watch Edition is only going to be sold in "high profile" stores or whatever. I still think a 10-17k smartwatch is dumb and it matches up with their decision to change the MacBook into an utraportable while leaving the Air alone. Probably going to get flamed for this but I'm not quite sure of the direction Tim Cook is taking apple in. I don't see the Apple Watch trying competing with a ten thousand dollar pure gold mechanical timepiece because the kinds of people who put that money down do it for vanity or as an investment. A ten thousand dollar apple watch is still the same bits and pieces as the $350 sport wrapped in a bit of gold and everyone knows that. A rolex or whatever has internals and features that puts it above a $12 casio quartz. Apple trying to insert themselves in the high end watch market isn't really their business model and it shows in how they presented the device in the first place.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:26
|
|
|
But, the Swiss watch industry are on the verge of a downswing due to an entire mindset shift that makes most of what you cite as faults, as irrelevant. Swatch group themselves, who own a huge number of luxury name put out an advisory yesterday that they are going to lose a lot of business to the apple watch specifically. Swatch is now turning on a dime to get their own smart versions out, likely under as many storied brands as can bear it.quote:Neither are analysts for Barclays. They wrote in a note to investors that the Apple Watch launch could result in a 6 percent annual decline in Swatch Group AG's revenue. There will always be a place for the insane oyster-presidential-moonrock-42-jewel-celestial-perpetual lump of expensive mechanical gears, but status is now shifting away from pure melt value and complication numbers to electronic edge-cutting and the top end of spenders who crave to be able to spend the most money, see Vertu et al, will have no problem at all spending $17,000 for what is the first name in status branded electronics for all people under 30. shadow puppet of a fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Mar 12, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:33
|
|
|
Rabble posted:Was talking with the Apple guy in the store the other day and he reiterated the fact that the Apple Watch Edition is only going to be sold in "high profile" stores or whatever. I still think a 10-17k smartwatch is dumb and it matches up with their decision to change the MacBook into an utraportable while leaving the Air alone. I'm confused by Apple Watch, but I'll happily flame you if you think the new MacBook is anything other than awesome. It's the perfect laptop for anyone who doesn't work in the tech industry and they're going to sell millions of them. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:36
|
|
|
I'm sure the publicity and product awareness generated from people saying "Oh My God! A $10,000 watch?!?!?" are well worth it even if Apple were to hypothetically sell exactly 0 Edition watches.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:39
|
|
|
clockworx posted:I'm sure the publicity and product awareness generated from people saying "Oh My God! A $10,000 watch?!?!?" are well worth it even if Apple were to hypothetically sell exactly 0 Edition watches. Benedict Evans makes a similar observation, that Apple Watch Edition is a self-sustaining marketing effort much like Apple's stores are. http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/3/12/why-is-apple-making-a-gold-watch
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:42
|
|
|
I think the gold watch is Apple's attempt to reestablish a sense of exclusivity with their products. When it first came out, it wasn't unreasonable to see the iPhone as a status symbol. Now everyone has an iPhone or iPad. It (and basically all their mainstream products) have reached the point of being commoditized. Cellphones are one of those weird consumer areas where the best product isn't necessarily the most expensive one (taking those ridiculous diamond studded phones into account). This is Apple trying to create something where someone can wear something, and whoever sees them can think, "holy poo poo that person is loving rich". Really nice mechanical watches don't have that same widespread consumer recognition (i.e. you can't see one at a glance and know how expensive it is).
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 19:58
|
|
|
Kobayashi posted:I'm confused by Apple Watch, but I'll happily flame you if you think the new MacBook is anything other than awesome. It's the perfect laptop for anyone who doesn't work in the tech industry and they're going to sell millions of them. People will keep buying Macbooks Air actually, until the 2nd or 3rd generation of Macbook "Just Macbook" Edition gets battery life, speed, and keyboard quality back up to Air levels (e: I realize I don't actually know how speed compares, I just vaguely remember people being disappointed in the new Intel M chips, right?) sourdough fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Mar 12, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:09
|
|
|
RVProfootballer posted:People will keep buying Macbooks Air actually, until the 2nd or 3rd generation of Macbook "Just Macbook" Edition gets battery life, speed, and keyboard quality back up to Air levels. Agreed. I'm very excited for my third-gen MacBook, personally.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:12
|
|
|
Kobayashi posted:I'm confused by Apple Watch, but I'll happily flame you if you think the new MacBook is anything other than awesome. It's the perfect laptop for anyone who doesn't work in the tech industry and they're going to sell millions of them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:33
|
|
|
illcendiary posted:I think the gold watch is Apple's attempt to reestablish a sense of exclusivity with their products. When it first came out, it wasn't unreasonable to see the iPhone as a status symbol. Now everyone has an iPhone or iPad. It (and basically all their mainstream products) have reached the point of being commoditized. Cellphones are one of those weird consumer areas where the best product isn't necessarily the most expensive one (taking those ridiculous diamond studded phones into account). This is Apple trying to create something where someone can wear something, and whoever sees them can think, "holy poo poo that person is loving rich". Really nice mechanical watches don't have that same widespread consumer recognition (i.e. you can't see one at a glance and know how expensive it is). But here's the thing: status symbols actually have to confer some sort of advantage to not be seen as frivolous. No one questions why a millionaire might want to own a top of the line Mercedes instead of a ford focus, because the Mercedes is demonstrably a better car. But the top of the line Edition Watch is exactly the same as the standard Watch, except heavier and colored with gold. It won't be better at being an apple Watch than the standard Watch. The Watch actually does have an advantage over the Sport in that it has the Sapphire Crystal face, but beyond that step in cost, you're literally pissing money away to show how much you have.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:34
|
|
|
Dietrich posted:But here's the thing: status symbols actually have to confer some sort of advantage to not be seen as frivolous. No one questions why a millionaire might want to own a top of the line Mercedes instead of a ford focus, because the Mercedes is demonstrably a better car. Agreed, The original iPhone took the smartphone market by storm because it was one of the first full touchscreen smartphones (and most certainly the first touchscreen smartphone aimed at the consumer market). Windows CE had been hacked together to make phonecalls and blackberries were still keyboard and roller-nub navigation. The iPhone was expensive but it filled a very specific market niche that no one was serving. An "Edition" apple watch is still a base model apple watch with a fresh coat of paint. I don't even need to steal a car analogy because I straight up say that no one would spend 2900% more on a gold iPad vs a space grey or silver iPad. Edit: the New MacBook is a neat machine and I can see the benefits of having it as an ultraportable.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:50
|
|
|
Rabble posted:An "Edition" apple watch is still a base model apple watch with a fresh coat of paint. I don't even need to steal a car analogy because I straight up say that no one would spend 2900% more on a gold iPad vs a space grey or silver iPad.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:55
|
|
|
shadow puppet of a posted:Don't ever go to Harrods, you'll have your tiny utilitarian world shattered. I wish I lived in a world where I could spend an extra ten thousand dollars on something because it was prettier. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:57
|
|
|
(Real) Gold iPhones and iPads exist and people buy them. Some have diamonds and stuff too.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:59
|
|
|
Rabble posted:I wish I lived in a world where I could spend an extra ten thousand dollars on something because it
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 20:59
|
|
|
I'll buy a smart watch when you pry my Omega Speedmaster off my cold dead wrist. Mechanical watches satisfy my inner-nerd so much more than a watch where I can send my heartbeat to someone.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:06
|
|
|
The fact that Vertu is very successful tells me that Apple will do well with the ridiculously priced models.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:09
|
|
|
Vertu is actually successful? For real? Wow
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:15
|
|
|
Help Im Alive posted:Vertu is actually successful? For real? You don't have to have a large number of sales when you're making 5000% margins. But the last time Apple tried to do something like this it didn't work too well. Apple's bread and butter is affordable but aspirational products, not luxury items. Does that mean that the Edition won't make them some money? No. But I don't see it being beneficial to the brand. Dietrich fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Mar 12, 2015 |
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:17
|
|
|
As has been said 10,000x before, people who hate Apple will advertise the watch for free by complaining about the high cost edition. People who like Apple but think the cost is prohibitive will advertise the watch for free as well. Most people (95%+) right now couldn't tell you the name of a smart watch from a rival company, even if they use that company to manufacture they smartphones and tablets. Meanwhile in a year, N times as many people will know the Apple watch because of marketing like this.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:20
|
|
|
And when your customer list is a direct connection to a proven list of hyper-customers with heaps of money and little sense. You could probably run the phone side at a loss on the cost of buying precious metals just to have them hooked into the Vertu concierge program and make a cut off yacht brokerage and bottle service bookings. Which makes me wonder what apple will do with their customer list of Edition wearers. They wont sell it, but I can imagine those people will have some serious infomatics applied to their collected data. Its a deep pocketed well you'll want to keep dipping into with every tech-as-jewelry product the make from now on.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:21
|
|
|
Good press or bad press? https://twitter.com/AnnaKendrick47/status/575019466804719617 quote:We should be thanking Apple for launching the $10,000 "apple watch" as the new gold standard in douchebag detection.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:31
|
|
|
Rabble posted:Was talking with the Apple guy in the store the other day and he reiterated the fact that the Apple Watch Edition is only going to be sold in "high profile" stores or whatever. I still think a 10-17k smartwatch is dumb and it matches up with their decision to change the MacBook into an utraportable while leaving the Air alone. Nobody gives a poo poo about the $10k watch. The edition could crash and burn and it would have no bearing at all on the rest of the platform.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:41
|
|
|
Speaking of Vertu, I'm pretty sure that apple is using the watch as a way to debut the idea of stainless steal and gold products so they can eventually sell iPhone Edition editions.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:42
|
|
|
I think that would be pretty cool. Although actually at some point they're probably gonna advertise the regular models as having the same internals as the premium stuff (or people are going to come to that conclusion themselves), sorta like the halo effect people were talking about with regards to the iPod/iPhone.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:45
|
|
|
The Devil Tesla posted:Speaking of Vertu, I'm pretty sure that apple is using the watch as a way to debut the idea of stainless steal and gold products so they can eventually sell iPhone Edition editions. And it will be great to see the whole lineup of mac products in full 18k gold except for the AppleTV, because nobody at apple cares about AppleTV.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 21:59
|
|
|
The Devil Tesla posted:iPhone Edition editions. Goddamnit, I don't want to live in a world with this phrase.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 22:57
|
|
|
Endymion FRS MK1 posted:Goddamnit, I don't want to live in a world with this phrase. No one is actually going to call it that, except for me because I like saying stupid things.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2015 23:02
|
|
|
Help Im Alive posted:Vertu is actually successful? For real? Vertu is kind of like an Amex Centurion (Black Card), yes there is an insane price of entry, it's a status symbol but it also part of being an exclusive club. You have to have a Vertu phone to get access to the Vertu Concierge service that can make anything happen anywhere as long as you don't care what it costs.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 00:10
|
|
|
Dietrich posted:But here's the thing: status symbols actually have to confer some sort of advantage to not be seen as frivolous. No one questions why a millionaire might want to own a top of the line Mercedes instead of a ford focus, because the Mercedes is demonstrably a better car. I think you're really overstating how much the truly rich care about that sort of thing. The aforementioned Vertu phones at one point were jewel-encrusted Nokia dumbphones. They're still pieces of poo poo today. Status symbols really don't need that added utility once you get to a certain point (and I believe the Apple Watch Edition to be at that point).
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 00:12
|
|
|
illcendiary posted:I think you're really overstating how much the truly rich care about that sort of thing. The aforementioned Vertu phones at one point were jewel-encrusted Nokia dumbphones. They're still pieces of poo poo today. Status symbols really don't need that added utility once you get to a certain point (and I believe the Apple Watch Edition to be at that point). I'm not talking about the perception of the wealthy, I'm talking about the public perception of people who buy these things.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 00:15
|
|
|
Is the average person really going to know that the gold watch is the same internally as the aluminum one, though?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 00:17
|
|
|
illcendiary posted:Is the average person really going to know that the gold watch is the same internally as the aluminum one, though? Isn't that the point? It's a social signal to say "you and I both know this doesn't do anything special for the extra cost, but I have the money to blow on the frivolity of it."
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 02:31
|
|
|
At least with a fine Swiss timepiece you can say you are wearing a piece of art made by a craftsman. Not to belittle sir Jony Ive's design, but this is a disposable piece of electronics assembled by machines and Chinese slave labour. There is no art in it.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 02:41
|
|
|
kitten smoothie posted:Isn't that the point? It's a social signal to say "you and I both know this doesn't do anything special for the extra cost, but I have the money to blow on the frivolity of it." I'll go onto add that the entirety of the automatic watch industry exists because of this mentality. Automatics need expensive maintenance to keep running, need to be wound or worn often or else they run down, and worst of all, even the best movements gain or lose 1-2 seconds each day, so the watches are not even especially accurate. Automatics are also fragile, and banging them against surfaces can cause the movement to be damaged. The fix to literally every one of these problems is to use a quartz movement. Those aren't as prestigious though, possibly because quartz watches don't have pretty windows on the back that let you see the movement, or maybe because most quartz watches have second hands that tick instead of moving smoothly like many automatics do. Plainly and truly, quartz movements make better watches when you remove aesthetics from the equation, but the sad fact is that one of the main ways people try to prove they're better than the person next to them is to one up them in aesthetic terms.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 02:45
|
|
|
ZShakespeare posted:At least with a fine Swiss timepiece you can say you are wearing a piece of art made by a craftsman. Not to belittle sir Jony Ive's design, but this is a disposable piece of electronics assembled by machines and Chinese slave labour. There is no art in it. The difference is that when I drive my McLaren P1 that has an engine hand-built by a craftsman, I'm pretty certain that I'm paying extra for the car because it produces in excess of 900 horsepower and can out-accelerate just about anything else on the road. The best-made mechanical watch movements crafted by the finest Swiss watchmakers don't tell time better than the cheapest quartz-powered Casio. They just look better.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 02:53
|
|
|
Has anyone figured out why the Apple Watch Sport comes with two bands, as does buying the Sport Band separately but the other watches and bands only come with one?
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 03:47
|
|
|
gohmak posted:Has anyone figured out why the Apple Watch Sport comes with two bands, as does buying the Sport Band separately but the other watches and bands only come with one? My guess would be volume, Apple intends on selling a shitload of Apple Watch Sports and the marginal cost of throwing in two cheap bands is easier than managing more SKUs. The Steel will get more personalized attention to help you select the proper band.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 04:06
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 19:09 |
|
|
With the bonus effect of creating a surplus of floroelastomer bands stateside to steal some of the air away from would-be Chinese watch band knock-offers.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2015 04:10
|
|