A collector has bought an assortment of early prototype Apple Watches, dating from before the device went on sale in 2015, and plans to sell them once fully repaired.
Just as with every hardware manufacturer, all of Apple's products go through prototyping, and some such prototypes show fascinating choices that were ultimately abandoned. Now a series of approximately six prototype Apple Watches have been displayed by a collector.
This is a thread on what we know about Apple's prototyping and development process of manufactured products.
— Giulio Zompetti (@1nsane_dev) January 15, 2020
1/ All info here could be incomplete/wrong/outdated. I may (or may not) update this thread in future if I have enough things to share #AppleInternal #AppleCollection pic.twitter.com/G5Pk1v9rT4
While collector and developer Giulio Zompetti, from Italy, will not reveal where he acquired the prototypes, this is not another case of an Apple engineer leaving them behind. Rather, they all come from an unspecified e-waste facility, and all of them are broken.
However, according to Motherboard, Zompetti says that each can be repaired. At present, none are even starting up enough to show any differences in the software, but they do contain sufficient markings to prove that they are prototypes — and sufficient differences to the shipping model to make them interesting.
Zompetti has used his discovery and examination of these Apple Watches as part of a Twitter thread in which he discusses Apple's regular prototyping process.
Pre-production #AppleWatch #prototypes at PreEVT stage.
— Giulio Zompetti (@1nsane_dev) April 2, 2020
This particular design didn't make it to the mass production.#AppleInternal pic.twitter.com/Nb4LrDL649
Zompetti told Motherboard that enough key components in the prototypes are intact that he believes he can repair them. However, while he does then plan to sell them, he has yet to state a price. "This stuff doesn't have an estimated value," he said.
8 Comments
I find it hard to believe that Apple lets these end up at an "e-waste facility" in any condition remotely resembling a watch.
Unlikely that Apple takes products developed in their secret rooms and drop them in public e-waste. Even if they did it is unlikely someone would find these buried in mountains of other ewaste.
I have a collection of Apple Watches, one from 1999, one from 2010 and one from 2016.
Strictly speaking, the first two belong to my wife and the third is mine. The first was a birthday present. It is of course an analogue watch, and was only ever on sale in Japan, available in 5 colours to match the iMac G3. Next was an iPod Nano 6G Product RED with matching red wristband, purchased from the Cupertino Apple Store. My own is a Nike Run version.
All three still work .....
Apple is gonna find out who the e-waste company is and sue them. It's just plain illegal.
Remember when the uninformed thought Apple Watch was created to copy Samsung Gear crap? They're so different. Funny to remember this in retrospect and funny to see Sammy get it so wrong going off Apple patents.