Gold Apple Watch to Cost $5,000, Stainless Steel Apple Watch to Cost $500
The Apple Watch was unveiled in early September, with details on its features, variations, as well as a release date of early 2015. Apple CEO Tim Cook had mentioned that the upcoming watch would start selling at around $349 but proceeded no further than that.
The upcoming smartwatch is to have several variations, including an 18k gold and 18k rose gold version. While there are reports that the stainless steel model will cost $500, the gold versions will be priced at around $5,000. Additionally, there are rumors that Apple will be launching the watch during Valentine's Day.
Earlier this week Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president of retail and online stores elaborated on the watch's launch date.
"We're going into the holidays, we'll go into Chinese New Year, and then we've got a new watch launch coming in the spring," she said.
It is still uncertain on whether the Apple Watch will make it on Valentine's Day, but it's safest to assume that the device will be coming in Spring of 2015 as Ahrendts suggests.
While a $5,000 smartwatch might sound insane for wearable gadget, others might see the price tag as a bargain compared to full 18k-gold luxury watches. Currently, full gold luxury watches go for as much as $10,000 to $30,000. $5,000 sounds like a rip-off but considering that the Apple Watch uses less gold than the luxury watches, it's understandable.
Also, there's the fact that Apple doesn't control the price of gold, and by all standards 18k-gold is expensive. Right now, one ounce of 18k gold is worth about $858.
It will be difficult for Apple to sell the gold variants of its Apple Watch considering that the device will probably be obsolete in a year or two, if it follows current tech trends. Apple will have to answer the question of why people would want to buy a $5,000 gold smartwatch whose value will depriciate within the next year or two.
