”French luxury goods maker LVMH will launch a rival product to Apple Inc’s Apple Watch costing 1,400 euros ($1,526), Jean-Claude Biver President of the LVMH Watch Division told German daily Handelsblatt,” Edward Taylor reports for Reuters.
Taylor lies, “Initial sales estimates based on U.S. online data suggest the Apple Watch has sold poorly since it was introduced in April, due in part to product shortages and that the overwhelming majority of buyers are for the lower priced Apple Watch Sport.”
MacDailyNews Take: That is a bald-faced lie that is refuted here.
Taylor continues, “LVMH, which owns the Zenith, Hublot and Tag Heuer watch brands, welcomed the arrival of the Apple Watch because the marketing power of the Apple brand will help create a new class of clients enthusiastic about luxury watches, Biver told the paper.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Total waste of time.
Watch and see.
SEE ALSO:
TAG Heuer plans smartwatch; must not be an Apple copycat, says Jean-Claude Biver – September 14, 2014
Old school watch makers don’t get Apple Watch – September 12, 2014
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smartwatch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
Why I’m not yet sold on the Apple Watch and why Apple offers so many options – September 11, 2014
Apple iWatch designer Jony Ive: Switzerland is in deep shit – September 4, 2014
More money for fewer features?😱
That probably comes with the ‘Fashion’ territory. 😛
Higher quality materials and clearer options.
‘Clearer options’ without any hint at in what way, sounds rather muddy to me. Higher quality materials? Doubt it, though I am sure they will look tacky and styled in the sort of way many of the ostentatious prefer.
Indeed FutureMedia. I can’t remotely imagine decent software OR hardware on an LVMH computerized ‘watch’. The Watch is so much more than just a ‘luxury’ digital watch. They’ve got a huge creative learning curve to climb to even adequately compete with the Watch. Just ask ShameSunk.
Watch them toss on some diamond chips and mother of pearl to juice up the ‘luxury’ moniker.
I see what you did there, MDN.
LVMH welcomed Apple to the watch market, but then, oh, ‘We changed our mind and will now compete with Apple.’
And they are going to compete because Apple sold so few Apple Watches?
I don’t think so.
What they (all of the “luxury” Apple Watch would-be competitors) don’t get is that Apple Watch is not about the watch. It’s about Apple Watch enhancing and becoming an integral part of the iPhone user experience.
They cannot replicate Apple Watch, because they don’t have iPhone. If it’s just a watch, it’s just a watch. Therefore, their effort is pointless.
And they don’t have the support infrastructure that is right behind the iPhone.
I have honestly predicted that the next Apple “device” is going to be a line of glasses with miniaturized electronics in the temples so you don’t need to wear a watch and which will silently give you sound updates through either bone conduction around the ear area or a miniaturized nearly invisible wire or tube that goes in the ear canal.
Why? Glasses are inconspicuous and you can touch them in various places in a meeting to accept, silence or reject a call/notification, plus with the right projection on a small reflective corner of the lens (upper left or right) can let you “see” projections.
HeeHee Bo!
The Watch is not a luxury device. It is extended iPhone functionality that just happens to be masquerading as a watch. You can buy it in a luxurious package to fit with your sartorial style, but the functionality doesn’t change from the base Sport model. That defines what Watch is.
Brunt of article: Tag Heuer brand is being cheapened down to about ¼ of current watch price, and they aren’t worried whether they will make a profit. Hmmm, not a strategy a confident company would choose, but the stock markets will love them for it!
Why are all these writers (note: not journalists) seemingly so shocked that the best-selling Watch is the Sport model, which has exactly the same features as all other models but costs less?
Frankly I like the color of the Sport model better, and some tests have shown the screen is better on the Sport than on the sapphire glass models. I don’t see why this is even a story.
Good points. Additionally, i bought the sport model because I will likely upgrade when the next the next generation comes out and my current Apple Watch will be demoted to the “workout watch”
Tag Heuer has always had watches at the $1,000 price point, or slightly above. They are known for being a lower priced luxury brand, so the article is incorrect there.
As for the Apple Watch selling poorly, that’s just one company saying that, and according to Horace .Deidu, who is highly respected, Slice is new to this, and their methodology is untested.
It’s interesting to note that an ad for Tag Heuer is on the same page as the article.
Swiss watch industry grasping at straws? Will they be relevant in 10 years?
Have them check in with the ex-CEOs of Nokia, Palm, Moto & BB.
I didn’t see no watch. It don’t exist.
Go set a watchman