The annual Apple excitement has got all the media outlets and bloggers talking. Although it is extremely overpriced, the Apple iPhone is certainly the best smartphone on the market. Apple introduced its newest iteration of iPhone. However, customers are no longer interested in thinner, better cameras, and a few more minutes of battery life as a justification to spend 100,000 JPY ($1000 USD) on a new device. Unless Apple tries to sneak in some bloatware to make the battery lives shorter or phones slower, most people are happy with their existing smartphone. Whether it’s an iPhone 6S (the last good one with an audio jack) 7, 8, or iPhone X (10), people are running out of reasons to purchase a new iPhone. Enter the Apple Watch..
We’ve talked about the Apple Watch before (Is The Apple Watch Worth It?) Our team has used the first device, and skipped a couple versions until the Series 4. Now we have a Series 5. Since most the professional world are already using iPhones and suffering from iPhone buying burn-out, the Apple Watch (AW) gives people something else to look at.
For the true athlete, the AW has been a bit lacking. Why? You can buy a Garmin, Fitbit or other watch that has more exercise centric design. We’re Garmin fans (article here) due to it’s always on face, and long battery life.
With the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple substantially refined the watch.
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- More than a day of battery life
- 40 and 44MM displays
- More intuitive on detecting- workouts, falls, runs, etc..
The new AW Series 5 really doesn’t have much to offer in addition to those features. Yes, 16GB onboard becomes 32GB of space for songs and apps , a built in compass, new cases in titanium and ceramic (again) and Apple say they’ve slightly changed its display, its drivers, and related hardware. The design is the same as the Series 4. What is the biggest sales point of the AW Series 5 (AW5)? Apple seems to have made it, the always on display or AOD. You can see more details here but will the AOD sell more Apple Watches for Apple this year? AOD is certainly something you could add to the AW4 will a software upgrade. So, the big question, will the Apple Watch sell?
The answer to the question is YES! Why? The Apple Watch has eclipsed the iPhone (although you need one to use the watch). There are three reasons
- People aren’t really interested in the iPhone as much. It’s become a necessity but not sometime to buy every year.
- The always on display (AOD) gives Apple something that can compete better with Garmin, Suunto, Fitbit, Polar, or Withings. The Apple Watch finally becomes useful as a watch!
- Apple gives an entry level option by offering the AW Series 3 at around 30,000 yen or ($299) to bring new users into the ecosystem.
There will be AW4 owners that buy the AW series 5 just to get the always on display (AOD). How will sales go for the Apple Watch? Time will tell, but we expect people will continue to buy up the product Apple says AW has sold more than Rolex, but most of us would rather have a Rolex. Why? The AW will never increase in price, like a Rolex, because in the end it’s a device that will be replaced next year by a newer model. However, like it’s overpriced iPhones, computers, and tablets, Apple may have an increasingly harder time keeping people in their system.
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