Apple Watch launch signals firm’s transformation into luxury goods brand
Priced at around £8,000 and made with especially light, strong and scratch-resistant 18ct gold, this is the luxury Apple watch tipped as the next must-have gadget for wealthy buyers.
As well as keeping "incredibly accurate" time, the digital watch will allow wearers with iPhones to send and receive telephone calls, text messages and emails.
It will also act like a credit card, enabling customers to wave their arms over a "contactless" shop card machines to pay for a coffee or newspaper, and monitor heart rates and activity to provide personal training tips.
The exact price of the Apple Watch Edition will be disclosed on Monday 9 March at a conference in San Francisco.
Apple will make the announcement as it lays out the final details of where and when its first smartwatch will go on sale, after years of speculation.
Initially the number luxury "Edition" models available worldwide will be limited, it is understood.
Most of the six million watches Apple hopes to sell in the gadget's few months on the shelves will be the "Sport" version, which is expected cost nearer £300 in Britain. By the summer, however, the company is reportedly expecting to sell a million of the gold Edition models each month.
Apple believes its watches will mean that people typically keep their mobile phones in their pockets for most of the day. All versions, including the mid-range Apple Watch, will have the same touch-screen-operated technological.
The Apple Watch Edition in rose gold
As well as fashion and gadget aficionados, the heath conscious will be targeted in advertisements, which will stress benefits such as a map application that can direct runners through their chosen route by a series of gentle vibrations.
Apple also hired former Yves Saint Laurent chief Paul Deneve as president of special projects and Nike’s former head of social media, Musa Tariq, as its digital marketing director.
Further emphasising Apple’s interdependence on fashion branding, the watch launch in Cupertino, California will be staged, as it was in September, by Gainsbury & Whiting, the London-based design firm behind the Alexander McQueen show Savage Beauty at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Within the industry, technology’s growing relationship with fashion is seen as key to the acceptance of the new wearables. By some estimates, wearable technology could be worth $30bn (£20bn) in sales by 2018. Last year, Google teamed up with the inventor of the wrap dress, Diane von Furstenberg and fashion website Net-a-Porter for the launch of Google Glass. Chip maker Intel has launched several fashion-orientated initiatives.
“Wearable technology products have to become objects of desire,” says Steve Holmes, vice-president of Intel’s new devices group.
All this also means that China remains key to Apple’s strategy. The country is forecast to account for as much as half of global luxury goods sales by 2025. Apple’s staggering $18bn profit on $75bn of revenue reported in January came on the back of a 70% increase in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan compared with the same period a year ago. More than a fifth of its worldwide revenues – $16.1bn – came from that region alone, making Apple the top selling smartphone maker in China.
Credit for Apple’s growth in Asia is given to Ahrendts, who placed growth in China – where Apple is subject to widespread black-market trade – one of her top three priorities. With a mandate to improve Apple’s shopping experience, Ahrendts is rumoured to have hired Sir Norman Foster to redesign the firm’s stores.
Apple’s reach into fashion with the Watch, its first new tech category since Steve Jobs’s death, is no longer being dismissed as a novelty by traditional rivals. Experts predict that the Apple Watch will affect only the high end of the fashion-watch business, not the high-end luxury watch market. Still, there’s no doubt the traditional industry is watching closely. With retailers expecting first-year sales of 20m Apple Watches, Tag Heuer and Swatch Group – which owns Breguet, Blancpain and Omega – are looking to introduce their own smartwatches. Fearing the iWatch trademark Apple was registering was too close to the iSwatch name of its digital-display model, the Swiss group has taken steps against Apple in countries where Apple had registered the name.
While Apple looks for an edge by focusing on classic design and style, other tech manufacturers will doubtless follow. How far Apple is prepared go in repositioning itself as a luxury technology brand will be on view in San Francisco and on live stream across the world. Clive Grinyer, a friend and former colleague of Ive’s, told the New Yorker: “He’s always been a bit bling ... Jon’s always wanted to do luxury.”
The internet was awash with rumour over the weekend, including a suggestion that watch apps will shut down automatically after a short time to conserve battery life.
The more expensive Edition model generated the most speculation.
Price predictions ranged from $3,000 to $20,000, with many bloggers settling at $10,000. Based on analysis of previous Apple product prices by technology experts, the price in Britain would translate to around £8,000.
From left to right: Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch and Apple Edition
Anthony Wing Kosner, a designer and developer who writes for American business magazine Forbes, said: "When Tim Cook [the Apple chief executive] hits the stage to reveal availability and pricing information about Apple Watch, the biggest question he will answer will be about the price of the high-end Edition line.
"Rumours have pegged that price to range between $5,000 and $20,000. Not a lot, perhaps, compared to a gold Rolex.
"But a 20-year-old Rolex will still tell the time. Who knows how functional the first Watch will be in five years?"
Apple is understood already to be working on its next iteration of the watch, although the development work is secretive. In an interview with The Telegraph last week Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive, said the watch would eventually replace car keys and hotel room entry cards.
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