Rant: Apple Watch

[Popeye_Card]

Back to the Apple Watch, I will admit that I was very interested in one. Sure, the screen size and other factors really limit the overall functionality of the device. But I spend a good portion of my day in meetings, and running around the office complex from meeting to meeting. I liked that I could just check my watch for incoming phone calls, texts, meeting notices, etc. rather than having to dig my phone out of my pocket. Plus navigation, the fitness tracker features, etc. Anyway, interesting toy with some practical uses.

But then they came out with the pricing. Holy [expletive]--wtf is Apple thinking? The cheapest one comes in at $349. OK, that's about what I was expecting. But that's for an aluminum case with a sports-type band, that there's no way I'd want to wear in formal business settings. So for the SS model I would like? One that actually looks like a nice watch? NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE DOLLARS. Seriously, what the [expletive]? I can understand the base technology, and why there's a $349 price point for that. But you are telling me that putting a stainless steel case around it adds $200, and a stainless steel band adds $450. I can buy a fairly decent stainless steel watch and band for $100. Look at the pricing on these bands. How on earth are you justifying that just a stainless steel watch band that can hold your little piece of technology needs to cost $450? A leather strap is $250?

Insane. That pricing structure is going to kill their sales of the SS versions, which I imagine they thought would be their main market. Very few people are going to be willing to drop more money on a watch that basically is just an accessory than they will drop on a full-scale iPad.

[jim]

I think I paid about $400 for my watch 8 years ago. Mine tells time, the date, a stopwatch (chronometer) AND it has a tachymetre whatever the [expletive] that is. The hands glow in the dark too. And if I ever find myself in 660 feet of water, no worries. My watch will still work.

[SHOW]

But seriously I do like my watch, and if I had $400 to spend on a watch I would buy mine before I would buy an apple watch. In fact if I had $400 I would just about anything before I would buy an apple watch. For one thing I seriously doubt if I could read the watch. I have to stretch my arm out with the phone to read messages, there is no way in hell I could operate something that small with my eyes. I do know a guy in his 60's here at work who is a complete gadget freak is going to buy one, but I'm guessing this is a young persons gadget. I just don't see anyone over 40 getting this for the simple fact that unless they have bifocals they aren't going to be able to use it. Luckily it's known that people over 40 don't have any money to spend, all of that disposable income is in the pockets of the demographic they are hitting - those flush 18-25 year olds. So I predict success for this gadget, they will sell oodles of these things.

[Popeye_Card]

I can justify spending $500 on a good looking watch. I can't justify spending $500 on a miniature iPhone, plus an additional $500 for a band to hold it on my arm, while in the end having something that doesn't look overly good--kinda dorky, in fact.

The convenience was intriguing. $1000 can buy me a lot more than that convenience though.

[jim]

The only reason I bought the watch I bought was because I was in Geneva, Switzerland, and that's you do there. I do like it, I'm not sorry I bought it, but I would never have bought one if I wasn't surrounded by cool looking watches.

The guy that is buying one here just walked by and I was kidding him about it, and he said he wants the health benefit thing. He rides his bike to work in the summer and he said he wants to use it for that. Sounds insane to me, because you can get a cheap gizmo for your bike that tells you how fast/far you have gone, and these gizmos for health are just ridiculously stupid. If you are a runner and you want to know how far you have ran I think you can get a cheap gizmo for that. But whatever, he likes stuff like that. He also said you can buy "complications" for the watch - which is a watch term and is hilarious that people do this.

People are insane. That's all I have to say.

I'm still very pissed off that this app is on my phone.

[tlombard]

The pricing on their bands is insane. Here is my Asus Zenwatch with a $10 (maybe less) band that I bought off of Amazon. I'm perfectly happy with it and my entire investment was $225 and I have two extra bands (also got another stainless steel link band) and extra pins in addition to the band that came on the watch (tan leather). It may not look quite as nice as the Apple Watch but for less than half the price for one with a similar style band, I'm more than happy with it. And I got it six months before the Apple Watch will be released and can do anything the Apple Watch can except for NFC payments more or less so I'm happy with my purchase.

[SHOW]

FYI, the red around the face are appointments on my calendar. Any time booked shows red and the brighter red means there is more than one thing. I really need to figure out how to get birthdays to stop showing up because half of the time I've got a solid red ring before any other events.

[Jocephus]

my phone has a clock

[tlombard]

I can also say that I waste way less time on Twitter and Facebook since I got the watch now as well. Any update I get I can check from my wrist and don't pull the phone out so I don't even think of checking anything. I check once every couple of days now unless I'm looking for updates on something in the sports world on Twitter.

[JackofDiamonds]

my phone has a clock

Yeah, but where's Cupertino?

[go birds]

lots of people spend way more than $1000 on watches that do a lot less

[Popeye_Card]

lots of people spend way more than $1000 on watches that do a lot less

"Lots" is relative. And many of those same people don't want to wear a mini iPhone on their wrist, even it if will probably be a status symbol for a while. (Side note, for the ultra-rich, there's a 18 karat gold version that sells for $17,000.) Meanwhile there's a sizable group of people who don't mind paying $650 or so on the latest iPad. But to me there seems to be a limited market of people who are willing to spend $1000 on a technology that's limited in functionality, that's also marketed as a watch that while non-offensive looking, isn't exactly a fashion statement either other than being a status symbol.

I don't know. I guess we'll see. I think at $500, it was at a comfortable price point. I think they are scaring off a lot of people above that (me included).