4 ms·

I'm talking about the LTE watches. They will not let them become untethered from the iPhone, which contradicts the marketing that convincing you the LTE watches

I'm talking about the LTE watches. They will not let them become untethered from the iPhone, which contradicts the marketing that convincing you the LTE watches are not reliant on the iPhone. Technically they are not, but you cannot use LTE on them without having a contract tied to the iPhone.

dangus 2y ago
And that is shooting themselves in the foot how? Apple would much rather sell you both an iPhone and a watch. Untethering them from each other destroys that upsell. I don’t think Apple ever claimed in “the marketing” that you didn’t need an iPhone to use your watch. Just that you can leave it at home if you’re going out for a run or something like that. Whether you and I think that’s consumer-friendly is a completely different story. I certainly don’t think it is. But it’s been an extremely good business model for Apple.
- surfingdino 2y ago
  Cutting off VMOs like GiffGaff with its 4M customers is leaving money on the table https://www.cityam.com/giffgaff-hungry-for-more-as-it-looks-to-extend-portfolio-and-review-prices/ https://www.cityam.com/giffgaff-hungry-for-more-as-it-looks-... Also, they could allow Apple Watch to be activated/paired with/managed from LTE iPads.
  - dangus 2y ago
    I think, for one thing, Apple makes essentially zero dollars from these cellular activations on Apple Watches. But also, think about the kind of customer who believes their cellular bill costs too much and goes with an MVNO instead to save money. For that kind of customer there is no price that will make a smart watch cellular activation worth the money. I think all the hardware companies know that smartwatch cellular plans are somewhat of a niche product that isn’t really a “killer app” for the smartwatch experience. Almost nobody is willing to leave their phone at home and I think the futuristic idea that the smartwatch could replace the phone is dying or dead. The whole industry seems to know it. Hell, Google gives smartwatch data away for free on their MVNO and that’s because they want to make money selling Pixel Watch hardware. They know that they won’t get anyone to pay $5 or $10 a month for smartwatch connectivity because, why bother, my phone is right there. Apple really doesn’t really give a hoot about 4 million lower spend GiffGaff customers who use MVNOs instead of big carriers. Someone who is too frugal to spend on a big name carrier plan probably doesn’t want to spend $400+ on a cellular Apple Watch in the first place, they’re going tog get the Apple Watch SE or maybe something WearOS in the $200 range. It’s important to remember that in capitalism, not all customers have the same value. Apple traditionally hasn’t fought hard for the bottom 50% customers who simply have less disposable money to give to them.

dangus 2y ago

And that is shooting themselves in the foot how? Apple would much rather sell you both an iPhone and a watch. Untethering them from each other destroys that upsell. I don’t think Apple ever claimed in “the marketing” that you didn’t need an iPhone to use your watch. Just that you can leave it at home if you’re going out for a run or something like that. Whether you and I think that’s consumer-friendly is a completely different story. I certainly don’t think it is. But it’s been an extremely good business model for Apple.

surfingdino 2y ago
Cutting off VMOs like GiffGaff with its 4M customers is leaving money on the table https://www.cityam.com/giffgaff-hungry-for-more-as-it-looks-to-extend-portfolio-and-review-prices/ https://www.cityam.com/giffgaff-hungry-for-more-as-it-looks-... Also, they could allow Apple Watch to be activated/paired with/managed from LTE iPads.
- dangus 2y ago
  I think, for one thing, Apple makes essentially zero dollars from these cellular activations on Apple Watches. But also, think about the kind of customer who believes their cellular bill costs too much and goes with an MVNO instead to save money. For that kind of customer there is no price that will make a smart watch cellular activation worth the money. I think all the hardware companies know that smartwatch cellular plans are somewhat of a niche product that isn’t really a “killer app” for the smartwatch experience. Almost nobody is willing to leave their phone at home and I think the futuristic idea that the smartwatch could replace the phone is dying or dead. The whole industry seems to know it. Hell, Google gives smartwatch data away for free on their MVNO and that’s because they want to make money selling Pixel Watch hardware. They know that they won’t get anyone to pay $5 or $10 a month for smartwatch connectivity because, why bother, my phone is right there. Apple really doesn’t really give a hoot about 4 million lower spend GiffGaff customers who use MVNOs instead of big carriers. Someone who is too frugal to spend on a big name carrier plan probably doesn’t want to spend $400+ on a cellular Apple Watch in the first place, they’re going tog get the Apple Watch SE or maybe something WearOS in the $200 range. It’s important to remember that in capitalism, not all customers have the same value. Apple traditionally hasn’t fought hard for the bottom 50% customers who simply have less disposable money to give to them.