"watch at $17,000, a little of the glory reflects back on all of the lowlier ones"
Not sure that works for me.
To me a nice basic watch would be a metal cased watch, with a leather strap. Maybe a metal strap for a smidge extra, if that's your thing.
The Apple watch range/pricing seems to have been entirely constructed to make you feel annoyed and spend a bit more.
Seemingly £300 for the basic plastic on plastic one and a mysterious £40 extra to get the slightly larger size. Just seems a bit strange - I remember when I paid more to make tech smaller..
Then there's a £200 jump, if you want a metal case. Metal case isn't crazy-aspirational, it's "non-budget" (my pebble was plastic, was budget and cost me $99)
So we've reached £500 for a metal watch. Not luxury range, but definitely 'being gouged'.
But WAIT! Your £500+ watch still has a 'sport strap' - you want a 'nice' strap.. well now we're starting to look at a near doubling of the price. FOR A STRAP. Now they are lovely lovely straps - but..
Gold ones are just silly though, I'll grant you.
My guess is that a load of people will go in for the £300, talk themselves up to £500 for the metal case, and make a line straight to ebay for 3rd party strap, which I assume are being manufactured right now. They'll feel a bit miffed about the price they paid, but the watch will be lovely.
Every day they strap it onto their wrists they'll feel a bit bad about that strap though.
Worst feeling of regret will come in a couple of years when the new watch model is released. Most of us can talk ourselves into a phone upgrade - but I've never ever (Pebble aside) looked at my wrist and felt it was time for an upgrade.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
