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When did the Link Bracelet disappear?
- Thread starter William Gates
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- link bracelet series 2
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This is bad from a marketing perspective. Consider these two scenarios:
1) Apple Watch + Sport Band = $299
2) Apple Watch without band = $250. Buying the sport band separately = $49
Regardless of which scenario Apple picks, consumers will always believe they are overpaying for the Apple Watch (actually, this happens for all products, not just the Apple Watch). At least with the first scenario, they believe that they are only overpaying for one product, since the band is thrown in. With the second scenario, they feel they have to overpay for two products just to have a functioning watch.
This may sound silly since both results in the same overall price but the psychological effect each scenario has on customers is vastly different. When I was researching into the Surface Pro 4 prior to buying one, customers were complaining that the keyboard wasn't bundled into the price as the keyboard was pretty much a "compulsory" add-on compared to the Surface Pen that was bundled. Microsoft should've raised the price and bundled the SP4 with the keyboard instead, something other 2-in-1 manufacturers did.
Anyway, what Apple should do is to allow us to customise the Apple Watch for online orders and paying the difference between the bands, but still offer the sport band as the basic one. This would be exactly the same as the build-to-order option that Apple has for Macs. I'd love to see this happen.
Anyway, appealing to customer psychology to drive sales is also the reason why we see weird marketing stunts from time to time... like this one from McDonalds couple of years ago:
10pc - $6.40
20pc - $6.40
40pc - $11.51
I also have seen very few link bands in public, but at that price point, there would be very few, as that band would have to be a preference that somebody would desire specifically, as Apple markets their cheaper band options more frequently.
Also, the resale value for the link bracelets is abysmal. I have seen new link bracelets in the box sell for $300 or less on eBay. When they first debuted as a separate purchase from Apple, they were going for Above $600.00.
One of the main contributions to the decline in the value of the link bracelet, is third-party manufacturers have made carbon copies of the link bracelets and even some third party manufacturers have made the link bracelet with the removable links. That ultimately degraded the value of the OEM link bracelet when someone can have a replica that appears to be the same, even though I do feel Apple's OEM link bracelet is superior from my comparison.
Or at least Apple should offer the case only option but as an unadvertised thing off to the side.
I'd prefer this as I have almost every band out there already.
In the McD stunt, I doubt McD is even bothering stocking containers for the 10pc, but putting something out there like that may work for McD, but in other places, such a stunt may unintentionally drive the wrong message.
I also wish they'd either sell the AW2 without a strap or at least with a sport strap in a new colour. I have a white sport strap and really don't need another. If AW2 had been available with, say, the concrete sport strap I might well have upgraded.
I was checking out the link bracelet on the website. I wouldn't mind owning it but the price just stops me. I would find that price easier to handle if there was a watch included with an additional cost of course.
The link bracelet is really cool (have black), but the poor knockoffs are driving down it's resale value. Anyway I'm keeping mine to use with Series 3
When these third party link bracelets started arriving on the market around July 2015, it took some time to catch on. Then they started really resembling Apple's OEM bands months later. And now today, these third party manufacturers even make the link bracelets with the actual removable link, which really affected the overall resale value of the OEM link bracelet, being they function in the same manner.
I would like to see Apple reduce the price of the link bracelet. I agree they are nice, but $450.00 is steep and they do not hold value. And this is coming from someone who owns both the stainless and black stainless link bracelets, which are both well made.
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Isn't that like saying luxury Watch brands should reduce the original price of their bracelets because there are good and cheap imitations on the market?
I'm referring to the bracelet itself, not the Watch. The latter will become obsolete but the bracelet will last till Apple no longer supports it.
But yes, the resale value sucks. But I'm not sure if that warrants a price drop from Apple. If they do, then it's great. But I don't think the existence of imitations would induce a price drop from Apple.
Maybe Apple could release more bracelet designs per season. That would allow them to keep their margins while third party manufacturers try to keep up.
I'm referring to the bracelet itself, not the Watch. The latter will become obsolete but the bracelet will last till Apple no longer supports it.
But yes, the resale value sucks. But I'm not sure if that warrants a price drop from Apple. If they do, then it's great. But I don't think the existence of imitations would induce a price drop from Apple.
Maybe Apple could release more bracelet designs per season. That would allow them to keep their margins while third party manufacturers try to keep up.
Exactly. The fashion world is littered with knockoffs, some of which are popular, but that doesn't mean a fashion house needs to reduce its prices to compete with the knockoffs. In many cases, the economy can support both, and there may not actually be much overlap between those looking for either. Also, those buying from the fashion house itself are paying for the costs associated with the design. That's a huge non-manufacturing cost built into fashion merchandise, and most definitely a contributor to Apple's pricing.