“It isn’t clear how many people will line up to buy the pricey Apple Watch,” Dan Gallagher reports for The Wall Street Journal. “But the ultramodern device may help the technology giant with a rather old-fashion concern: Getting more shoppers into its stores.”
“It is a relatively safe bet that many shoppers will flock to Apple’s stores to take a look,” Gallagher reports. “And that is good for Apple, at least if history is any guide.”
“The launch of the first iPad in 2010 drew big crowds to the company’s stores, as people sought a peek at the first modern tablet. Apple’s retail sales jumped 47% that fiscal year, with average revenue per store rising by 30%,” Gallagher reports. “The company cited a ‘halo effect’ in which foot traffic for the iPad also helped sales of the Mac, a product that many believed would actually be cannibalized by the new tablet… The watch, besides its other capabilities, may also act as an expensive form of bait.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Since when is something starting at $349 “expensive” or “pricey?”
Answer: It isn’t.
The amount of Android to iPhone upgraders that Apple Watch triggers is going to boggle the minds of some pundits. These generally new-to-Apple users will also eventually purchase Macs and iPads due to Continuity and handoff. Watch and see. – MacDailyNews Take, March 30, 2015
It’s the Ecosystem!!! 😀
And I’d like to check you for ticks –
If $349 is “pricey,” you need a better job.
True enough. Right now, that’s an entire month’s income for me (self-employed, no government handouts).
It’s really easy to denigrate people on their income, lower or higher. The people that can easily afford the gold Apple Watch are saying the same things about those that can only afford the Sport (“If you can’t afford the Edition then you need a better job”).
It’s a disgusting, classist attitude.
Sort of disgusted with MDN to try and put out there that $350 isn’t pricey or expensive. I can afford it relatively easily and still think it was a shitty comment.
Is it April 10 when they’ll allow us to begin signing up for the chance to try on watches in the store? I’m convinced I need to see one on me to have ANY sense of which I prefer.
Yes, that will be the date.
The Wall Street Journal is too cheap to hire real reporters.
Sammy and Wall st pays them to FUD
There’s more to it than sammy.
Notice how Sammy PR and his paid damage mitigation troops are out in force mass correcting all negative samscum feedback
I know one that used to write for Rolling Stone who might be available.
$349+ is a significant amount of money for most people, especially for a non-essential item such as the Apple Watch. I’m not criticizing Apple’s pricing, but using the word “pricey” is not a stretch in this case.
For all of those who don’t think $349+ isn’t a lot of money: Good on ya!
Steel watch with a steel band … $1,000
2013 U.S. real (inflation adjusted) median household income was $51,939 before taxes
A thousand bucks might be trivial to some, to many it is not.
“Household” income? Wow. I make several multiples of that on my own. I somehow find that hard to believe. I’m guessing it includes people living off the government without jobs, drug dealers, and other street scum.
93 million Americans over 16 are not in the work force. 47 percent of Americans do not earn enough to be required to pay federal income taxes. A household with one full time wage earner at $20 an hour and one part time at $15 is two folks working hard to make it. For all the wonderful things Apple makes including the new watch, these folks will likely not be customers of the company with $180 billion in the bank. No slight to Apple, no slight to the folks unable to spend $1,000 with Apple.
Good God! Are you joking! You clearly have no idea what kind of money the majority of people make. And no, it doesn’t include people with no job, the homeless, etc. Next time you are in a factory, or large office, do a poll of all the staff and ask them what their wage is.
What’s the median household income for those who own a recent (watch-compatible) iPhone? I don’t know, but I’d guess it’s a fair bit higher than that.
Quit going to Starbucks and finance it for one year and $350 price is about a dollar a day. Everybody lets a dollar slip out of their pocket each day for something. $350 is not too much considering what it does compared to other watches and even other smart watches.
The Apple Watch does at least a couple of things useful for many different types of people.
If you need to Finance a $350 item you can’t afford it and should purchasing it at all.
“shouldn’t be” purchasing it at all.
“But the ultramodern device may help the technology giant with a rather old-fashion concern: Getting more shoppers into its stores.”
Has this clown ever been to an Apple Store? A shortage of shoppers has NEVER been a problem when I have been there!
Exactly. When the whole premise of an argument, or in this case an article, is based on a fallacy then you’re pretty much doomed in the “looking smart” department.
I have seen more customers in Microsoft stores than in Apple stores on more than one occasion at Walden Galleria, Buffalo, NY
No one will be lining up. You need a reservation.
“It isn’t clear how many people will line up to buy the pricey Apple Watch.”
How much reporting did Dan Gallagher put into this, to find out what might happen in the future? Was God not available for comment? Couldn’t Gallagher find anyone who would speak on the record about how well a brand new product line would do on its first day of sales?
But actually, John’s right: “No one will be lining up. You need a reservation.”
Such shitty writing.