Apple announced this week that apple watch, the latest addition to their gadget family will be available for purchase from April 24. Many people have already predicted that it is not going to be a huge success because apple wasn’t able to come up with a really good use case for the watch and because its battery life sucks. These are in-fact really that can prevent people from buying the apple watch. And most people have been saying that the prize of the apple watch edition is crazy high and that nobody is gonna buy it. But i feel that the biggest issue of the apple watch is high price of the stainless steel edition.
I know everyone is going to say “you do realise that the apple watch edition costs at-least 10 times more than the stainless steel variant”. Well i do realise but the thing is the apple watch edition is not targeted at usual users like us. It is targeted at the 1% of the society who can actually afford to upgrade something like that every year. Apple made that clear even during its presentation by saying that the apple watch edition will be made available in select apple stores (not all apple stores). They want the apple watch edition to be something that people considers as a symbol of their status, something that only a few people can get their hands on.
But the other 2 versions : the aluminium and the stainless steel is targeted at the normal iPhone users or atleast thats what i think. And you can’t expect someone to buy an accessory that is worth $1100 when their phone costs just $700-$800. I do realise that the stainless steel variant starts from $550 most people would have to spend something in the range of 700 -800 dollars (the straps look much better than the ones that you get for 550 or 600 dollars). And the watch is just an accessory. Its not a stand alone device, it can only work when paired with an iPhone. Also its not an accessory that does what the iPhone can’t. It just makes it easier to check our notifications. So now we have a situation where a simple accessory that shows your mobile notification costs more or at least as much as your iPhone. THATS CRAZY!!!.
I understand that apple always wanted to be a premium brand and thats how they always priced their iPhones (if you don’t consider the $200 contract pricing). But there were other high end phones which costs almost as much as the iPhone like samsung S6, note 4, htc one m9 etc. So if you are looking for a flagship phone then the iPhones are just 50 – 100 dollars more costlier than other devices. And that difference is ok for most people. But most high end android wear watches cost only $300 or $400. So now we are talking about a 400 to a 600 dollar difference in price. That is too much for a normal iPhone user even if he really wants an apple watch.
The smart-watch industry is not such a big profit making industry even now because people find it unreasonable to spend $300 on a gadget that just makes it easier for them to check their notifications. I think the entire industry sold only less a couple million devices last year. And into that market apple is trying push a product that does the same things as the existing devices at double the price. Well that is going to drive away customers who are even looking for a smart watch (that small portion of people who are willing to spend 300 – 400 dollars on smart watch). Otherwise these people will have to be go for the 350$ apple watch sport, which i don’t think is going to be appealing for everyone. Apple’s situation is going to be worse when google comes out iOS support for android wear.
So to conclude what I feel is that apple totally failed to interest new people into their new gadget or to smart watches in general and they priced the device so high that even people who are interested in smart watches are not going to buy this product. There maybe people who love apple products that are going to buy this watch just because apple made it. But i don’t think anyone who asks themselves the question “is this device really worth it” at-least once before they make a decision, is going to buy this product.
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