Jony Ive and Marc Newson reveal special Apple Watch Sport Band colors at Milan gala
Apple designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson were on hand in Italy to attend a high-fashion coming out party for Apple Watch at upscale Milanese restaurant Carlo e Camilla. During the festivities, important guests were provided early copies of Apple Watch, as well as what appears to be Sport Bands in custom colors.
Socialite Umberta Gnutti Beretta, wife of Beretta firearms president Franco Beretta, posted to Instagram a few photos of tonight's gala attended by Ive, Newson and fashion and design luminaries.
One picture shows Beretta picking out a Sport Band for her early Apple Watch unit, selecting from an array of at least of 15 different colors including numerous light pastels, bright yellows and reds. The unannounced colorways jibe with photographs from British rugby great Will Carling, who said Ive gave him an unreleased UK power adapter and red Apple Watch band.
Italian fashion blogger Audrey Tritto, who was also at the event, posted a picture of name placards from guests seated at her table. Among them was Ive, Newson and his wife Charlotte Stockdale (herself a London-based stylist and fashion director at i-D magazine), Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani and sister Carla, Wallpaper magazine editor-in-chief Tony Chambers, Dom Perignon cellar master Richard Geoffroy, high-society journalist Nicholas Foulkes and more.
Apple is showing off its first foray into wearables in a one-day exhibition at this year's Salone del Mobile design fair. Newson joined Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller at a demo session earlier in the day.
Although Italy is not among the nine Apple Watch launch countries, Milan is the fashion world's nerve center. A presence at Salone, followed by an invitation-only dinner, exemplifies Apple's efforts to position Watch as a high-end fashion accessory.
Apple Watch is slated to ship out to preorder buyers on April 24, but supplies are such that in-store purchases are not expected to roll out until June.
Socialite Umberta Gnutti Beretta, wife of Beretta firearms president Franco Beretta, posted to Instagram a few photos of tonight's gala attended by Ive, Newson and fashion and design luminaries.
One picture shows Beretta picking out a Sport Band for her early Apple Watch unit, selecting from an array of at least of 15 different colors including numerous light pastels, bright yellows and reds. The unannounced colorways jibe with photographs from British rugby great Will Carling, who said Ive gave him an unreleased UK power adapter and red Apple Watch band.
Italian fashion blogger Audrey Tritto, who was also at the event, posted a picture of name placards from guests seated at her table. Among them was Ive, Newson and his wife Charlotte Stockdale (herself a London-based stylist and fashion director at i-D magazine), Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani and sister Carla, Wallpaper magazine editor-in-chief Tony Chambers, Dom Perignon cellar master Richard Geoffroy, high-society journalist Nicholas Foulkes and more.
Apple is showing off its first foray into wearables in a one-day exhibition at this year's Salone del Mobile design fair. Newson joined Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller at a demo session earlier in the day.
Although Italy is not among the nine Apple Watch launch countries, Milan is the fashion world's nerve center. A presence at Salone, followed by an invitation-only dinner, exemplifies Apple's efforts to position Watch as a high-end fashion accessory.
Apple Watch is slated to ship out to preorder buyers on April 24, but supplies are such that in-store purchases are not expected to roll out until June.
Comments
Is a diferent product and is not as easy to market as a phone or iPad. Android can tell you that. You got to do what most be done to get the product to take off.
Why bother to watch any keynotes anymore?
Appleinsider could just post images of various celebrities each day, and we can see how many unreleased Apple products and accessories that we spot.
I think that Apple should hire huge 350 lb bouncers to stand outside their stores, and from now on they will only let certain people in who look cool enough, just like they do at certain nightclubs.
I don't care if a customer is waving around thousands in cash, ready to buy a brand new Mac Pro, if they don't have the right look, then Apple should refuse them entry.
To me Apple Watch is the most egalitarian product Apple has ever released. The $349 Sport Watch has the exact same capabilities as the $10K Edition Watch. Apple will sell more watches in one month than all of Android Wear combined in one year. And that's partly because of marketing events like this. Jony Ive gave singer Sam Smith a watch. He posted a picture of it on Instagram. The picture got over 140K views and 1600 comments. That's esentially free marketing. The kind of marketing nobody else could buy.
Free marketing. Samsung would kill for some of this. Heck any Android Wear OEM would. But only Apple is getting it. :smokey:
Love the red and navy bands. Maybe we'll see these announced at WWDC? And before anyone disses these bands....in John Gruber's Watch review he called them "luxurious".
Yeah, it's nice to see color options. To me these are far more 'mature' than most of the other Sport colors.
Is a diferent product and is not as easy to market as a phone or iPad. Android can tell you that. You got to do what most be done to get the product to take off.
Yes, but Apple's also got to manage negative perceptions generated by this sort of thing. It surely must run larger than forums like these.
I feel like Apple has effectively made its fashion point. It's starting to get flogged to death.
I suppose that what he is saying is there isn't an emotional connection anymore. Once you've hung out with the cool crowd, you don't come back. Apple may make its money (and we're limiting this to the watch here) from $349 Sport models, but that's a means to an end, and that end does not include you or I being their most important constituent. I mean, who would you rather hang out with?
What negative perceptions are being generated outside of rumor sites like this and tech sites with Apple hating commenters?
I think people are reading way too much into this. This is marketing pure and simple. No need to psychoanalyze.
What negative perceptions are being generated outside of rumor sites like this and tech sites with Apple hating commenters?
I have no idea, since I have not surveyed folks. When I see legitimate, long-time, hard-nosed Apple fans start to squirm over this, I am simply speculating that the feeling must be more widespread.
Do you have evidence to the contrary? Or think what I am saying is unlikely?
I smell a rotten Ahrendts' Apple in this type of advertising.
Most definitely, especially given the fact that it's not the public who can get these watches, it's only rich people. No one will be able to go into a store on 24 April and get one. Or the following week. Physical inventories not until June; order through the website and just hurry up and wait? Even people who take their cues from celebrities are not going to be happy that Apple is getting free publicity: they will just know they can't get one, but Those Others are well taken care of.
How many of these "legitimate, long-time, hard-nosed" Apple fans are even interested in the Watch period? And how many think Apple spends too much time focusing on "iToys" and the like? Seriously all we've had so far are a few famous people doing free advertising for the Watch and now this event in Milan which is more free advertising. It's just not something I can get worked up about.
I'm not one of those people who stares at a WWDC logo and tries to divine what new things might be announced, or writes blog entries about hidden clues in keynote announcements. But I can certainly psychoanalyze myself: something just feels vaguely uncomfortable. A hunch, woman's intuition, I don't know, but it's there. And it seems like I'm not the only one, but I'm not drawing a conclusion from it. It just *feels* different, and not in an agreeable way.
I tend to agree. It's starting to be a bit over the top. Steve would not have wanted this. The product is the hero, as are Apple's regular loyal customers. This is not the Apple Steve built - this is too much exclusivity and pomp, moving to the front of the line based on fame or fortune. With Steve it was not about celebrity - but about making the best products, and the customers will come.