Could Apple Watch Bands Be Proprietary?

We’re just a few weeks away from being able to get our hands on Apple Watch, and I’ve been thinking about the possibility that the Bands might be proprietary. I know what you’re thinking: “They are proprietary, man!” Yeah, they don’t use industry-standard lugs and spring bars, but that’s not exactly what I mean. I mean proprietary in a way that wouldn’t allow other band makers to make bands without the need for, say, a special chip. I mean proprietary in the same way that Lightning cables are.

I can already hear you screaming “No way!” But hear me out.

Tim Cook has repeatedly said that Apple Watch is meant to be worn. “It’s not just with you, it’s on you.” What he’s saying is that Apple Watch has a lot to do with style. How it looks is incredibly important. And a huge part of how it looks is dictated by the Bands, perhaps even more so than the Apple Watch case itself.

If you believe that to be true (and I do), then think about what an ugly band might do to Apple Watch. It would diminish its beauty. It would compromise the years spent by Apple’s designers and engineers to make this a product people want to wear. Most importantly, it brings down the revenue — the ASP — of Apple Watch as a whole. If you could just make an adapter and put on any strap, you could effectively turn Apple Watch from something that looks thoughtfully and beautifully complete into something that looks pretty crappy. And that’s not something I think Apple wants.

Of course, I could be totally wrong, but I’ve been asking around and people who attended the Spring Forward event last week told me that Apple wouldn’t let anyone swap Bands or inspect how the attachment mechanism works. Why not? If that’s one of the hallmark features, why wouldn’t Apple let reviewers show how easy it is to swap various Bands? Wouldn’t that be a huge selling point? Aren’t people really interested in that?

Also, what are the things inside the band connector that attach the the watch case? Are they magnets? Are they spring-loaded tabs? Do they just help keep the band in place? Or are they something else? These are all questions we don’t have answers to yet.

Especially when it comes to the biggest question of all: Why? Why would Apple do such a thing? I can think of a couple compelling reasons off the top of my head. First, Apple is a hardware company, and those Bands are hardware. More Bands equal more money, and we know how important Band sales are to this product. Second, this strategy would force anyone looking to make third-party Bands join an MFi-like program where Apple will actually license out the Band connector technology and have the last word on approved band styles. Allowing Apple to take a cut of such non-factory band profits might be the only way Cupertino lets third parties in on this at all.

This isn’t the first time Apple’s done this, by the way. (They are the masters of curation.) It’s not even the first time a watch company has done this. Many Watches out there require you buy their bands if you want to swap. Just look at the Pebble Time. Just look at the Asus ZenWatch. Just look at Marc Newson’s Ikepod watches. Those are so unique and design-oriented that if you want to change the color or style of the band, you specifically have to buy Ikepod bands. Marc Newson also happens to work with Jony Ive at Apple, in case you forgot.

We’re only five weeks away from finding out all this information, but I am not expecting Apple to make third-party band-makers have an easy go of things in the initial wave of Apple Watch brand-building. I foresee the platform being opened up very slowly.

Patience, trendsetter.