Apple downplaying the Apple Watch Edition in both online and retail stores

Apple has quietly revamped the Apple Watch section of its website, rendering the Edition almost invisible unless you specifically go looking for it. In addition, we’re hearing reports that Apple’s most expensive Watch is also being removed from some retail store displays …

Ben Lovejoy, writing in 9to5Mac, on the gradual fading away of the Apple Watch Edition.

I recall all the tech journalists defending the price of the gold Apple Watch, most of which I disagreed with when it was released. And when the Apple Watch was finally released, I wrote:

Here’s what I think will happen. After this first Apple Watch model, the Apple Watch Edition will fade away. We won’t see a version 2 of the gold watch, though we may see other metals in the future.

And:

I think the gold Apple Watch is a very un-Apple product. I think it was approved because Jony Ive wanted it to show off to his millionaire friends, and, perhaps, for some of the other millionaires that run Apple. But that type of product is not in Apple’s DNA (to borrow an expression from Steve Jobs).

It’s interesting to see John Gruber’s comment:

The big tell, as noted by Lovejoy later in the article, is that the Edition didn’t see any new watch bands this week. It was always a bit of a lark, a whimsy the company granted to Jony Ive.

But John also said, discussing Apple Watch pricing last year:

Apple Watch Edition is not a tech product, so don’t try to price it like one.

Apple Watch Edition is a luxury wrist watch. Apple’s ambitions in this arena, I am convinced, are almost boundless. They’re not entering the market against Rolex, Omega, and the rest of the Swiss luxury watch establishment with disruptive prices. They’re entering the market against those companies going head-to-head on pricing, with disruptive (they think) features.

I guess it turns out that the Apple Watch is a tech product, and does need to be priced like one. Aside from some celebrities and uber-rich people, no one really felt that spending $10,000 or more for a watch that would be obsolete in a couple of years was a good idea.

Source: Apple downplaying the Apple Watch Edition in both online and retail stores | 9to5Mac