I think they're going to get killed on the luxury end. People buy Rolex and Hermes and Vuitton to get exquisitely made and differentiated items that act as status markers. The prices are out of all proportion to the utility of the items, and everyone knows the margins in those prices are enormous, but there is at least some story of manufacture and design behind that price.<p>Apple's "story" for a $17,000 watch is, that's how we priced it. It's an arbitrary decision without any plausible claim behind it. Any one buying one of these things is marked, not as a person of taste and means, but a sucker.<p>Apple, of course, claims industry-leading margins on its products because of its brand, and that brand is founded in part on design and appearance. But it's more of a "style" brand than "luxury" -- the items aren't expensive beyond the reach of most people. They can mark an owner's taste, but not, past a certain point, their means.<p>My fear is that Apple is allowing this luxury approach to taint its whole approach to the watch. Watches are definitely different than other technology, because they're constantly on display, and so many people insist the appearance of the watch fit their overall look. That does require a variety of looks and bands and such. But Apple has decided to position the watch as other watches are positioned -- either high-end luxury items, or more accessible but fashionable brands.<p>It's a missed opportunity to re-invent the branding and positioning of watches. What if Apple had instead recognized the need for options for the appearance for the watch, but had instead priced them simply on the basis of manufacture and development? The message could have been that next step for technology is to admit enough variety of appearance to blend in with a user's preferred look, without sacrificing the convenience and enablement and cost advantages of technology in the first place. "A watch for the rest of us" could have been a device that left the luxury people behind, stuck with a tradition that did less for them than that of the wider population.<p>Better still, such an approach could have been a big step against the idea of technology as commoditizing and homogenizing. It would have been an opportunity to look at technology, not as simply utilitarian, but a real opportunity for the expression of personality.<p>Apple would have been far better off, and far more revolutionary, to quietly say that marking status with contrived pricing for outmoded technology is just silly. Better to mark one's self with one's choices, within ranges available to many, and achieve status by the quality of those choices. They might have created a brand that in ten years made Rolex look ridiculous, and opened some really new approaches to thinking about how technology can interact with fashion.