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Smart Watch for Generation X

M

MarcGreenberg

Guest
I had an interesting discussion with one of my neighbors who really, really wanted me to get a smart watch.

My neighbor's name is Mike and he works in telesales for one of the really large electronics manufacturers. Mike is somewhat younger than I am. I am solidly Generation X; I called Mike a Millennial, which he rejected, and we settled on Generation Y for him.

Mike started showing me his smart watch and saying how much he loves it and that I should get one. My first response was, "I wore a watch for 30 years. I have a really nice one that my Wife gave me. Then a couple of years ago I stopped wearing a watch because nobody younger than me was wearing one and my watch was making me look old. You millennials can't make me wear a watch again so soon!"

Mike was slightly puzzled, but he went on, telling me how convenient it is not to have to take his phone out of his pocket 50 times a day. I flipped up my shirt and pulled my phone from my cellphone holster. I know there isn't a Gen-Y alive who uses a cellphone holster, but for the most part, mine is covered by my shirt, so I don't mind. Advantage me.

Then Mike said, "but you can read all your texts and emails on it". "Sorry", I said, "my arms aren't long enough. When you hit 40 you will understand."

"No problem," said Mike, "Watch this: 'Hey <name assistant="" digital="" of="">, text Dave with, 'What's up Buddy?''".

I laughed, "I am never going to do that."

Mike was still trying. "Bluetooth to your car?" Sorry, my Jaguar's too old for that. "Bluetooth to your Wife's car?" Nope; 'Outlaw Country' station on the satellite radio.

Mike did a great job, but he finally gave up. The best attempt to get me hooked on a smart watch failed. However, I will take one of those 6th generation phones with the larger screen!</name>
 
Marc,

Yes, marketers have a tough job ahead in selling us on the concept of a smart watch because it really seems like a "nice to have" experience, instead of a must have requirement.

We're all waiting for Apple to provide us some numbers on how many Apple Watches have been sold, and of which variety. My guess is that the vast majority of Apple Watch users bought the entry-level "Sport model", and that maybe a handful of millionaires bought the $17,000 gold-plated watch to impress their friends at the Yacht club.

My first digital watch experience was in 1975 when I bought an LED watch that had a default, blank screen. To tell time you had to push the button. Unfortunately it didn't survive the January temperatures of Minnesota, so I returned it for a full refund and have never again worn a battery-operated watch. I gave up on any watch maybe 13 years ago.
 
Oh man, I wanted the watch they advertised in Omni magazine, with the solar cell on top and the LED digits on the side and the push button to make the LED light up.

I've always thought it amazing how egalitarian the smart phone pricing structure is.

If you look at any other product that is a fashion statement and somewhat discretionary - cars, houses, boats, clothes, wine, whisky, jewelry, etc., you can go from relatively inexpensive to amazingly expensive as you add features and quality. There's often diminishing returns as you spend money beyond what is considered "normal", nonetheless, there's almost always the next better thing that you can't quite afford in any one of these categories.

Not so with the Smart Phone. Basically, $1000 or so represents the top of the market; you can't get anything better than that (jeweled cases not withstanding). You can go to almost any high school in US, Canada, most of Europe, etc., and find a significant proportion of students carrying the highest-end phones available. Not so with 6-figure cars, multi-million dollar houses, boats, expensive jewelry, etc.

Watches have always been one of those things that you could spend $10, $100, $1000, $10,000 or more on... now the electronics industry is figuring out how to cash in on the desire that other industries have known for years if not centuries...
 
Marc,

I agree with you on the status symbol of the smart watch. My favorite economist was Thorstein Veblen, because he coined the phrase, "conspicuous consumption" to describe consumer behavior and fashion statements.

More obnoxious than conspicuous consumption is "invidious consumption", used to provoke envy from other people.
 
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