The price point is different enough from these brands that I wouldn’t consider them direct competitors. I also doubt that many of the iPhone users, who enjoy subsidized phones financed at fairly high rates hidden in their service plans, can overcome the sticker shock of a $600+ watch.
Yeah, I was thinking that a watch like this is really an accessory for your iPhone. So, it must be priced much lower than your iPhone. There might be strong demand for say, a $100 watch product that has slightly less functionality and is not made of such high quality materials. However, most people will not want to double the cost of their portable electronics for a much smaller increase in functionality.
If they can sell 50M ipads that are completely useless then they can surely sell 50M watches that can at least tell time.
iPads are great for babies to learn on. (Ignoring the question of whether they should be exposed to screens at this early an age.) Also great for senior citizens - or anyone who wants iPhone features on a bigger screen. (And no cell phone.)
It blows my mind the amount of parents today who are concerned about vaccinations and taking the glutin out of their purely organic diets but will enroll their kid in an iPad based learning program without a thought to destroying their eyesight.
^iPads are a great teaching tool for kids. And, they’re also great for pediatric hospitals. You know how much easier it is to get a kid to hold still while hooking him up to an EEG with an iPad? Damn things are a god-send. And, as for using it as a teaching tool, so long as you monitor the activity and the “games” they play, the iPad can give kids a huge head start in things like recognizing colors, numbers, spelling, basic math, reading, and even geometry.
My four year-old basically taught himself how to read using the iPad. We don’t let him live on it, but they can definitely make life easier for the parents (and doctors) while actually educating along the way. A far cry from playing tetris on my Gameboy.
Edit: I realized after posting this that you were knocking hypocritical parents and not at all what I’m talking about. Carry on.
Well, honestly my stance may evolve on the iPads when my daughter is old enough to use them for more than a chew toy. I’ll have to play that one by ear.
Yes, the apps may not be as good, but I can see people opting for the Pebble watch over the Apple Watch, because it doesn’t require an iPhone, isn’t as expensive, and has a wider variety of styles (I believe).
Still, I remember how the iPhone changed phones, and how the iPod changed mp3 players, so I don’t doubt that the Apple watch will change a lot of things for smartwatches.
Or an Android Wear watch. There are half a dozen pretty solid “official” models that have been on the market for months and a number of other really nice looking ones nears release.
I’m waiting for this day.
Wait until you take her on a long flight. iPad is a life saver. These watches are ridiculous though. Its just as puzzling how the largest company in the entire world makes fashion phones. In other words, I’m sure these will be a resounding success and add a Chevron or Walmart to Apple’s market cap.
I feel like I’m reading an Onion article:
*LUST for APPLE WATCH drove me to crime, says alleged meth dealer*
So AAPL makes as much OCF in a quarter as GOOG makes in a year?
Time for a bump. Just to remind you guys, Apple has already revolutioned the personal computer, the smartphone, the tablet, and is now doing it with the smartwatch. What will they reinvent next???
I know I am talking to the unwashed, those who say “Apple isn’t cool anymore”, but feel free to discuss below:
Nobody commits crimes to get an Android watch!
Bump. Apple just unveiled the future of computing. iPad Pro.
Do you work for Apple’s PR department? The only truely revolutionary products they had were the iPod & iPhone. iPad was nice but the tablet market never really truely caught on no matter how hard the media pushed it, and the same with the smart watches. The media has been pushing for years to get smart watches to be a thing, and the Apple Watch hasn’t changes the fact that the majority of people wont wear a smart watch.
Interesting to see how the iPad Pro will turn out, I assume just cannibalizing business from Macbook Pro & regular iPad lines although with a much nicer margin than the original iPad.
They will continue to generate fantastic cash flow via the iPhone but you are looking at Microsoft here. Strong cashflows from a major revenue source and now a history of misses on launches that have failed to take the company to the next level.
I will say I thought the Beats aquisition was perfect for them though. Both companies produce overpriced items marketed extremely well. Every time I see someone wearing beats I immediately know this is a person that doesn’t do any research and is willing to shell out 200-300 on a pair of headphones when you could pay ~100 for a pair of Sennheishers with significantly better audio quality. Apple Music/Beats radio is an interesting development and I am not sure what to make of it. Competition is tough with Spotify/RDIO/Pandora and with Dr Dres laugh on his album exclusively through Apple I begin to wonder if the market will begin to segment into exclusive deals with one or the other, ending with customers dropping their premium subscriptions due to inability to hear the newest music in one place and just dowloading illegally again.
Naw, I think we are decades from that stage.
Watch is a great first step, that idea continues to evolve. Apple Music, TV, Car, invading the workplace, etc, etc. Besides there is nothing wrong with having a massive hit product, iPhone revenue alone will be fantastic as world-wide adoption continues (the developing world goes Apple once they get the money). Once you are on the Apple system, you stay, and buy their other stuff.
This is going to be huge, $1T market cap is nothing…
Agree to an extent. While the only people who TRUELY delve into and buy every product are the fanboys, many people get the iPhone, Mac Book, Apple Music, (Apple TV possibly in the future but it is a pretty crappy service as is). For all the talk of the eco system, it really isnt driving massive growth. iPads are slowing, iPad pro should have been called iPad +, as no professional will be using an iOS operating system. They should have at least tried to get OSX on it, the iPad Pro is as bad as the Windows Surface RT. I just cant see enterprise users getting the iPad Pro over the Surface Pro, as the surface is cheaper, more powerful, better security, ready to go.
You are right about areas going Apple once they get the money, but that just cements their products as replacable and more of a fashion item. Fashion trends change and there is a risk of it becoming “uncool” and sales plummiting abbruptly. There is also the risk of a competitor/start up coming up with a completely revolutionary product and shifting the market entirely.
No arguement here, this company will hit $1T, however I think saying it will be so huge a $1T market cap is nothing is kind of overly optomistic. They need a true game changer for that, and we havent seen that from them since the iPhone.