The marketing message for the Ultra is to a specific group of folk who do those things like hiking, extremes sports, etc. This watch isn't really targeted at grandma so hardly selling "fear".
After that I agreed to buy a Spot device which is very expensive, bulky, and the interface (at least 4 years ago) isn't great. But it shows her my location anywhere in the world. The iPhone 14 does the same thing and it's just included.
Which is quite odd. I myself go out for days and sometimes weeks, and one of the main features I look for is battery life and power management.
With a midtier Garmin Fenix I can easily get a week's worth of battery, and if I really need I can extend that up to maybe 20 days or so.
The Apple Watch just doesn't cut it. Can you imagine being out in a freezing mountain and having to charge the watch every day or run the risk of not being able to call up directions or help?
I also rock climb with my Fenix sapphire and except for a few light scratches on the titanium bezel, the watch is pristine despite the many crunchy scrapes and hits on hard rock. I'd love to know how well Apple's compare to that.
I am very curious if those diving watch features will drive enough purchases to cover their dev costs.
Maybe it is a bigger market segment than I think.
$800 for a dive computer that I’d also wear as a daily watch is a steal - I’ve been procrastinating buying a dive computer because the ones that wirelessly integrate with air supply are super expensive $1000+. I don’t see any announcement of wireless air integration for the new watch yet, but I’m hoping Oceanic capitalizes on their partnership with Apple by adding Bluetooth to their transmitter (https://www.oceanicworldwide.com/product/computers/transmitt...)
My partner might get one too after we test mine out. We have 10+ friends who a) already have and enjoy Apple Watch and b) are scuba certified. I don’t think any of them have a Garmin/Suunto type sports watch yet…
Apple is selling to those who aspire to do those tings.