“Apple fanboys are hyperventilating about the Watch,” Henry Blodget writes for Yahoo Finance. “Yes, Apple has done the Watch better than other earlier smartwatches. Yes, Apple fanboys will line up for days to buy the Watch and then, once they get it, collapse in paroxysms of pride and ecstasy.”
“I don’t care. I have zero interest in the watch,” Blodget writes. “I’ve been waiting for years to have a bigger mobile screen, and I don’t consider it even the slightest inconvenience to carry it around with me. The last thing I want to do is also carry a tiny screen, especially one that won’t work without my iPhone. I don’t want to carry another charge cord everywhere. I don’t see anything the Watch can do that my iPhone can’t do better (except, perhaps, some biometrics, which I don’t care enough about to shell out another $349, put something on my wrist, and carry around another charge cord for).”
with Milanese Loop
“I realize that the Watch looks better than some other smartwatches, but it’s still chunky and blocky,” Blodget writes. “$349 is a lot of money for something I don’t need or want. So the fanboys will be having their religious experiences without me… The only Apple product that matters in terms of Apple’s financial performance over the next year is the iPhone. The Watch is irrelevant.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Blodget is the genius who called for Apple to destroy their brand by flooding the market with cheap iPhones as if the cheapskates amassed from such an ill-considered move would be worth the same, not 1/10th or less, than owners of real iPhones.
Blodget is also the genius who said that the design of iPhone 5 meant that Apple would be “screwed.” This would, of course, be just before Apple broke all smartphone sales records and set a new record with the iPhone 5 that stood until the iPhone 5s, with virtually the same design, which promptly proceeded to set yet another new all-time record for smartphone sales.
Blodget, ever the genius, also claimed that Apple’s iPhone, the world’s best selling smartphone, was “dead in the water” back in 2011.
Related articles:
Blodget: Apple needs lower-priced iPhones and iPads, stop going after just the premium market – January 3, 2013
Henry Blodget: if the iPhone 5 really looks like this, Apple may be screwed – July 30, 2012
Jony Ive: There are ‘millions and millions’ of Apple Watch combinations – September 10, 2014
Apple Watch will disrupt the digital watch industry – September 10, 2014
Apple Watch is secure; safe from loss, thieves – September 10, 2014
Dvorak on Apple Watch: ‘Yawn – I’m not going to buy one’ – September 10, 2014
Apple Watch details: What Apple didn’t say publicly – September 9, 2014
Can you run with just your Apple Watch? Health and fitness tracking do not require iPhone per se, but… – September 9, 2014
Tim Cook: We started Apple Watch after Steve Jobs’ passing – September 9, 2014
Apple mum on Apple Watch battery life – September 9, 2014
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smartwatch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
Apple unveils Apple Watch – September 9, 2014
Look who’s calling the kettle black!
If Blodget, Dvorak, etc world start praising the Apple Watch, then I am worried about the future of Apple Watch. So far so good, keep those cynicism coming, therefore I could breath a relief and know Apple Watch is golden.
BTW, here a focus group back in 2001 about iPod:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=500 We need more of these kind focus groups on Apple Watch to ensure the success of Apple Watch.
Oh, yeah, he’s another of the trolls that CNBC loves to “feature.” Meh back at ya’ Hank.
Bludgeon Blodget, verbally speaking.
He’s a curmudgeon.
It isn’t the Apple Watch that is irrelevant, it is Hank.
I completely agree with his reasons. (Don’t taze me, bro!)
Moving my tazer towards your balls….
…wonder if that job as a castrati with the Vienna Choir Boys is still open.
Just raise your hands…..
I tend to agree. I have said previously it would take some very special feature to convince me to wear a watch and that didn’t surface. For me personally, there is nothing the Apple Watch provides that outweighs the annoyance of wearing a watch.
I have nothing against wearing a watch. I still wear one. And while not an Apple fanboy I certainly love everything Apple. I guess I just act like an adult, I’m trying to think rationally. That’s the only difference between me and a fanboy. And like everyone else, I was waiting for a great new idea from Apple. And I think Apple has crammed everything into a watch that is possible. Or at least thought about at this point. But like Henry, I’m afraid I don’t find the watch attractive. And I think all things being equal, even fanboys will admit that it’s not that pretty. Better looking than the Samsung watches but just not what I was hoping for from Apple. Doesn’t mean I won’t buy one. I’ll have to see how it suits my needs. It’s just not that pretty.
I think Blodget is right – as a shareholder the iPhone 6 upgrade cycle is going to be huge, but even if the Apple Watch is a huge hit, it will barely have a financial impact.
But Apple looks far ahead. They put all the effort they did into the Watch in order to please customers, expand the benefits of an iPhone (as the Watch is a satellite) and don’t care if the iPhone overshadows it. They will keep creating great products in other categories than iPhone and even if their only significant financial impact over time compared to the iPhone, is to sell more iPhones, then it will be worth it.
The only really huge market Apple could grow, in comparison to iPhone, is to destroy the old Intel/Win duopoloy with PC war 2.0 and increase Mac sales 10x. I believe they will do that over the next few years with their tight software integration between products and their own processor tech.
Apparently he believes the world revolves around him. “I… I… I… “
no, that was just the stream….
He’s right about the watch not being critical to AAPL’s success, at least for now. He’s wrong about it’s sales, though. I think it will be slow at first, but then will
catch on. I swore I wouldn’t bother, that nothing could convince me to park my rolex, but the look of that thing in 18K appeals. We’ll see.
He has no imagination, so he can’t see what Watch portends for the future of Apple. Such a callous buffoon, this Blodget.
If they had made a very small iPhone and had the watch as an extension of the iPhone’s user interface then they would of had something. Imagine an iPhone with less screen (and more battery talking) securely to the watch. So you would have an ear bud, phone hardware, and a watch to control and monitor your compact devices. Move the bio-security features up to the watch and the phone is never seen by anyone.
I agree about your ‘imagination’ comment. Amazingly in this “post PC” world there are still so many people stuck in a ‘beige box / blue screen” frame of mind.
Blodget is also the genius who declared the iPhone “dead in the water” in 2011, and was suspended from the securities industry for life for dot-com shenanigans. He is a fool who is simply playing the click-bait game.
Henry, I guess crime really does pay (on or off Wall Street)…
Ok he’s not going to get one. Who cares???
If you actually read the article, its very good. Blodget makes some excellent points and he doesn’t dismiss the watch, just reminds anyone with a brain that even if they sell 20 million, its only a blip on the balance sheet. He also says that it will improve over time, but he doesn’t want watch 1.0.
The negativity on this site towards Apple supporters who don’t love everything Apple does borders on the moronic.
I find this site is good for links to well-written articles like Blodgets, and tend to ignore the MDN ‘take’ on things, which is unfailingly sub-teenage BS.
@DIM
Really?? MDN’s take is sub-teenage BS? Tell me why Blodget has to claim that everyone who is interested in an Apple Watch Is a hyperventilating fanboy who will “collapse in paroxysms of pride and ecstasy” when he receives one. If Blodget skipped the pejorative terms, he would receive far less abuse on this site. People aren’t bashing him because he is critical of an Apple product, they are bashing him because of his terrible track record of predictions, limited vision, and juvenile writing…
Several months ago, I commented here about the relatively low impact on Apple’s stock regarding a potential “iWatch”. I wasn’t expecting the watch to be so expensive though.
If Apple sells 20 million (a year?), here’s some math…
at $350 minimum Apple is making a unit profit of about $105. However, that profit is likely to be much higher with higher configurations, strap sells, and AppleCare, not to mention boosts to the ecosystem. It seems likely that the average unit profit for Apple will easily be greater than $150… and that’s being really conservative, the margins here scale up much greater than the margins on anything else Apple upsells.
$150 X 20 million = $3 Billion.
$3 Billion X 16.94P/E = $50.82 Billion.
That’s $50.82 Billion added to Apple’s existing 604.77 Billion market cap. That’s a 7.8% increase in Apple’s Market Cap. Or applied to Apple’s stock price, a bump of $7.64.
It’s all relative. it may represent less than 10% of Apple’s business, but $3 billion in profit, if the watch was it’s own company would make it the 205th most profitable corporation in the world, just behind MasterCard, and above DirectTV, eBay, Accenture, EMC, Dupont, Kraft, Monsanto, Nike…
Oh, and in terms of market cap, it would be 195, just below Halliburton and above Hyundai, Costco.
Borders on the Moronic! Oh, no, we are the crazy ones 🙂
oh … Henry of “iPhone Dead in the Water” article fame.
He is not excited about the apple watch sooo….. Everyone who is excited about it is wrong. I don’t follow his logic. He somehow knows that that the apple watch will not make apple money….. I guess apple just hasn’t understood that their new products can’t succeed. Apple must be deluding themselves when they make great products that create new tech industries. ‘Sarcasm implied’
Clueless fool!
Go to apple site and study ever bit there is about the watch..
Its amazing.
At top of my list ( among many other amazing stuff) is haptic communications and digital touch.
A whole new way to communicate with… Its potential is amazing .
Apple might be in trouble. If there is anyone who knows from experience what irrelevant is, it’s this idiot.
This is excellent news. Whatever convicted fraudster Henry Blodget says has been proven time and time again to be totally irrelevant.
Cool handle
Ah, yes. The definition of “analyst” in the tech financial world is “someone who habitually gets it wrong.” It would be nice to keep statistics on these so called experts — you know, score them like rottentomatos.com. The ones who’s predictions are most accurate can be properly acknowledged. Those that consistently miss can be ignored or fired. Of course, their real agenda is not predicting the future, it’s manipulating Apple stock in their favor.
I agree. Their success should be held to some sort of accurate predictive ability. When some get it wrong consistently…. This should be made clear.
Lol just searched “Henry Blodget iPhone dead in water” and the article he wrote is one of the most insufferable pieces of drivel I’ve ever read. Surprised it’s not on MDN’s hit list of Blodgett diarrhea.
I kind of agree. I was hoping for a stand alone device, not something tethered to my phone. Bummer Apple. Blew it for me.
A standalone device with what, 2 hours of battery? How the hell can you make a product that small with WiFi, Bluetooth and telephony without charging it multiple times a day? Do you have any idea how small the battery must be inside that thing?
When they can make the product I want, the way I want it, then I’ll buy it. And if someone else comes out with it first, I’ll buy that. This Apple Watch thing is not the device I want, it doesn’t have the capability I want.
So you always go out without your phone?
If, like virtually everyone who owns a mobile phone, you have it with you all the time, then where’s the issue?
You’re just inventing non-existent issues.
I want a stand alone device so I can leave the phone home. I hate having to lug around a phone all day. Strap it to my wrist and I’ll be happy. Apple did not do this, they created another device to carry around. Sorry, not for me.
You’re missing my point, I want to leave the phone home. This product is a non starter for me.
Don’t leave home and don’t blasphemy a great name.
Henry Blodget, the Steve Ballmer of CNBC journalist.
One of the same “experts” who said the iPad would never succeed. Wouldn’t surprise me if he used the term “irrelevant” for that, too.
So much for Yahoo Finance.
When a doctor can monitor the heartbeat of a patient while tending to another patient in another part of the hospital real time and potentially save a live, let’s see how irrelevant this device becomes,
This is just the beginning.
They already have devices that do this better and with more functionality.
Yeah? Name these devices
So, convicted securities fraudster with a history of clueless Apple predictions. Nice resume.
So much polarity.
Of course, he’s a fool.
No everyone has to like any product a particular company puts out. That’s his choice. I want an AppleWatch Sports and when it’s available I’ll get it. I’m sure I won’t be the only one out there to buy one. It does what I want it to do and if the battery life is good for a day or so of intermittent use, then I’m golden.
I am not a fan of Henry Blodget nor his apologist, that said I am not sold on the need or imminent widespread adoption of this iToy.
For some people it will be worth the money, for others a statement that they have the latest Apple device and a few that will have it just because they can. I am not sure how many that will be.
Maybe it is my generation (Baby Boomer), but I see the phone as a nice thing to have but in no way a replacement for a real computer and the watch is a bunch of notches below that. There is no added value versus only the iPhone for many people and I am one of that crowd. It doesn’t make us haters, or clueless or cheap- it makes us people who simply think ‘it is not for me’.
Now maybe the cool kids will all buy it and it will become this massive hit with trend followers and the hipster crowd. If it does Apple will be selling a lot of watches. Otherwise, I think it is at best a niche product.
Friday I will reserve an 16GB iPhone 6 Plus online and let the FedEx guy/gal deliver it to me on release day complete with the proper nano SIM. No store lines and no watch.
In the age of the cloud, those of us with legacy unlimited data plans (thanks to Steve Jobs) and iTunes Match do not need a 128 GB phone- 16 GB will be fine, Thank You. BTW- the best return on investment will be for the base phone as the resale value of additional memory is minimal.
I am not rooting for the failure of the watch as I hold Apple shares and they are a portion of my retirement portfolio. However, I think the watch will be like the Apple TV- another device in the Apple ecosystem that some people will buy and enjoy without being some BFD.
The new iPhones look like home runs and the new Pay service could be a massive profit center if Apple has it’s affairs in order. I will not be exposing my bank accounts to Pay until I see what Apple’s track record looks like, but I hope for the best. Secure digital transactions is far bigger than a cell phone or a watch.
You lost me at “iToy”. The ultimate success of the Watch is obviously an unknown, but there is no denying that that it is a triumph of engineering.
It is still a toy. Not an insult- just a fact.
An X-Box is a toy.