Apple has a unique way of pulling the plug on its products.
It simply adds them to the company’s obsolete list and moves on, even if the zombie product lives on for a while with the aid of third-party vendors. The “obsolete list” is the kiss of death for an Apple product, meaning the company won’t provide repairs or other service work on the device, nor will it provide software updates.
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So it goes with the first-generation Apple Watch, whose name was recently added to the company’s obsolete product list.
The watch was added to the list on September 30, according to an internal memo first made public by MacRumors.
There’s a specific reason the Series O Apple Watch wound down on that date, as the timetable sequence for a Mac product to leave the scene for good seems to be ubiquitous to Apple (AAPL) -).
By and large, a company product is shelved after seven years since Apple stopped shipments of the product. Apple stopped selling the first-gen “Series O” Apple Watch in September, 2016 as the new Apple Watch Series 2 and 1 models rolled out. Now, according to the calendar’s math, it’s time for the first-generation Apple Watch to go after seven years on its “no sale” list.
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The first-gen Apple Watch does leave an indelible footprint in its short tenure.
The product line-up included the solid-gold Apple Watch which featured an 18-carat gold casing and retailed for $17,000. Initially launched in 2015, the watch was pulled from the Apple Watch lineup for good in 2016 and was replaced by the more mundane yet inexpensive ceramic Apple Watch Edition which retailed for $1,299.
The gold Apple Watch wasn’t a huge seller, accounting for under 100,000 shipments according to media reports. That didn’t stop celebrities like Katy Perry and Beyonce from sporting the chic wrist-ware.
Buyers may have been better off investing the $17,000 paid for the gold Apple Watch into Apple stock.
Shares of Apple stock were trading at about $29 per share in early 2015. $17,000 invested in Apple shares at that time and left untouched until October, 2023 would have yielded a 516% return, or about $87,000, according to data from Marketwatch.
The new Apple Watch 9 series and the Apple Watch Ultra are the new standard bearers for the company’s watch lineup.
Prices for the new Apple Watch 9 series range from $399 to $799, although expect to see discount deals during the Amazon Prime Days on October 10 and 11 and during the holiday season.
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