New York Times:
What’s the deal with wearables and fashion? Five years on from the watch’s much-ballyhooed introduction, is the relationship over? Has technology found a new object for its affections?
And:
In advance of the watch’s introduction, Apple — which, after all, had been built on some of the principles dear to luxury, including the allure of tactile design, and planned obsolescence — began seducing glossy executives right and left to come work for the company.
Most notably there was Paul Deneve, the chief executive of Yves Saint Laurent; Patrick Pruniaux, of Tag Heuer; and Angela Ahrendts, the chief executive credited with using technology to transform Burberry, who arrived at Apple to run its retail and e-tail operations with a gilded halo still fresh on her head.
Many other examples follow. But:
But then Mr. Deneve left Apple. So did Mr. Pruniaux. And next month, Ms. Ahrendts departs. Intel “exited the end-product wearables area in 2017,” according to a company spokeswoman, and has pivoted to data analysis used to inform retailers and brands, among others.
Interesting. The Times definitely has their finger on something, just not sure it’s Apple capriciously abandoning fashion. Rather, I think Apple explored fashion as a way to help launch the Apple Watch, to add to other efforts to help legitimize the market.
As the market matured, that need has diminished. Apple has learned a lot and has new drivers, most notably health and the success of the ECG technology.
And I do think Apple Watches, and the wide marketplace of fashionable watch bands, shows that the fashion side of Apple Watch has become self sustaining.
“I think Apple explored fashion as a way to help launch the Apple Watch, to add to other efforts to help legitimize the market.”
Bingo… The history of electronic watches, prior to the Apple Watch, as being gimmicky, cheap, nerdy, poor quality, and mocked by many. Even famed comedy sci-fi writer (and Apple fan) Douglas Adams derided digital watches in his books.
The ghost of the Casio Calculator Watch, and all of it’s knockoffs was something that had to be exorcised. On the tech side, Apple was up to it’s usual tricks of coming late to a party but coming strong when they do. On the cultural perception side, there was a lot of work to do.
This is why the Edition existed, and the courting of the fashion press happened. The Apple Watch ended up getting lots of good press, and clearly overcame any negative connotations with those past products.
Today I see Apple Watches on people from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Not a single Edition (either gold or ceramic) in the wild, but I doubt Apple was banking on much in sales of them. They probably had an astronomical enough margin built into them that low sales probably didn’t hurt financially. They probably saw whatever sales they did get as gravy above and beyond the cultural effect of getting the Apple Watch to be considered fashionable.
agree completely. i see silly haters on the forums saying “No more Edition! Apple failed! They had to pivot!” and I’m just like….so dense.