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Apple Announces Event On September 7: iPhone 7, Apple Watch 2 Expected
New iPhones are coming, Apple hinted today. The Cupertino-based giant announced on Monday that it will host an event on September 7. The rumor mill suggests that the company would announce as many as three iPhones -- the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and the iPhone 6 SE. Recent reports suggest that Apple may also announce the second-generation of Apple Watch. No new iPads are expected. The company is widely rumored to refresh its Mac lineup -- though they are likely to be launched at a later point. The biggest talk point around the iPhone 7 has been the headphone jack -- or its lack thereof.
The thing is, jewelry usually is durable.
It's nice and shiny and expensive today, and it's supposed to continue being nice and shiny and expensive in the future.
(Unlike fashion where, after a couple of months, the clothes are just good to be thrown away and you certainly wouldn't like to risk be seen with things on you which are "so last season" !)
Whereas, with the current hardware in smartwatch (similar to circa when Apple introduced the world to a smartphone that can only handle charge for a couple of hours and needs to be constantly docked), current smartwatch will be completely worthless in a couple of months.
You still need to wait a couple of years until Apple's smartwatch are at the point where their current phones are (sure there's going to be an even better out eventually, but for most people, their current device works for everything they need most of the time, so why bother changing ?)
- That explain why Apple (and other smartphone manufacturers) has jumped so soon on the smartwatch bandwagon. It's not only to have a piece of the Pebble's cake, it's also that they finally have a new product that they can again force their sheep-customers to rebuy every year.
- That means that Apple can't yet partner with jewelry makers. Their customer want long-term value storage. Something that they can buy now and that will still hold value a couple of years later. Whereas a potential Apple Jewel would cost a lot today, but in a few years down the line it would be just an expensive platic/metal trinket attached to a somewhat valuable bracelet.
(And that's not only my opinion. That is the actual market analysis of a couple of swiss luxury watches makers who have looked into it)
The only way a jewelry smartwatch could be popular now, is if the jewelry make sold the bracelet as the primary product, with the possibility to upgrade the electronic timepiece as model generations come and go.
That might be possible with a manufacturer like pebble where the form-factor seems more or less stable.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The BOM for an iPhone 6 is around $242 and that doesn't take into account the costs for developing and maintaining the software, tooling, R&D, packaging and the 101 other things that go into building and launching a phone. All of which need to be amortised over the lifetime of the phone - as developing, testing and then deploying an update to a bunch of 2+ old phones isn't free.
(although many Android manufacturers have found that it can be free if they simply don't bother with pesky updates)
The only way it would be "more like $100" is if you pulled that figure out of your butt.
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