“I’m a mechanical watch collector and self admitted Apple fanboy. I wanted to love the Apple Watch Edition (Edition = marketing speak for “gold”). But I don’t understand the value here outside of the literal 1-2 troy ounces of 18k gold ($900-$1,800),” Kevin Rose writes for TechCrunch. “With its luxury watch offering, Apple missed me as both a technologist and collector.”
“For Apple to succeed with the Watch Edition it would need to offer us more, technically,” Rose writes. “Sadly this is not the case here, as nothing is different technically in this watch except for the addition of gold, for which you pay an over $7k markup.”
“The watch collector craves the story, the artisanship of a collectable watch. We enjoy the painstaking craftsmanship that goes into making a timepiece that will last for decades,” Rose writes. “For me to purchase this watch as a collector, Apple would need to create a different (and more expensive) fabrication process that uses new internal (not just external) materials, specifically built to stand the test of time. Sell me on the story of lasting technology, a watch that even when out of date will still function for my grandkids, a watch that won’t be shuffled off to a corner of your closet like an old iPod.”
“So, I’m lost,” Rose writes. “Who is this watch for?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Rose is lost because his criteria are as flawed as a Digg redesign.
The Apple Watch Edition is not for the technologist or the timepiece collector. It’s for monied people who want and can afford the best (and, for them, the “best” Apple Watch is the Apple Watch Edition). There vast majority of people in this target market are neither technologists nor timepiece collectors, and, no, they’re not all “douchebags,” either. Apple Watch Edition will succeed wildly in selling to its target audience, just as Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch will to each of theirs. Apple Watch Ediiton will also sell untold numbers of Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch units. Watch and see.
As SteveJack wrote in our Opinion section earlier this week: Apple is brilliant. These gorgeous 18-karat gold Apple Watch Editions will begin showing up on the wrists of celebrities, famous athletes, and captains of industry very soon. And they will influence the rest of the world to lust after Apple Watch, too. And, here’s more Apple brilliance, unlike a $51,500 Piaget watch, your average Joe and Jane… will actually be able to partake in the same exact user experience with the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport.
Of interest to real technologists and collectors:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Sparkles” for the heads up.]
It seems that two Apple employees almost got fired for saying Apple Watch Edition is not worth $10,000: http://recomhub.com/blog/two-apple-employees-almost-fired-after-saying-the-apple-watch-edition-is-not-worth-10000/