4 ms·

The Corvette/Zonda compare demonstrates the point well. It doesn't account for Apple's target market though. The person that wears an expensive watch on the wri

The Corvette/Zonda compare demonstrates the point well. It doesn't account for Apple's target market though. The person that wears an expensive watch on the wrist, rather than the arm. The person that drives a Bentley convertible, or paints their Lamborghini matt black. These people don't buy a gold Apple Watch because they think it's beautiful. They buy an Apple Watch because they think other people think it's beautiful. They have an inherent need to parade their wealth to others. They're easy to spot, too. Expensive clothes, no sense of style. Usually loud, if not vulgar. Lack of empathy, coupled with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement. They won't buy a Murakami because it appeals to them aesthetically, they'll buy one because their rich friend bought one "for the kid's room". And enough disposable cash to buy an Apple Watch for no other reason than that they can. In Europe they're often called nouveau riche, or even Euro-trash.

stephencanon 12y ago
> The person that paints their Lamborghini matt[e] black. This person buys the Grandmaster Chime, which is truly hideous, expensive, and has no sense of style. I would not wear it if you gave me one. ... or maybe, just maybe, taste is subjective, and old-money aristocrats and their lapdogs don't have a monopoly on it.
- Spearchucker 12y ago
  Taste is very subjective. It's about the manifestation of taste. You might like the feel of a silver plated, rhodium-coated Varius carbon Caran d'Arche. You might love the graceful swirls and curves it can produce. With brown ink from Montblanc. Or you could be the guy that walks into meetings, waits until everyone is settled before opening a leather-bound, monogrammed notebook, pulls that same pen out, put elbows on table and slowly unscrews the cap, before setting the pen down on the notepad, without having written a word. Extrinsic vs. intrinsic.
  - leonroy 12y ago
    Heheh, I love using my fountain pen at meetings with brown ink from Montblanc. Always raises an appreciative glance or two. That said how the heck do you manage the dreaded question 'can I borrow your pen?' ;)
    - Spearchucker 12y ago
      Usually have a ballpoint on me too. Gets awkward when I don't. There must be a socially-acceptable way out of that corner...
TheOtherHobbes 12y ago
Unfortunately I think that's exactly the market Apple aren't aiming for - but will probably get. Watch is a slow-motion PR disaster. It's doing a lot of damage to the Apple brand, because Apple seem to have stopped pretending to make useful, affordable, luxury, and are now trying to make unaffordable, useless, luxury - which is a completely different market, for completely customers, with completely different rules. This would be fine if the product itself had clear Veblen-differentiation. But it doesn't. Watch Edition is just Sport Watch in a blingy case with a nicer strap. That is so not how the luxury market works. High-end luxury is defined by evidence that you can command some other human's skill and work. So, you can't have mass-produced or machine-made high-end luxury, by definition. If it's not hand-made, or hand-marketed, or hand-concierged, or very strictly limited, of fundamentally different and exclusive in a way that proves that someone has had to work hard for you personally to make it, it doesn't tweak those luxury neurons - no matter how much gold it has, or how much it costs.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  > Watch Edition is just Sport Watch in a blingy case with a nicer strap. That is so not how the luxury market works. Have you been to an upscale mall? That perfectly describes Williams-Sonoma, Coach, etc.
  - amyjess 12y ago
    I wouldn't call Williams-Sonoma and Coach the luxury market. At upscale malls, those kind of stores are squarely in the mid-range session, not the part of the mall with the designer boutique shops.
- tptacek 12y ago
  It's a weird perceptual twist that has Apple losing its dominance in affordable consumer electronics.
seanmcdirmid 12y ago
They don't paint their Lamborghini matte black, its most definitely a sticker job for a few thousand dollars, or even less. The tech behind that is actually quite nice.

stephencanon 12y ago

> The person that paints their Lamborghini matt[e] black. This person buys the Grandmaster Chime, which is truly hideous, expensive, and has no sense of style. I would not wear it if you gave me one. ... or maybe, just maybe, taste is subjective, and old-money aristocrats and their lapdogs don't have a monopoly on it.

Spearchucker 12y ago
Taste is very subjective. It's about the manifestation of taste. You might like the feel of a silver plated, rhodium-coated Varius carbon Caran d'Arche. You might love the graceful swirls and curves it can produce. With brown ink from Montblanc. Or you could be the guy that walks into meetings, waits until everyone is settled before opening a leather-bound, monogrammed notebook, pulls that same pen out, put elbows on table and slowly unscrews the cap, before setting the pen down on the notepad, without having written a word. Extrinsic vs. intrinsic.
- leonroy 12y ago
  Heheh, I love using my fountain pen at meetings with brown ink from Montblanc. Always raises an appreciative glance or two. That said how the heck do you manage the dreaded question 'can I borrow your pen?' ;)
  - Spearchucker 12y ago
    Usually have a ballpoint on me too. Gets awkward when I don't. There must be a socially-acceptable way out of that corner...

TheOtherHobbes 12y ago

Unfortunately I think that's exactly the market Apple aren't aiming for - but will probably get. Watch is a slow-motion PR disaster. It's doing a lot of damage to the Apple brand, because Apple seem to have stopped pretending to make useful, affordable, luxury, and are now trying to make unaffordable, useless, luxury - which is a completely different market, for completely customers, with completely different rules. This would be fine if the product itself had clear Veblen-differentiation. But it doesn't. Watch Edition is just Sport Watch in a blingy case with a nicer strap. That is so not how the luxury market works. High-end luxury is defined by evidence that you can command some other human's skill and work. So, you can't have mass-produced or machine-made high-end luxury, by definition. If it's not hand-made, or hand-marketed, or hand-concierged, or very strictly limited, of fundamentally different and exclusive in a way that proves that someone has had to work hard for you personally to make it, it doesn't tweak those luxury neurons - no matter how much gold it has, or how much it costs.

ceejayoz 12y ago
> Watch Edition is just Sport Watch in a blingy case with a nicer strap. That is so not how the luxury market works. Have you been to an upscale mall? That perfectly describes Williams-Sonoma, Coach, etc.
- amyjess 12y ago
  I wouldn't call Williams-Sonoma and Coach the luxury market. At upscale malls, those kind of stores are squarely in the mid-range session, not the part of the mall with the designer boutique shops.
tptacek 12y ago
It's a weird perceptual twist that has Apple losing its dominance in affordable consumer electronics.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

They don't paint their Lamborghini matte black, its most definitely a sticker job for a few thousand dollars, or even less. The tech behind that is actually quite nice.