Gruber spiega perché — secondo le sue stime — il prezzo dei modelli della collezione Edition sarà attorno ai $10,000 (in partenza!):
Apple Watch Edition is a luxury wrist watch. Apple’s ambitions in this arena, I am convinced, are almost boundless. They’re not entering the market against Rolex, Omega, and the rest of the Swiss luxury watch establishment with disruptive prices. They’re entering the market against those companies going head-to-head on pricing, with disruptive (they think) features.
Again I point you to someone from the watch world, Grail Watch’s Stephen Foskett, who points out that gold watches typically cost $10-15,000 more than the same watch in stainless steel — and tens of thousands more if they come with a gold bracelet. Even if I’m wrong about Apple having gold Link Bracelets lying in wait as an April surprise, I don’t think a $10,000 starting price for Apple Watch Edition is even a step out of line for the watch industry.
Apple vuole posizionare l’Apple Watch a fianco di altre alternative di lusso, presentandolo come un prodotto dell’industria della moda[1. Sarà interessante vedere come risolveranno il problema dell’obsolescenza, ancora aperto]. A tal proposito, rimando a un altro pezzo su quello che “il mondo dell’informatica” non capisce del fashion:
The tech world is infatuated with fashion. This is because fashion has something tech seriously wants: the ability to create and sustain demand for products that are—let’s face it—kind of useless. […]
Selling function isn’t something the fashion industry typically does. It sells a story, an identity, a new look. Why should you throw out all your skinny jeans and invest in flares? Because the powers that be have decided that a flared silhouette is important right now and suddenly skinny jeans just don’t feel quite right. They look dated. You don’t look very cool in them. You buy the flares.
(A margine: personalmente, non sono per nulla entusiasta che Apple faccia un orologio da $10,000.)