“Apple Inc. has yet to confirm or deny the existence of the rumored iCar, but the company has not shied away from selling expensive products. Its most expensive offering is the $17,000 Apple Watch,” Louis Bedigian writes for Benzinga.
“Devin Liddell, principal brand strategist at Teague, thinks that ultra-pricey wearable could be Apple’s first step toward releasing a car,” Bedigian writes. “‘They wouldn’t have done the $17,000 watch if they weren’t trying to create a bridge to the $30,000 car,’ Liddell told Benzinga. ‘If they weren’t interested in car making, that $17,000 watch may not have existed at all.'”
Bedigian writes, “‘What the $17,000 watch does is it creates a bridge in people’s brains that goes, ‘Hey, if I could spend that on a watch, I could spend twice as much on a car,'” said Liddell. “I personally think it’s unlikely we’ll see a $100k model [from Apple]. But I think we could see a lot of the $30,000 to $50,000 models, but it’s all about bridging that gap between the high-end watch to the high-end car.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: No. Wrong. Bzzzt!
A $17,000 Apple Watch is a premium-priced product for extremely rich customers. People for whom $17,000 is an impulse buy.
It is not about making what would be Apple’s target market for cars (not just the extremely rich) accept a $30,000 price tag. People already accept $30,000 (and much more) for a new vehicle. They don’t need a bridge, from an unrelated product no less, it’s already there.
Benzinga is bending over and getting his logic from the wrong end. That’s a bridge too far
I could see the logic if a version of the Watch came with four tiny little wheels. But it only has one.
That does not make any sense at all. Is he saying that Apple had to market an expensive device to bridge the gap to a $30,000 car? Apple currently sells and has sold some pretty expensive stuff. A fully loaded Mac Pro costs close to $10,000, for instance. And the mid-1980s Macs could run $6,000 to $7,000, as I recall. Factor in the time value of money for 30 years and that translates to over $16,000 in current dollars (depending on your choice for the average rate of inflation).
But that whole line of thought is BS, anyway. Why would Apple need to work its way up to selling a (fairly reasonably priced by modern standards) $30,000 car? And why would Apple even design/build a car? Neither cars nor TVs are part of Apple’s core business. Apple is already working on Car Play with vehicle producers, just like it developed the AppleTV to hook up to HDTVs. The production of cars and HDTVs is capital intensive with relatively low profit margins.
All of that is on top of the fact that Apple has never announced an Apple Car. The fabled Apple Car currently shares the same virtual product space as the long-awaited, but never materializing Apple 4K TV. Why do prop
More like 60k plus!
Exactly. The $17K Watch, considering its obscene markup, would make the Car something like $450K with the same obscene markup.
The first car won’t be priced less than $125,000.
Apple will use pricing as a self reinforcing governor on sales volume exactly as they did with the original iPhone and with the watch.
“They wouldn’t have done the $17,000 watch if they weren’t trying to create a bridge to the $30,000 car.” Wow, that’s the least intuitive leap I’ve I ever read. Who does Teague do brand strategy for? Blackberry?
I’ll take a Gold AppleCar with sapphire crystal windshields please. 😉
Thank you for your order, that will be $750,000. Cash or credit.
Apple Pay
Would you like Apple Care with that? Only $25,000 for two years maintenance and replacement cars not damaged by water.
If Apple does a car, it would be priced competitive to other luxury brands: BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc. Not up there with Masarati or Maybach.
Apple prices have always been competitive when compared to equally outfitted products.
I suspect they will have very original pricing, so that people can complain about it, like they always do.
For instance, their car might seem very basic in traditional car hardware with no normal bells and whistles but look stylish and include lots of original smarts, sensors, automation and integration with iPhone/iPad/Watch.
People will complain that the price is too high for the hardware, but it will actually be a better experience per price than any other car.
Young people will love it as they care about being connected and convenience more than horse power these days.
That is my humble prediction.
Car, Car Edition, SportCar
That looks so much better than iCar.
The really big question is, will the put the Apple symbol on the hood or on the roof?
Glowing logo in the center of the grill.
Apple makes a $350 watch that functions just the same as the $17,000 one. A $30,000 car is much more like a $350 watch than a $17,000 watch. It’s functional, but not flashy, I have a $400 Watch and I’d consider a $30,000 Apple car, but never even think about a $17,000 Watch.
That’s a pretty rickety bridge.