Citigroup Jim Suva on Apple Watch:
We expect Apple to give specifics on the launch time, price, and geographic locations, which we estimate as: Launch date: April 16th; Price points: $350, $550 and $950; with a launch limited to the U.S., followed by Europe and Asia in the subsequent months. A flurry of fashionable accessories including various colors and materials (plastic, leather, and metal, including high-end metals such as gold, silver and platinum), starting at $29 and ranging over several hundred dollars. We expect features to include Apple Pay, adjustable notifications due to personal frequency and preferences, Apple Health, variable haptic feedback, and battery life of one day (under normal use). Purchase locations to be Apple retail stores and Apple online store only. Hundreds of applications immediately available upon release, ranging from social, financial, health, sports and news etc.
Read more in the full article here.
think about it. if those are the price points apple would have announced them already. holding off on announcing the price points prevents all the consternation.
If these prices are close then Apple comes off as hitting the sweet spot once again versus the analysts super high price points.
so, i just got around to reading all the replies to my comments. i have seen you around on the boards a lot and i keep meaning to tell you that i was in rvn (da nang) 71-72. practically everyone in mr i was gone when i left.
$349 SPORT with black rubber.
$499 WATCH with black rubber.
$2499 EDITION with white rubber.
Bands:
White rubber: $49
Milanese loop: $699
Surprise Gold band: $2499
What about screen sizes?
Agnostic pricing would be interesting and simple, though not expected. (I.e. you pick the size you want—no price difference.)
So 10% more for larger?
SPORT $349 / $379
WATCH $499 / $549
EDITION $2499 / $2799
I would suggest that Apple is going to be all the way high-end premium for “Edition”, so it would cost significantly more than $2.5K.
(High-end competitors in golden watches cost $$10-30K.)
Yes, but watches in those price ranges tend to have gold bands. All the gallery photos of the Edition at the Apple site show the Edition with elastomeric or leather bands.
There is information that the priciest version might include yellow/pink full-golden bands. But lets see; it is just couple of weeks to wait.
Agreed. But consider that the latest 5K iMac cost the SAME as a Dell 5K monitor when it was announced. Then Dell immediately dropped the price.
I don’t think Apple wants to play in the park that other luxury watch makers have built. If the question is a $20,000 Gold Rolex that only tells time, or a $4999 Gold Watch that tells you the world—well, I think that’s the proposition they want people to consider.
Apple would be perfectly happy selling a million EDITION’s a month at 40-50% margin, at $3000-$5000. That’s how I see it going down, anyhow.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2844712/dell-drops-5k-monitor-price-after-apple-launches-new-imac.html
(So Apple could have asked a massive premium, but didn’t.)
I think it is more likely to be the following:
Apple Watch Sport -black rubber $349/399 (38/42mm)
Apple Watch Sport -Space Grey $449/499
Apple Watch – black rubber $549/599
Apple Watch – black classic $649/699
Apple Watch – modern buckle $749 38mm only
Apple Watch – leather loop $799 42 mm only
Apple Watch – milanese loop $849/899
Apple Watch – link bracelet $949/999
I think Apple is aiming for a ASP of between $750-$850 which is why there are so many colors at that range. I think the bands will be sold separately in terms of perceived value (from elastomer to link bracelet ($49/$149/$249/$349/$499). Apple will sell their bands for more than other tech companies can sell their entire smart watch. And for good reason. No other watch can match Apple’s feature set and style. This is going to be a good margin product for Apple.
I have no idea what the Apple Watch edition will cost, but I don’t think they are going to price aggressively (ie cheap) compared to other gold watches. Apple will charge a premium in relation to the competitors’ products, but because of its feature set, those who see the value of the product consider it a bargain.
This has always been how Apple rolls.
Third parties are going to supply all kinds of cheap/quality bands. Even watch makers may start selling Apple watch bands.
So I don’t see Apple being able to charge quite the same premium on bands that they can on phones. Apple phone cases are not sold at crazy a premium.
You seem more sensible than most. I suggest that color of a given material is irrelevant. All rubber bands cost the same, and are included in the base price. The different variants of links and buckles will have different premium prices. Your surprise gold for the Edition makes sense to me, in a Milanese Loop it would be irresistible.
I wish I had a Magic 8 ball too!
It wouldn’t surprise me if the prices changed. I think the demand is even more unknown than the iPhone was. Admittedly people are now used to carrying expensive personal devices, but the market will obviously as customers learn what they want and are using these things for.
Can’t change them downward without ticking off the early adopters. At least not quickly. Didn’t this happen with the original iPhone and they gave everyone $99? Or am I remembering that wrong?
You’re right.
$349 Apple Watch Sport small
$429 large
$599 Apple Watch small
$699 Large
$1249 Apple Watch Edition small
$1399 large
Hasn’t Jim seen that Apple are launching the Watch in Europe at the same time as the U.S.? These half baked stories written by badly researched commentators really bug me.
Cook told European Apple Store employees yesterday that 🍎Watch will launch before the end of the year there. At first it will be a US exclusive.