Even At A Lofty Price Point Of Almost $5,000, The Apple Watch Might Be A Steal — Is It?

After much delay, Apple Inc. finally unveiled their much awaited Apple Watch. Undoubtedly, it is one of the best-looking smartwatches, but with industry insiders pegging the price of Apple Watch at a $5,000, is the accessory worth it?

According to French site iGeneration (interpreted by MacRumors via Google Translate), 18K gold encased versions of the upcoming Apple Watch will be priced anywhere between $4,000 and $5,000. If the rumor pans out to be true, the gold variant of the Apple Watch would be the most expensive product Apple will offer. A completely tricked out iMac with Retina 5K display currently costs less than $5,000. Hence, though the Apple Watch can do some pretty neat things – most primarily being the ability to check your mail without taking out the phone it’s tethered to – does the Apple Watch deserve such a lofty price tag?

Surprisingly, Apple has officially confirmed that its watch will start selling at a relatively modest $350. However, it is quite obvious that’s the price point for the entry-level aluminum model, the Apple Watch Sport. Though the entry level edition will have all the similar internals, it won’t have the fancy 18K gold casing that the highest-end Apple Watch will have. Mind you, the watch is actually encased in gold and doesn’t merely have gold-plating that most other watches normally have.

Interestingly, there is a middle variant that’s made of stainless steel. This variant costs just $500. However, pricing of an Apple Watch goes a lot beyond than functionality and perhaps the hefty price tag does justify itself if you consider the target audience.

As reported by Fortune, the market is quite ripe and will continue to grow for luxury products that essentially offer the same or even diminished functionality, but are often found covered in expensive stones and jewels to enhance their glitter value. Apple Watch has already been proposed as a luxury item. Having being showcased at the Paris Fashion Week and after being featured on the cover of Chinese Vogue, there isn’t an iota of doubt that Apple Watch isn’t trying to compete with the likes of Android Wear.

Surprisingly, a little trip down memory lane will reveal an interesting correlation to one of the first commercial products that Apple let loose: the Apple II. The beige computer-in-a-box may not be as attractive or sleek as the Apple Watch and certainly didn’t possess as much processing power as one, adjusted for inflation, it would have cost exactly the same if it was launched today.

[Image Credit | Apple]