Best Buy is offering an Apple Watch at $250 off the list price with the purchase of an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus with a two-year contract, lease, or monthly installment plan for Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint.
That means customers can get a $299 Sport 38mm rose gold aluminum-cased Watch (MLCH2LL/A) for $49 or a $349 Sport 42mm Gold aluminum-cased Watch (MLC72LL/A) for $99. The offer is on starting this morning (Sunday). There is a lot of fine print in the offer.
Both Apple and Best Buy hope that this offer will attract more consumers and will be a catalyst in boosting iPhone sales. Recently there were reports that China has banned iPhone 6 sales due to patent related litigation. According to Apple, these reports are not true and Apple still continues to sell iPhone 6 in the Chinese market.
If this strategy works, Apple will be able to sell more iPhone 6 models between now and fall when the iPhone 7 is released to the public. Apple has revamped the inner workings of the Watch software. In the latest watchOS version showcased at the WWDC conference, it was clear that complaints around slower performance of the apps will be a thing of the past. watchOS is atleast 7 times faster than the old operating system and is likely to provide a much better watch experience to Apple Watch owners.
There are also rumors that the next generation of Apple Watch, Watch 2.0. will be available later this year. Rumored to include a faster processor as well as capabilities to work without an iphone, the new Apple Watch models will surely attract more consumers. Samsung has always followed the approach of “Buy this and get this one free” for quite some time now. This was evident in how it positioned its newer Galaxy models with the Gear VR headset. Hopefully, Apple’s strategy of promoting the Watch and the iPhone as a bundled offer will help in its marketing efforts.
Apple has also been successful in its iPhone SE models. Recently there has been a lot of news that the iPhone SE model is doing really well, primarily for the consumers that preferred the smaller iPhones. There is also a lot of interest in this model from both China and India. Hopefully this will provide some cushion to the next quarter earnings before the iPhone 7 refresh cycle kicks in.