[QUOTE]Under normal circumstances, the screen will then show one of nine watch faces, each customizable. One will show the time alongside a brightly lit flower, butterfly, or jellyfish; these will be in motion, against a black background. This imagery had dominated the launch, and Ive now explained his enthusiasm for it. He picked up his iPhone 6 and pressed the home button. “The whole of the display comes on,” he said. “That, to me, feels very, very old.” (The iPhone 6 reached stores two weeks later.) He went on to explain that an Apple Watch uses a new display technology whose blacks are blacker than those in an iPhone’s L.E.D. display. This makes it easier to mask the point where, beneath a glass surface, a display ends and its frame begins. An Apple Watch jellyfish swims in deep space, and becomes, Ive said, as much an attribute of the watch as an image. On a current iPhone screen, a jellyfish would be pinned against dark gray, and framed in black, and, Ive said, have “much less magic.”[/QUOTE]
The ?Watch screen looks fantastic. The motion watch faces are gorgeous. When does this come to iPhone? What are the drawbacks of going AMOLED vs LCD? Currently the jellyfish photo is my iPhone wallpaper. It's absolutely gorgeous but just being a static image doesn't give the same effect. I'd love it if we could get something similar to the motion watch face for our lock screens.
People who are fashionable like to color-match items. The gold iPhone for example can match all of someone's gold jewellery and now the gold Macbook. All the same price as the other colors. The watch colors are different prices. If you had gold bracelets, rings and necklaces and a gold iPhone but were not very well-off, you can't get a gold colored watch to match everything else. 3rd party gold plating will likely solve this problem but I don't agree that having a $10k-17k unique style is egalitarian, especially considering the margins. The limited availability and inflated pricing seems deliberately to price it out of reach of a lot of people and yet they are marketing it alongside the others. If they priced it too low then they wouldn't be able to get an adequate supply of gold but they didn't have to use so much gold in each.
The Watch is egalitarian from both a functional and fashion perspective. The $349 Sport offers precisely the same capabilities as the $17000 Edition, and both the Sport and Watch offer a variety of band selections with a choice of colors, textures, and styles. Egalitarianism does not mean offering every imaginable choice to every conceivable customer.
If you walk around wearing a menagerie of gold bracelets, rings and necklaces you are probably either a fabulously wealthy socialite or a successful drug dealer, either of whom can afford the Edition. If you wear the aforementioned jewelry made from fake gold, you are not Apple's target customer and this has more to do with taste than with income.
When it comes to fine jewelry, gold exists not just as a color but as a premium material that signals wealth. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Apple will never make a gold-plated or gold-toned Watch. In this sphere, such an item would be considered gauche costume jewelry which would be completely at odds with Apple's brand image. On the other hand, Samsung would be a brand I might expect to produce a gold-toned or -plated watch if they decided to enter this market.
Getting back to the pricing of the Watch Edition... within Apple's customer base, very few non-wealthy customers would even consider purchasing a gold Apple Watch, even it it were priced at a reasonable $4000. That's because although there is a significant number of upper middle class consumers who can afford such a purchase, they are not so well off that they can afford to "throw away" that kind of money on an item that will be obsolete in a few short years. Additionally, selling a gold Watch at this price point would reduce Apple's overall margins while selling in such low numbers that it would have a negligible impact on revenues. For these two reasons, it simply wouldn't make economic sense for Apple to design, manufacture, and sell a "reasonably priced" gold Watch.
In that New Yorker profile Ive said:
The ?Watch screen looks fantastic. The motion watch faces are gorgeous. When does this come to iPhone? What are the drawbacks of going AMOLED vs LCD? Currently the jellyfish photo is my iPhone wallpaper. It's absolutely gorgeous but just being a static image doesn't give the same effect. I'd love it if we could get something similar to the motion watch face for our lock screens.
They'd need to bring about a fundamental change to iOS to make the iPhone OLED.
OLED doesn't consume power if the color of the pixel is black; this is part of why the Watch interface is that color, for power savings. It does use it for other colors, and iOS is largely white.
LCD is more power efficient for white because the backlight is white already, it doesn't need to be modified.
While I'm not opposed to a darker iOS, I think most people would be.
They'd need to bring about a fundamental change to iOS to make the iPhone OLED.
OLED doesn't consume power if the color of the pixel is black; this is part of why the Watch interface is that color, for power savings. It does use it for other colors, and iOS is largely white.
LCD is more power efficient for white because the backlight is white already, it doesn't need to be modified.
While I'm not opposed to a darker iOS, I think most people would be.
I wouldn't mind iOS going darker at all. Yosemite has a dark theme, iOS should too. I think iOS and Watch UI should be similar as much as possible.
I was in my local Sam’s Club (Walmart) store last night. In the jewelry department I found a $2100 Tag Heuer watch and a $2800 Omega watch... in a WALMART! Now I’m confused about all this “luxury” stuff.
They'd need to bring about a fundamental change to iOS to make the iPhone OLED.
OLED doesn't consume power if the color of the pixel is black; this is part of why the Watch interface is that color, for power savings. It does use it for other colors, and iOS is largely white.
LCD is more power efficient for white because the backlight is white already, it doesn't need to be modified.
While I'm not opposed to a darker iOS, I think most people would be.
OLED has been used by Samsung and other Android makers for years. While it has some advantages over LED (deep blacks, vibrant colors, low power consumption for black pixels) it also has some disadvantages. OLED displays have a wider color gamut that does not match that of most digital cameras. As a result, when displaying actual photographs (especially of people) the colors tend to be oversaturated, inaccurate, and with a bad color cast . Samsung's solution to this has been to include a settings screen where the user may change the display's color profile to optimize it for text and graphics or for accurate color photos. needless to say, the idea of having to manually change your screen settings every time you want to view different types of content is idiotic.
Apple used OLED on the Watch because of those same advantages, combined with the fact that viewing photos is a much less prominent use case on a watch and the tiny display makes any color balance issues less noticeable. it wouldn't surprise me if they also apply some logic to tweak the colors accordingly when using their Photos app.
OLED has been used by Samsung and other Android makers for years. While it has some advantages over LED (deep blacks, vibrant colors, low power consumption for black pixels) it also has some disadvantages. OLED displays have a wider color gamut that does not match that of most digital cameras. As a result, when displaying actual photographs (especially of people) the colors tend to be oversaturated, inaccurate, and with a bad color cast . Samsung's solution to this has been to include a settings screen where the user may change the display's color profile to optimize it for text and graphics or for accurate color photos. needless to say, the idea of having to manually change your screen settings every time you want to view different types of content is idiotic.
Apple used OLED on the Watch because of those same advantages, combined with the fact that viewing photos is a much less prominent use case on a watch and the tiny display makes any color balance issues less noticeable. it wouldn't surprise me if they also apply some logic to tweak the colors accordingly when using their Photos app.
Pretty much. Sony ran into the same issue on the PSVita, for the second generation model they cut the OLED display and replaced it with an LCD (which also increased battery life), and ever since the OLED fanboys (aka Fandroids) claim it's terrible, while most comparisons show the LCD is, overall, better. Apple clearly values accuracy in their displays, as they've got the most color accurate ones on the market. I appreciate that, as personally I find the best device for viewing my iPhone photos is my iPad Air.
@freediverx. Thank you for this link to Scott Galloway. In a few wide brush strokes, he's able to articulate more about Apple and its products than the myriad of speculative and self-serving articles that have been written about the Apple Watch, that, in the greater scheme of things, is less than 2 seconds old. A breath of fresh air!
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
If you walk around wearing a menagerie of gold bracelets, rings and necklaces you are probably either a fabulously wealthy socialite or a successful drug dealer, either of whom can afford the Edition. If you wear the aforementioned jewelry made from fake gold, you are not Apple's target customer and this has more to do with taste than with income.
I don't see how buying gold-plated vs solid gold is about taste and not income when the outward appearance is the same. It also doesn't have to be mixed with a lot of jewellery. A single gold wedding ring or a bracelet would mismatch a silver watch and vice versa:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Apple will never make a gold-plated or gold-toned Watch. In this sphere, such an item would be considered gauche costume jewelry which would be completely at odds with Apple's brand image.
They already make gold colored products that don't use real gold. They could make one with the same material as the gold iPhone but polish it the way they do the Apple logo and sell it at the same price as stainless steel although they might have to coat it with something like a thin layer of sapphire, maybe a sapphire lacquer if it's too susceptible to scratching:
Gold filled only needs 1/20th the amount of gold grams, which is ~$100 vs ~$2000 for the current watch. As far as the buyer is concerned, it would look and feel exactly the same. Even if they inflated margins the same (about 80% of the edition model is gross profit), it's still under $2000 retail but appeals to a much higher volume. They can build the exterior shell as a single piece and then have the middle standard metal part in two and insert it and fix it so that it reinforces the inside of the solid gold outer layer to make it impossible to dent.
DO NOT SKIP!!! - This is a great presentation! All I can say is, "WOW!" and this is a must see preso for anyone interested in tech, retail and economics.
One of the slides showed an estimate of $13.5b revenue first year, which would be more than every current watch manufacturer and they sell more than watches. This would be 30 million units at $450 ASP. Switzerland's entire watch exports have been noted as 29 million units and $21b revenue ($724 ASP). China makes the most at over 1.2b units but the revenue doesn't even match Switzerland because the ASP is so low. They are likely selling watch components for sale in Western watches at a higher markup. Timex for example is a Dutch company but their digital and mechanical watches use Chinese parts:
"Tianjin Seagull Watch Group is a watchmaking company located in Tianjin, China. Founded in 1955, it is the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements, producing one quarter of total global production by volume."
Once the markup is added with completed watches, the overall revenue will be more but no single manufacturer is over $13.5b. In a way it doesn't seem that surprising when you think about them selling over 200 million iPhones and having an install base of over 400 million but it's still an expensive watch relatively and if they did sell 30 million in year 1 to become the highest revenue watch manufacturer, that would be really impressive.
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
That's the sense I get as well. On the second point, just make sure they're Apple Watch compatible -- everyone will want a set !
I don't see how buying gold-plated vs solid gold is about taste and not income when the outward appearance is the same. It also doesn't have to be mixed with a lot of jewellery. A single gold wedding ring or a bracelet would mismatch a silver watch and vice versa:
It's just nicer when they compliment each other:
They already make gold colored products that don't use real gold. They could make one with the same material as the gold iPhone but polish it the way they do the Apple logo and sell it at the same price as stainless steel although they might have to coat it with something like a thin layer of sapphire, maybe a sapphire lacquer if it's too susceptible to scratching:
Gold filled only needs 1/20th the amount of gold grams, which is ~$100 vs ~$2000 for the current watch. As far as the buyer is concerned, it would look and feel exactly the same. Even if they inflated margins the same (about 80% of the edition model is gross profit), it's still under $2000 retail but appeals to a much higher volume. They can build the exterior shell as a single piece and then have the middle standard metal part in two and insert it and fix it so that it reinforces the inside of the solid gold outer layer to make it impossible to dent.
One of the slides showed an estimate of $13.5b revenue first year, which would be more than every current watch manufacturer and they sell more than watches. This would be 30 million units at $450 ASP. Switzerland's entire watch exports have been noted as 29 million units and $21b revenue ($724 ASP). China makes the most at over 1.2b units but the revenue doesn't even match Switzerland because the ASP is so low. They are likely selling watch components for sale in Western watches at a higher markup. Timex for example is a Dutch company but their digital and mechanical watches use Chinese parts:
"Tianjin Seagull Watch Group is a watchmaking company located in Tianjin, China. Founded in 1955, it is the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements, producing one quarter of total global production by volume."
Once the markup is added with completed watches, the overall revenue will be more but no single manufacturer is over $13.5b. In a way it doesn't seem that surprising when you think about them selling over 200 million iPhones and having an install base of over 400 million but it's still an expensive watch relatively and if they did sell 30 million in year 1 to become the highest revenue watch manufacturer, that would be really impressive.
When you anodize an aluminum product like an iPhone, you are not only enhancing its appearance but also creating a hard, strong, protective coating on its surface that protects it from impact, abrasion, and corrosion. An aluminum product is actually made better, technically, by anodizing. This is therefore seen as "honest" or "legitimate" from the perspective of a designer or a discerning customer. The fact that anodizing can be tweaked with different colors like gold without compromising its structural value is just a bonus.
Gold plating, on the other hand, is almost like buying a knock off, counterfeit product, like a fake Gucci bag, or laminating cheap furniture with a vinyl wood veneer. It also reminds me of cheap cars with fake, plastic air intakes on the sides to imitate more expensive cars. These things don't offer any inherent value other than to mimic (poorly) a more expensive product. Gold plating jewelry does not make it stronger or more durable. It's only purpose is to copy the appearance of gold. Instead of symbolizing quality and value it signals pretense and lack of authenticity.
If I were shopping for a watch on a budget I'd be more inclined to choose a quality, affordable watch from a reputable company than an equally priced Rolex knock-off. My income might not allow for the Rolex but my sense of taste doesn't allow for a cheap imitation product. Wealth and taste are completely independent from each other.
Now this doesn't make someone a bad person for wearing gold plated jewelry or knock-of merchandise. To each his own, live and let live. But it certainly doesn't mesh with Apple's brand.
Gold plating, on the other hand, is almost like buying a knock off, counterfeit product, like a fake Gucci bag, or laminating cheap furniture with a vinyl wood veneer. It also reminds me of cheap cars with fake, plastic air intakes on the sides to imitate more expensive cars. These things don't offer any inherent value other than to mimic (poorly) a more expensive product. Gold plating jewelry does not make it stronger or more durable. It's only purpose is to copy the appearance of gold. <span style="line-height:1.4em;">Instead of symbolizing </span>
quality<span style="line-height:1.4em;"> and value it signals pretense and lack of authenticity.</span>
But gold filled or anodized gold aluminium would be fine. I wouldn't expect Apple to use gold plating either, that's likely the only option for after-market services.
I was excited about the watch it had the most coolest looking desktop, or home screen, I was looking forward to playing with the OS. But when I saw the thickness of the watch in store, and held one in my hands, and I played with the bubble type interface, I wasn't impressed. But there wasn't anything really wrong with it besides being a little thick, the problem is that it acted just like my phone, it wasn't really that different of an experience, just an extension of the phone, with a few watch specific features which I would rarely use. Another revelation was the screen was too small, I felt weird because I just bought the giant screen iPhone 6 months ago because of my bad eyes and hatred for wearing eyeglasses, and now I was considering a tiny little screen that would run my iPhone? Maybe the earphones are good enough for me to do Siri. I was gonna get the sports grey with black plastic band, needless to say I'm gonna wait a while until it evolves. I hope they offer a round faced one eventually. As a stockholder I'm grateful for early adopters, and blown away by the pre-sales numbers.
Although it is inevitable that Apple will eventually make enough improvements to the Apple Watch to warrant another model, I do not think it will be anything like on an iPhone replacement cycle ... the real genius behind this watch is, in fact, its dependency on the iPhone, which gets replaced more often. With software updates, I can see the Apple Watch bought today still being on people's wrists five or six year later, and possibly longer. The "engine" (the iPhone) gets replaced every couple of years, and software updates keep the Watch compatible with new capabilities until some major breakthroughs (Bluetooth 5, let's say, or a serious leap in processing or graphics requirements) forces a hardware upgrade.
So Ive said Apple Watch is not competing with high-end mechanical watches and Apple's intention was not to compete with traditional watchmakers. I see Apple Watch being a threat to cheaper to mid priced watches not high end mechanical watches.
Somebody pull out a chair for captain obvious, he must be exhausted.
The watch industry has its own customer base of mostly watch collectors. They make watches knowing exactly how many they will sell...the same amount they sold of the last one. Aside from being called a watch, none of that could have any less in common with ? Watch.
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
I don't buy it. Less dining and more working out. Trade the Foie gras for a celery stick.
Apple priced the<span style="line-height:1.4em;"> Watch and Watch Sport to be eminently affordable to their existing customer base while boasting full feature parity with their more expensive Edition models. So the Watch is in no way "out of reach." It's the most egalitarian product they've ever sold.</span>
With the Edition they are tapping what has been, until now, an extremely lucrative market that has remained totally untouched by Apple or any of their competitors. Apple is uniquely positioned to compete in this market, compared to other tech companies. Apple couldn't care less whether "watch connoisseurs" buy one or not (though many will.) All they need is to get a tiny percentage of affluent consumers to buy a high margin Apple product that wouldn't otherwise appeal to them unless it were both expensive and exclusive. <span style="line-height:1.4em;">Due to their stratospheric markup, the Edition watches can boost the company's overall profit margins and could potentially </span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;">account for a disproportionate share (1/3?) of their overall</span>
<span style="line-height:1.4em;"> revenues and profits.</span>
I agree that Ive has enormous respect for traditional watchmakers. The Apple Watch Edition will never be marketed as a better choice than a Rolex. It only needs to be a worthy object for those who appreciate its value and can afford its price.
Comments
[QUOTE]Under normal circumstances, the screen will then show one of nine watch faces, each customizable. One will show the time alongside a brightly lit flower, butterfly, or jellyfish; these will be in motion, against a black background. This imagery had dominated the launch, and Ive now explained his enthusiasm for it. He picked up his iPhone 6 and pressed the home button. “The whole of the display comes on,” he said. “That, to me, feels very, very old.” (The iPhone 6 reached stores two weeks later.) He went on to explain that an Apple Watch uses a new display technology whose blacks are blacker than those in an iPhone’s L.E.D. display. This makes it easier to mask the point where, beneath a glass surface, a display ends and its frame begins. An Apple Watch jellyfish swims in deep space, and becomes, Ive said, as much an attribute of the watch as an image. On a current iPhone screen, a jellyfish would be pinned against dark gray, and framed in black, and, Ive said, have “much less magic.”[/QUOTE]
The ?Watch screen looks fantastic. The motion watch faces are gorgeous. When does this come to iPhone? What are the drawbacks of going AMOLED vs LCD? Currently the jellyfish photo is my iPhone wallpaper. It's absolutely gorgeous but just being a static image doesn't give the same effect. I'd love it if we could get something similar to the motion watch face for our lock screens.
[IMG]http://i62.tinypic.com/6f5p9t.jpg[/IMG]
People who are fashionable like to color-match items. The gold iPhone for example can match all of someone's gold jewellery and now the gold Macbook. All the same price as the other colors. The watch colors are different prices. If you had gold bracelets, rings and necklaces and a gold iPhone but were not very well-off, you can't get a gold colored watch to match everything else. 3rd party gold plating will likely solve this problem but I don't agree that having a $10k-17k unique style is egalitarian, especially considering the margins. The limited availability and inflated pricing seems deliberately to price it out of reach of a lot of people and yet they are marketing it alongside the others. If they priced it too low then they wouldn't be able to get an adequate supply of gold but they didn't have to use so much gold in each.
The Watch is egalitarian from both a functional and fashion perspective. The $349 Sport offers precisely the same capabilities as the $17000 Edition, and both the Sport and Watch offer a variety of band selections with a choice of colors, textures, and styles. Egalitarianism does not mean offering every imaginable choice to every conceivable customer.
If you walk around wearing a menagerie of gold bracelets, rings and necklaces you are probably either a fabulously wealthy socialite or a successful drug dealer, either of whom can afford the Edition. If you wear the aforementioned jewelry made from fake gold, you are not Apple's target customer and this has more to do with taste than with income.
When it comes to fine jewelry, gold exists not just as a color but as a premium material that signals wealth. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that Apple will never make a gold-plated or gold-toned Watch. In this sphere, such an item would be considered gauche costume jewelry which would be completely at odds with Apple's brand image. On the other hand, Samsung would be a brand I might expect to produce a gold-toned or -plated watch if they decided to enter this market.
Getting back to the pricing of the Watch Edition... within Apple's customer base, very few non-wealthy customers would even consider purchasing a gold Apple Watch, even it it were priced at a reasonable $4000. That's because although there is a significant number of upper middle class consumers who can afford such a purchase, they are not so well off that they can afford to "throw away" that kind of money on an item that will be obsolete in a few short years. Additionally, selling a gold Watch at this price point would reduce Apple's overall margins while selling in such low numbers that it would have a negligible impact on revenues. For these two reasons, it simply wouldn't make economic sense for Apple to design, manufacture, and sell a "reasonably priced" gold Watch.
They'd need to bring about a fundamental change to iOS to make the iPhone OLED.
OLED doesn't consume power if the color of the pixel is black; this is part of why the Watch interface is that color, for power savings. It does use it for other colors, and iOS is largely white.
LCD is more power efficient for white because the backlight is white already, it doesn't need to be modified.
While I'm not opposed to a darker iOS, I think most people would be.
I wouldn't mind iOS going darker at all. Yosemite has a dark theme, iOS should too. I think iOS and Watch UI should be similar as much as possible.
Jony needs to hit the treadmill
I was in my local Sam’s Club (Walmart) store last night. In the jewelry department I found a $2100 Tag Heuer watch and a $2800 Omega watch... in a WALMART! Now I’m confused about all this “luxury” stuff.
They'd need to bring about a fundamental change to iOS to make the iPhone OLED.
OLED doesn't consume power if the color of the pixel is black; this is part of why the Watch interface is that color, for power savings. It does use it for other colors, and iOS is largely white.
LCD is more power efficient for white because the backlight is white already, it doesn't need to be modified.
While I'm not opposed to a darker iOS, I think most people would be.
OLED has been used by Samsung and other Android makers for years. While it has some advantages over LED (deep blacks, vibrant colors, low power consumption for black pixels) it also has some disadvantages. OLED displays have a wider color gamut that does not match that of most digital cameras. As a result, when displaying actual photographs (especially of people) the colors tend to be oversaturated, inaccurate, and with a bad color cast . Samsung's solution to this has been to include a settings screen where the user may change the display's color profile to optimize it for text and graphics or for accurate color photos. needless to say, the idea of having to manually change your screen settings every time you want to view different types of content is idiotic.
Apple used OLED on the Watch because of those same advantages, combined with the fact that viewing photos is a much less prominent use case on a watch and the tiny display makes any color balance issues less noticeable. it wouldn't surprise me if they also apply some logic to tweak the colors accordingly when using their Photos app.
OLED has been used by Samsung and other Android makers for years. While it has some advantages over LED (deep blacks, vibrant colors, low power consumption for black pixels) it also has some disadvantages. OLED displays have a wider color gamut that does not match that of most digital cameras. As a result, when displaying actual photographs (especially of people) the colors tend to be oversaturated, inaccurate, and with a bad color cast . Samsung's solution to this has been to include a settings screen where the user may change the display's color profile to optimize it for text and graphics or for accurate color photos. needless to say, the idea of having to manually change your screen settings every time you want to view different types of content is idiotic.
Apple used OLED on the Watch because of those same advantages, combined with the fact that viewing photos is a much less prominent use case on a watch and the tiny display makes any color balance issues less noticeable. it wouldn't surprise me if they also apply some logic to tweak the colors accordingly when using their Photos app.
Pretty much. Sony ran into the same issue on the PSVita, for the second generation model they cut the OLED display and replaced it with an LCD (which also increased battery life), and ever since the OLED fanboys (aka Fandroids) claim it's terrible, while most comparisons show the LCD is, overall, better. Apple clearly values accuracy in their displays, as they've got the most color accurate ones on the market. I appreciate that, as personally I find the best device for viewing my iPhone photos is my iPad Air.
@freediverx. Thank you for this link to Scott Galloway. In a few wide brush strokes, he's able to articulate more about Apple and its products than the myriad of speculative and self-serving articles that have been written about the Apple Watch, that, in the greater scheme of things, is less than 2 seconds old. A breath of fresh air!
The link:
Jony needs to hit the treadmill
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
I don't see how buying gold-plated vs solid gold is about taste and not income when the outward appearance is the same. It also doesn't have to be mixed with a lot of jewellery. A single gold wedding ring or a bracelet would mismatch a silver watch and vice versa:
It's just nicer when they compliment each other:
They already make gold colored products that don't use real gold. They could make one with the same material as the gold iPhone but polish it the way they do the Apple logo and sell it at the same price as stainless steel although they might have to coat it with something like a thin layer of sapphire, maybe a sapphire lacquer if it's too susceptible to scratching:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2013/09/apple-invents-a-fusion-process-that-will-add-a-sapphire-laminate-layer-to-iphone-ipad-future-iwatch-cover-glass.html
Another option would be to make a very thin solid gold outer layer and strengthen it with a standard metal interior:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/What-is-Gold-Filled-Jewelry-vs-Gold-Plated-and-why-buy-/10000000000692871/g.html
Gold filled only needs 1/20th the amount of gold
One of the slides showed an estimate of $13.5b revenue first year, which would be more than every current watch manufacturer and they sell more than watches. This would be 30 million units at $450 ASP. Switzerland's entire watch exports have been noted as 29 million units and $21b revenue ($724 ASP). China makes the most at over 1.2b units but the revenue doesn't even match Switzerland because the ASP is so low. They are likely selling watch components for sale in Western watches at a higher markup. Timex for example is a Dutch company but their digital and mechanical watches use Chinese parts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin_Seagull
"Tianjin Seagull Watch Group is a watchmaking company located in Tianjin, China. Founded in 1955, it is the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements, producing one quarter of total global production by volume."
Once the markup is added with completed watches, the overall revenue will be more but no single manufacturer is over $13.5b. In a way it doesn't seem that surprising when you think about them selling over 200 million iPhones and having an install base of over 400 million but it's still an expensive watch relatively and if they did sell 30 million in year 1 to become the highest revenue watch manufacturer, that would be really impressive.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/apple-aims-to-ship-more-than-20-million-watch-units-in-2015-sources/541893-11.html
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
That's the sense I get as well. On the second point, just make sure they're Apple Watch compatible -- everyone will want a set !
I don't see how buying gold-plated vs solid gold is about taste and not income when the outward appearance is the same. It also doesn't have to be mixed with a lot of jewellery. A single gold wedding ring or a bracelet would mismatch a silver watch and vice versa:
It's just nicer when they compliment each other:
They already make gold colored products that don't use real gold. They could make one with the same material as the gold iPhone but polish it the way they do the Apple logo and sell it at the same price as stainless steel although they might have to coat it with something like a thin layer of sapphire, maybe a sapphire lacquer if it's too susceptible to scratching:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2013/09/apple-invents-a-fusion-process-that-will-add-a-sapphire-laminate-layer-to-iphone-ipad-future-iwatch-cover-glass.html
Another option would be to make a very thin solid gold outer layer and strengthen it with a standard metal interior:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/What-is-Gold-Filled-Jewelry-vs-Gold-Plated-and-why-buy-/10000000000692871/g.html
Gold filled only needs 1/20th the amount of gold
One of the slides showed an estimate of $13.5b revenue first year, which would be more than every current watch manufacturer and they sell more than watches. This would be 30 million units at $450 ASP. Switzerland's entire watch exports have been noted as 29 million units and $21b revenue ($724 ASP). China makes the most at over 1.2b units but the revenue doesn't even match Switzerland because the ASP is so low. They are likely selling watch components for sale in Western watches at a higher markup. Timex for example is a Dutch company but their digital and mechanical watches use Chinese parts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianjin_Seagull
"Tianjin Seagull Watch Group is a watchmaking company located in Tianjin, China. Founded in 1955, it is the world's largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements, producing one quarter of total global production by volume."
Once the markup is added with completed watches, the overall revenue will be more but no single manufacturer is over $13.5b. In a way it doesn't seem that surprising when you think about them selling over 200 million iPhones and having an install base of over 400 million but it's still an expensive watch relatively and if they did sell 30 million in year 1 to become the highest revenue watch manufacturer, that would be really impressive.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/apple-aims-to-ship-more-than-20-million-watch-units-in-2015-sources/541893-11.html
When you anodize an aluminum product like an iPhone, you are not only enhancing its appearance but also creating a hard, strong, protective coating on its surface that protects it from impact, abrasion, and corrosion. An aluminum product is actually made better, technically, by anodizing. This is therefore seen as "honest" or "legitimate" from the perspective of a designer or a discerning customer. The fact that anodizing can be tweaked with different colors like gold without compromising its structural value is just a bonus.
Gold plating, on the other hand, is almost like buying a knock off, counterfeit product, like a fake Gucci bag, or laminating cheap furniture with a vinyl wood veneer. It also reminds me of cheap cars with fake, plastic air intakes on the sides to imitate more expensive cars. These things don't offer any inherent value other than to mimic (poorly) a more expensive product. Gold plating jewelry does not make it stronger or more durable. It's only purpose is to copy the appearance of gold. Instead of symbolizing quality and value it signals pretense and lack of authenticity.
If I were shopping for a watch on a budget I'd be more inclined to choose a quality, affordable watch from a reputable company than an equally priced Rolex knock-off. My income might not allow for the Rolex but my sense of taste doesn't allow for a cheap imitation product. Wealth and taste are completely independent from each other.
Now this doesn't make someone a bad person for wearing gold plated jewelry or knock-of merchandise. To each his own, live and let live. But it certainly doesn't mesh with Apple's brand.
But gold filled or anodized gold aluminium would be fine. I wouldn't expect Apple to use gold plating either, that's likely the only option for after-market services.
So Ive said Apple Watch is not competing with high-end mechanical watches and Apple's intention was not to compete with traditional watchmakers. I see Apple Watch being a threat to cheaper to mid priced watches not high end mechanical watches.
Somebody pull out a chair for captain obvious, he must be exhausted.
The watch industry has its own customer base of mostly watch collectors. They make watches knowing exactly how many they will sell...the same amount they sold of the last one. Aside from being called a watch, none of that could have any less in common with ? Watch.
After reading the New Yorker interview, I sense that Jony is under so much pressure, what little time he has away from work is consumed by sleeping. I used to joke that companies should install pedals under every worker's desk. Pedaling would provide each worker with much needed exercise, while the employer could harness the resulting energy to offset their electric bills.
I don't buy it. Less dining and more working out. Trade the Foie gras for a celery stick.
He didn't preordered it on time and he is not a celeb. He has to wait ????
WOW! Thanks for the link ????