Bong bracelet price cut reflects the "alchemy" of wearable devices

Since the price of Xiaomi Mi Band was announced at 79 yuan, who are the most panicked? Those uncompetitive smart bracelet manufacturers. The price of Xiaomi Mi Band at 79 yuan is like a landmine that exploded into the originally calm smart hardware market.

Frothy Pricing in the Wearables Market

Two days after the release of Xiaomi Mi Band, the second generation of Bong Smart Band was also released. Under pressure from Xiaomi Mi Band, it was priced at 99 yuan! This made users who had spent 690 yuan to buy the first generation of Bong Smart Band feel fooled! They cursed, "Gu Dayu, you can't use active points to buy the second generation. Is there any compensation for us who just bought the first generation at 690? You immediately priced it at 99 as soon as Xiaomi came out. You are so hurtful. What can you do by giving us a second generation product? Just for 99 yuan, my heart is broken." "Bong has successfully proved how high the price of its products is. The two generations of products were launched too close to each other and the price gap is so big. I don't know how those users who bought the first generation feel now..."

In fact, the biggest significance of the 79 yuan price of the Xiaomi bracelet is that it has punctured the bubble of the high pricing logic in the wearable market. The 79 yuan Xiaomi bracelet can also have most of the functions of smart bracelets on the market, and due to the construction and layout of the Xiaomi ecosystem, the Xiaomi bracelet can be more sticky to users in terms of functions than those other smart bracelets.

Before the Xiaomi bracelet was priced at 79 yuan, the price of wearable devices ranged from thousands of yuan to more than 500 yuan, which was really not acceptable to ordinary users.

Why are wearable devices priced so high?

Is it because of the high R&D cost? The expensive material? Or the inability to reduce the technology cost? Haha, I think these are not the reasons why smart hardware manufacturers uniformly price their products so high. In the end, I still think that wearable devices are a "gold mine". Everyone knows that wearable devices are the next wave after mobile Internet. Not only the media promotes it this way, but also Google and Apple do the same.

From the beginning, consumers are willing to spend thousands of yuan on "smart hardware" to satisfy their "niche needs". They must be able to show off to their friends in terms of appearance and function, saying, "I got this product before you did." The price must not be cheap, otherwise it will not satisfy a person's instinct to show off. "This kind of showing off is the same as buying luxury goods. Luxury goods consume their brand premium, while wearable devices consume their technology premium. You can clearly introduce to your friends what this product can help you do."

Therefore, the high pricing of wearable devices is actually a game played by consumers and merchants together. Merchants are willing to set high prices, and there will always be some "early adopters" who like to buy them. At this time, the merchants' calculation is to sell one for one, and the high profits are really comparable to alchemy, which makes people ecstatic.

It has only been more than half a year since the release of the Bong smart bracelet, but the price has dropped from 690 yuan to 99 yuan in July this year. You can imagine how big the profit difference is! And even if the price is reduced to 99 yuan, will the merchants not be able to make money? Nonsense! If the Xiaomi bracelet was not priced at 79 yuan this time, I believe that the second generation of the Bong smart bracelet would definitely be priced at the same price as the first generation, because it is too easy to make money standing like this, and it is too unchallenging.

Cheap and expensive wearables market

The price of 79 yuan for the Xiaomi bracelet poses a question to all Chinese smart hardware entrepreneurs! That is, "When Xiaomi enters your market, relying on copying mature products on the market and selling them to consumers at a cheap price, what right do you have to compete with me?"

Smart hardware entrepreneurs can either lower the prices of their products like Xiaomi, or do the same as Bong, so that more consumers can buy them and gain more profits through volume.

Or, just like Jawbone UP, Pebble, and Misfit Shine, you can stand up straight, make good products, be innovative, create exquisite product appearance, and tell your consumers why my product is worth so much money?

Whether wearable devices can enter people's daily lives depends on price factors, but the biggest factor is to prove to people that this is a "market cake" that exists and to tell people that it is necessary to wear wearable devices every day. This kind of innovation driving force is obviously not something that Xiaomi and a group of domestic smart hardware entrepreneurs can do.

Google and Apple, standing at the top of the pyramid, still hold absolute power, and Android Wear and HealthKit continue the battle of mobile phone operating systems. In the era of "technological dividends", Google and Apple are probably unwilling to sell their products at low prices. In the words of Luo Yihang, "the early formation and establishment of any consumer culture is not based on "low prices". Low prices cannot trigger the popularity of consumer culture and trends. "Low prices" are the result of popularity, not the beginning of the trend."

When it comes to wearable devices, Xiaomi and some domestic smart hardware entrepreneurs may continue to take the cheap route because ordinary consumers are more likely to accept them.

Google and its partners, as well as Apple, will continue to stick to the high-priced boutique route. They set the standard for the entire wearable device market. What kind of wearable device is an excellent product? For example, Moto 360! For example, the upcoming iWatch!

Will wearable devices be a gold mine? I think they are! And they will be for some time to come! With giants like Apple and Google educating consumers, it depends on which route you, as a smart hardware entrepreneur, will expand.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.