Tomorrow, Apple is going to start winding down sales of the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the US to comply with an import ban that’s been slapped on them because they “borrowed” some patents that are owned by a company called Masimo. You can click here to get the details on that. But this isn’t trivial for Apple. This ban could cost Apple up to $400 million in sales this holiday season. Though I would say that there’s some rush buying going on right now which may blunt that somewhat. In any case, Apple needs to get this sorted quickly because they don’t want to leave that cash on the table. Thus the question is, what can Apple do to get this sorted? I think there are four possibilities that Apple has at their disposal. And I will rank them from most likely to least likely:
- Pay Masimo: This is the most likely outcome. At some point Apple will have to come to the table and work out something where they license Masimo’s tech. Now from what I can tell hasn’t been interested in talking to Masimo. But I suspect that this will change the longer that this goes.
- Hope That President Biden Saves Them: The fact that Apple is about to pull the Apple Watch from sale in the US is clearly a pressure tactic to get the public to push The White House to veto the ban. Now they’ve done this once before for Apple when Apple ran afoul of a bunch of patents owned by Samsung that Apple “borrowed” for the iPhone. But such vetos are rare. And while anything is possible, I don’t expect a veto to happen.
- Find a workaround: The word on the street is that Apple is trying to find a software method to work around the patents that they “borrowed” from Masimo. The thing is, the patents in question are hardware patents. So I question if Apple could pull this off in a way that would keep the legal dogs at bay. Though I will say that anything is possible.
- Pull the feature in the US: If Apple needs to get the Apple Watch back on sale, and any of the previous three options that I have presented aren’t feasible or workable, Apple might have no option but to pull the blood oxygen functionality from the Apple Watch. That would be a desperation move for sure. And honestly, it would not shock me if a class action lawsuit were filed by angry Apple Watch owners in the US who bought the watch with that functionality in mind if Apple did go that route. I really think that they would have to be in a dark place to go down that road.
What do you think? What should Apple do? Are there any options that you could come up with that Apple should explore? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
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This entry was posted on December 20, 2023 at 10:09 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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What Can Apple Do To Get Apple Watches Back On Sale In The US?
Tomorrow, Apple is going to start winding down sales of the Apple Watch 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the US to comply with an import ban that’s been slapped on them because they “borrowed” some patents that are owned by a company called Masimo. You can click here to get the details on that. But this isn’t trivial for Apple. This ban could cost Apple up to $400 million in sales this holiday season. Though I would say that there’s some rush buying going on right now which may blunt that somewhat. In any case, Apple needs to get this sorted quickly because they don’t want to leave that cash on the table. Thus the question is, what can Apple do to get this sorted? I think there are four possibilities that Apple has at their disposal. And I will rank them from most likely to least likely:
What do you think? What should Apple do? Are there any options that you could come up with that Apple should explore? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.
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This entry was posted on December 20, 2023 at 10:09 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.