“The woman behind Guess watches sent Tim Cook a letter welcoming him to the watch business,” Ina Fried reports for Re/code. “She also used her letter to tout Guess’s upcoming smartwatch, being developed in partnership with Martian.”
Read more in the full article here.
“Martian launched its own smartwatch, the Passport, at CES back in January,” Ben Lovejoy reports for 9to5Mac.
“Her claim that ‘we’re happy to have another true brand innovator in our industry’ has that clenched-teeth feel to it,” Lovejoy reports. “Apple has not yet given a launch date for its watch, stating only that it will go on sale “in early 2015.” The Apple Watch will be sold in three models – the Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Sport and the Apple Watch Edition – with prices starting at $349 and likely to go well into four figures.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Livingston’s letter, verbatim:
LETTER TO CEO OF APPLE, FROM CEO OF GUESS WATCHES
Dear Mr. Cook:
I wanted to write to you and welcome you to the Watch Industry and also offer my personal thanks to you.
As one of the largest fashion watch brands in the world, we have been around for more than 30 years. In the early 80’s, there was really only SWATCH (the brand) and GUESS Watches. At that time, we had many critics who thought we were crazy. No one thought that anyone would want this new type of “novelty” timepiece. They believed that the only “real” alternatives were Swiss mechanicals or traditional quartz timepieces. Fortunately for us, consumers thought differently!
We are part of an old and proud industry. Every year we’ve experienced change in some way. Over these years, we have seen the introduction of quartz movements, the rise and fall of calculator watches, digitals, analogue-digitals and many many brands, both big and small. It seems that the test of time has shown that the wrist is an obvious place for both function and fashion.
Fast-forward to today and the world has changed. The proliferation of smartphones and the demand of consumers for round-the-clock connectivity have changed the way people access time. This has caused an understandable fear and challenge in our industry (even if no one likes to admit it).
We personally welcome this new challenge to remain relevant to our young, sexy and adventurous consumers who see as much importance in the device they carry and the messaging app they use, as the clothing and accessory brands they buy.
Over the past year, there has been dramatic speculation of the future of “wearables” and Apple’s entre into this segment. This week, you delivered! Just as we had in the early 80’s, there are naysayers and believers. I, for one, am a fan! Your innovation and attention to detail is spectacular.
In today’s connected world, consumers deserve the next level of combining fashion and function. We’ve always been much more than a watch. Now, we too are going to take that concept even further. As we look forward to the launch of our own connected timepiece for GUESS… “Powered by MARTIAN”, we’re happy to have another true brand innovator in our industry that confirms the wrist as the dominant place for self-expression.
Congratulations.
Cindy Livingston
President & CEO
GUESS WATCHES
MacDailyNews Take: GUESS who secretly wishes she worked at Apple?
So-called smartwatches without ecosystems are stupidwatches that are doomed to failure.
Related articles:
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
Fun time to be alive.
So many of the “watch experts,” especially those in the watch industry, do not seem to comprehend that Apple Watch is NOT really a “watch.” It’s an extension of the iPhone user experience that puts a secondary screen, interface point, and multi-sensor on the user’s wrist, allowing iPhone to do much more than it could before. And that’s why it makes actual “watches” mostly obsolete.
This letter of “welcome” is eerily similar to the 1981 full-page WSJ ad by Apple “welcoming” IBM to the PC business.
Strikes me as a weird letter. That’s all.
I love how she capitalized “Watch Industry” – like it’s a proper noun. Maybe a bit pretentious is my “Guess.” 😉
By doing what she did, she just brought her own brand name onto many news pages due to Apple guaranteed publicity, and made her own watch changes relevant to those open to trying a watch again. Smart.
Yes, very smart.
And nice to see competitors engaging each other in a positive way.
That was simply an application letter for a job!
Alternate letter:
Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Guess Watches is launching a smart watch too! Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple Apple
See, if we wrap our announcement in ‘Apple’ it’ll make headlines!
This made me laugh!
I have to say – that is a classy thing to do – makes more sense then trying to say you are better.. I now have a lot of respect for her.
It sure is better than the usual reaction from CEO’s of established companies to Apple’s barreling approach:
“Snort, snort, guffaw! Silly Apple thinks they can compete with us! We look forward to their embarrassment and despair as our established, popular products wipe the floor with their silly computerized novelties!”
——RM
Keep your friends close…
Keep your enemies closer…
The letter sounds like something a smart CEO of a competitor in a market where Apple just walked in should say. When we look back at 2007 and the reactions of the “smart”-phone manufacturers of the time (Palm, RIM, Microsoft), their reaction to Apple’s entry was derision: “Five hundred dollars? Fully subsidised??!! And without a keyboard??!!!! There’s no chance iPhone is going to get ANY significant market share”, or “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in”, or “How do they deal with us?”, or “The biggest trend in smartphones is real QWERTY keyboards”…
At least this Guess CEO comes to it with respect for the competition, but confidence in their own product. Obviously, we cannot expect any CEO to shit their pants in public when Apple just enters their market; they are required (by their fiduciary duty) to show confidence in their own product. However, unlike most other competitors’ reactions to Apple’s entries of before, this one is a rare one that shows proper respect for Apple as an innovator and a disruptive force.
I don’t think this is anything like Apple’s full-page add of the ’80s that said “Welcome, IBM, to personal computers.Seriously.” (which was sarcastic).
+1… But, I never considered Guess watches, anything special. It might be different today, but neon Swatches were all the rage when I had mine.
Today, mechanical chronographs seem more interesting to me. Not a “no tech” thing, but none-electronic mechanics to remind me there are other ways to do this. Nothing more analog than gears and springs.
My favorite Apple sarcastic welcome was:
C:\ONGRATS.W95
——RM
Someone is desperate for attention, and it’s not Apple.
Letter is completely irrelevant. Just a PR stunt to get their name out there after Apple just defined the next industry. It screams “me too-look at us!!”
Like MA and the Courier tablet. That didn’t freeze the market very much.
This was the first time I’ve even heard of Guess Watches. Didn’t they make jeans?
Honestly, I did think Guess took their watches that seriously. I have. Guess Watch. Paid $50 cause I can’t afford a Tag Hauer, but never thought of them as a serious watch maker. GUESS I’m out of touch…see what I did there!
Kinda reminds me of the letter Apple wrote welcoming IBM to the personal computer marketplace. Guess who got their clock cleaned back then?
Yeah you beat me to mentioning this. Jobs “welcoming” IBM may be the most ill-thought out thing he ever did. But he did make up for it later. 🙂
Guess who got their clock cleaned in the end? Apple owns the premium PC business while IBM is out of the PC business and works for Apple selling iPhone, iPads and, ultimately, Macs into the enterprise.
(Not that GUESS Watches has any chance against Apple. GUESS will be out of the watch business and back to hawking jeans faster than Palm exited existence.)
The way I see it, mechanical watches will become objects of luxury and curiosity for people with a sense of nostalgy and/or preference for some vintage technology.
I could mention a few of those:
Fountain pens: With the tons of alternatives in the market, where I could mention excellent disposable pens, some people (like me! Guilty as charged!) love funtain pens. They are harder to maintain, it’s harder to find the right ink, ink might spill if you shake it or put in in the wrong position, there’s a certain way to hold it, you break or bend the nip and the pen is done for, you will most likely stain your fingers… but there’s something about writing with them! I don’t know, it’s the ink flow, or the smoothness of the trace.
Books! When I moved from the US back to my country, I had to leave most of my library behind. it was sad and painful. Having my books on my iPad now it a blessing. But a lot of people still like paper books over electronic ones. I can see reasons why. Some, I agree 100% (“paper doesn’t require batteries”). Others, I can see the point (“nothing like the feeling of paper in your hands”).
Guitar amps: Despite of the changes in technology, hardcore players prefer the vintage sound of amps with vacuum tubes. With today’s technology, electronics can reproduce the same sound with barely any difference (unless you are a dog-man -no offense to anyone, it’s actually a compliment- who can hear those almost imperceptible changes in the sound), and at a fraction of the time.
Same with watches. Some time ago a saw a beautiful Movado watch (about $800), which was simply perfect. I didn’t buy it because I can’t justify spending $800 for a gadget that the only thing it does is give me the time.
So, as with pens, books and amplifyers, there will always be something about the art and craft of building a mechanical watch. Something that will fascinate us humans forever. That “how does it work” sensation.
Because, then, why didn’t digital watches replace mechanical ones? There’s no rational reason for mechanical watches to exist: Digital ones, are cheaper, easier to read, and more precise than mechanical ones.
And, of course, there’s always the snob factor: “I carry a $50,000 gold watch on my wrist”. Yeah, like a gold watch will sing the time to you and dance right after….
The Apple Watch is a beautiful watch. It has amazing features. The only “cons” for some people (I’m not one of them) it, it’s still a digital watch. And some purists will always argue “it’s not the real deal”.
That’s something that would never happen with cell phones. There’s no “classic cell phone”.
My point: Classic watchmakers have less to worry about than cell phone makers when the iPhone came to the market. There will always be a market for mechanical watches. There will be people choosing mechanical watches over digital.
Does it mean the Apple Watch will flop? No way. The watch is simply amazing. But it will be a king in its own realm.
Too clever by half.
Leave the exclamation points, the “we thought differently!” and the time-puns in the garbage next time.
If this is a demonstration of the CEO’s best judgment, swatch is doomed.
Come on… GUESS CEO…
So unnecessary. So out of range. Don’t drool so loud so long ok?
to me it sounds like: CNGRTLNS.W95
that wasn’t successful as long as there was no viable OS for the Mac.
I thought I was the only one who thought her letter reads like a “Please interview me for the Senior VP of Timepieces position” application, but then I read MDN’s Take.
Right on: She wants a job.
Is the Red Ball part of the interview?
Wow, I have so many thoughts on this:
1) If Guess announced something in Jan 2014, where is it now, nine months later?
http://shop.guess.com/en/Catalog/Browse/men/watches/?page=99
2) Is a partnership w/ Martian worth drawing attention to, w/ a ticker-tape display?
http://www.techtree.com/content/news/7174/guess-teams-martian-watches-build-smartwatch.html
3) Lastly, what’s the competition from CES 2014?
http://www.connectedly.com/best-smartwatches-ces-2014
Cindy Livingston should of remembered In February, 2007, then co-CEO of RIM Jim Balsillie predicted the impact of the phone on his business would be minimal.
“It’s kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers,” he said at the time. “But in terms of a sort of sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it.”
I’m going to toss some imaginary conjecture here just for fun so I better add the /shjtt (satire, humor, joke, tall tales) tag and the disclaimer that this is purely hypothetical.
First, a few moments of investigation: I’ve never heard of GUESS watches but Sequel AG is a Timex Group company and I’ve heard of them. Sequel headquarters are in Zug Switzerland, good place for watches and they do business in over 100 countries yada yada yada.
He’s an interesting tidbit, she’s been CEO since 1997, that’s a pretty good run for a CEO, shows a touch of endurance.
Guess Watches (and yes they are related to the Guess Jeans brand) are mentioned in the short blurb I found online along with this “Sequel AG’s charitable arm that selects a different children’s charity each year supporting the health, education, and welfare of children around the world.” which is a nice touch of PR.
Finally, although I did this initially I took a look at a few of her photos online. For a mature woman I think she has a lovely smile and she strikes me as a fashionista. That last bit it important along with the fact that she’s lived in Zurich for a number of years so she’s been exposed to culture and free world concepts that have possibly influenced her.
There are some contrasting points to the other CEO types who have made well known derogatory comments about new Apple products, they aren’t male for starters and certainly not fashionistas. So there is the possibility that the message to Tim Cook is actually sincere because of the passion of the fashionista.
To simplify with an analogy, imagine what it must have been like during the transition from the horse and buggy days to the automobile.
The $$$$$ loving CEOs, the power and control freak CEOs, would do everything in their power to stop the automobile. The CEO passionate about travel might tag along with the other CEOs but they would see the future and while personally see their company’s days numbered they could possibly see the future laid with the automobile.
Of course I am more than probably definitely wrong. It’s more than likely a sincere welcome but rather someone at GUESS who secretly wishes she worked at Apple or an opportunist trying to get your watch’s name in the news.
It’s all imaginary, however it is fun to toss the possibility just to confuse and distort the pessimists.
And that is why this post has the /shjtt tag.
Possibility it could be along the lines of this Martian thing doesn’t fly, and a younger demographic may not want, or be supplied by their parents with, an expensive watch with whatever bio-metrics built in, we could be open to incorporating your technology to both of our companies benefit. And in so doing assist in developing healthier patterns for the younger generation.
Pure speculation, but a dialog would have to start somewhere, even it wouldn’t pan out.
Never heard of them so read letter and went to the web site. From the letter I got the impression they had been doing something different since the 80s as if they were in the same general sector. Clearly worded to give that impression but on the web site I saw nothing special or different at all in the range so if ‘fashion’ is their big thing then I can only presume she was jumping on a bandwagon that is rather different to the one she is trying to flog, which is more like a dead horse in the smart watch business.
In other words, “Please Apple, partner with us…we can’t compete with you…Please buy us!