The Apple Watch has been hailed as a serious threat to Garmin.
If you pay attention to technology news at all, then you’re probably aware that the Apple Watch will be debuting soon. It seems to be all people are talking about, which is basically what I’ve personally come to expect from anything associated with Apple. What surprised me, however, was the number of articles comparing the Apple Watch to Garmin GPS watch products. And, even more startling is the number of analysts that are claiming that Apple will be a threat to Garmin’s product line.
Personally, I find it ludicrous. Don’t get me wrong—the Apple Watch looks really cool, and I’m just as excited about the possibilities of smartwatches as anyone else. But I simply don’t see the Apple Watch, a very high-priced luxury piece of technology which currently doesn’t even HAVE GPS capabilities and requires a cell phone for GPS, pushing out a trusted brand like Garmin. And, apparently, Garmin isn’t too concerned either.
“Garmin continues to diversify across a broad range of active lifestyle products that we believe will drive long term growth,” Carly Hysell, a spokeswoman for Garmin, said in a statement to ABC News.
All of the hullabaloo seems to be stemming from a Citi report that indicated that Garmin would be on its way down, as future Apple Watch models would likely include GPS and would probably be cheaper. However, it doesn’t seem like Apple products really are reduced in price all that much, as iPhones barely lose $100 in value per year. With the cheapest, plastic version of the Apple Watch starting at $350 (compared to some Garmin models running at the $150 range) I have trouble buying that.
What do you think? Do you think people will start to favor the Apple Watch over a dedicated Garmin GPS running watch? Share your thoughts with me in the comments!
