“Nick Hayek, the CEO of Swatch, doesn’t look concerned by the iPhone maker’s arrival on his patch,” Carol Ryan editorializes for Reuters. “He should be.”
“Among Swiss watchmakers, who together produce around 30 million timepieces a year, Swatch looks the most vulnerable. Although it carries premium brands like Breguet, Harry Winston and Omega, up to half its sales are in the lower- to mid-priced ‘masstige’ market – the one Apple is aiming at,” Ryan writes. “Hayek says he has no interest in mimicking Apple’s ‘mini mobile phone on your wrist.’ But the design of the new ‘Swatch Touch’ smartwatch looks unfortunately like a 1980s walkman. If the Apple range takes off, Swatch will clearly be at a design disadvantage in any smartwatch war.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The self-delusion is strong with this one. Hayek seems to have no idea what’s coming his way. Like a deer frozen on the tracks, unblinking ahead of an unstoppable speeding locomotive.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. – George Santayana
Hayek, the latest applicant for entry into The Federation of the Flummoxed™, should read up on Nokia’s former CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo who, in April 2008, described Apple’s iPhone as a “niche product.” The last we heard, Olli-Pekka is currently “spending time with his family.”
Related articles:
Swatch co-inventor: Apple Watch will succeed and an ice age is coming for Swiss watch industry – March 10, 2015
Apple makes roadkill of deer-in-the-headlights CEOs – April 1, 2011