LVMH's Upcoming Smart Watch To Contend with Apple - Men's Folio
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LVMH's Upcoming Smart Watch To Contend with Apple

  • By Men's Folio

American multitechnology company, Apple has a veritable Midas’ touch when it comes to being the front runner in mass market technological innovations. The fruits of Apple’s labour seems to unfailingly send consumers into a tizzy with each newer, sleeker release bearing the trademark “i” before its name, and the innocuous apple logo.

Take the Apple Watch, officially released in April this year. Despite numerous smart watches being in the market prior to the Apple Watch’s genesis, the excitement that ensued made it appear as though the Watch was the prime mover of the new technology. Available in three models, the prices range from SG$518 to SG$18,000. 

In spite of the hype, initial sales estimations for the Apple Watch revealed abysmal results, given that the majority of buyers opted to purchase the lower priced Apple Watch Sport as well as product part shortages.

Recently, French luxury goods maker LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton announced that the group will be debuting a smart watch that is set to rival the Apple Watch. Jean-Claude Biver, President of LVMH’s Watch Divison said that a new client base is to be established with the upcoming smart watch line.

Currently the owners of TAG Heuer, Zenith and Hublot, LVMH is also determined to commandeer the winning market share through various approaches, including lowering the upmarket prices of TAG Heuer watches, from €6,500 to between €1,500 and €4,500. 

The Watch Division’s increased brand efforts seem timely, given the Apple Watch’s current poor sales performance, though the American manufacturer denied any intention of competing in the luxury watch market with LVMH. Skeptics are also doubtful as to whether the LVMH smart watch would provide any revolutionary innovations. So far, the most concrete detail about the watch is its €1,400 price tag. 

Whether LVMH’s lofty targets will prove successful or otherwise, only time will tell.