At
the tail end of Apple’s latest Product-Announcement Filibuster the
other day, Tim Cook said strikingly little about the Apple Watch
Edition, the high-end offering in the company’s forthcoming line of
smartwatches. Then again, he didn’t have to say much. Simply by noting
that prices will “start at $10,000,” he guaranteed an onslaught of free publicity.
And sure enough, voices from the tech media and beyond rose up in a mighty chorus to comment upon, speculate about, and makefun of
the notion of a “luxury” smartwatch. Turns out the most expensive
Edition will go for $17k. Who in the world, everybody essentially
wondered, is going to fork over five figures for these things?
That’s
an understandable question. But it misses the real point of the Apple
Watch Edition. Sure, as a consumer product, the thing is pretty
ridiculous. But as a strategic maneuver on behalf of both Apple’s brand
and its actual business, it’s rather cunning.
A $17,000 smartwatch makes perfect sense — maybe not for you, and certainly not for me, but definitely for Apple.
BENCHMARK: MORE THAN ZERO
For
starters, consider the brazenly vague context Cook offered for the
Edition: it will available in “limited” numbers, and only at “select”
locations. There’s more than a whiff of exclusive “in the know” mystery
in that language. But more important: By suggesting no benchmark
whatsoever for judging the product’s success, he effectively let critics
do so, and they have helpfully set the bar at zero. At this point, any
Edition sales whatsoever will demonstrate that, in point fact, Apple can sell a $10,000 watch.
Which,
of course, it will. As we know, there are people in this world with
entirely too much money. How hard is it to imagine some celebrity or
other one-percenter enthusing about the Edition on a red carpet or a
late-night show? If the only buyers are sort of lame — tacky Russian
billionaires, a few venture capitalist dorks, a Kardashian or two, Bono
— we can be sure that the paparazzi will spot the Apple Watch Edition
“in the wild,” and the resulting images will be duly circulated, freely
advertising Apple’s arrival in the realm of grossly conspicuous
consumption.
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