Apple Orders Six Million Watches

I'm still not a buyer as Apple gets ready for its initial run, as reported in the WSJ. 

Comments

[Gary]

Jeff,

You're not even a buyer of the high-end one that WSJ expects to cost more than $4000? Personally, I don't see the logic in paying this kind of money for what is essentially a throwaway device. At least a multi-thousand dollar Rolex or Omega holds its value relatively well. Not so for a smartwatch, even one from Apple, which will be obsolete in a couple of years.

[Angelo]

I agree Gary. They (Apple) might be overplaying their hand this time. They can afford a moderate failure and they might have one.

[herculodge]

I can't stand the Smartwatch. Ask me in 15 years and I might change my mind, but for now it's too early in the game. I'm out.

[Ulysses]

The power of branding. It's the same reason why a perfectly sensible woman will happily spend over a thousand dollars on a $100 handbag assembled in a sweat-shop just because it has a designer label on it.

The Apple watch will initially sell very well. Excited speculators will make faulty assumptions based on over-simplified linear regression analyses and declare it another world-beating smash hit. Then, after several months they'll start cropping up on eBay and discount electronic stores, as people wake up from their delusions and realise they can't force utility on to a product that never had any. By their own admission, Apple planned to include far more functionality into the product than will actually be there. They blame a lack of advanced sensor technology. It's curious that such a cash-rich corporation consistently spends such paltry amounts on R&D - they could easily have invented their own superior sensors and technology in the four-year design cycle of their watch. Instead we have a "me-too" device that does nothing that existing solutions don't.

Nevermind though eh? I've got a good feeling about version three!