Does this mean that when iWatch 2 comes out I won't even be able to sell my original iWatch for gold scrap?
(I.e., can this special Apple Gold(TM) be melted and reused like regular gold, or does it just go in a landfill after two years like every other apple product?)
Ceramics typically have a higher melting point than metals. Perhaps you could just heat to gold's melting temp and then separate out the ceramic particles--it should help that they are so much less dense than gold.
Yes, but gold jewelry is supposed to retain some of its value. If the best you can do with a used Apple Watch is send it to Cupertino then it's a much less responsible purchase than a similarly priced Rolex, which can easily be resold.
It's not so much an investment as a way to keep up with changing tastes. It's very common to "trade in" old jewelry for something new -- your jeweler will pull the stones from the old piece, melt it down, and make you something new.
Will this be possible with Apple gold? Maybe, but it sounds like the salvageable quantity from a watch band will be enough to make a ring, not another watch band.
Gold jewelry, atleast in India, is sold by weight, and not volume, with a percentage markup for workmanship. This development doesn't change the value of Gold as an investment.
The iWatch would be lighter as a result of using this new technology. This reduces the value of the Gold it contains, but increases the iWatch's quality as a techology device.
Gold jewelry is sold by weight everywhere. Except by Apple, who will sell their watch for whatever they feel like, knowing that consumers will compare the band's price to that of a visually similar but far more valuable classic gold band.
My old 3GS is still doing good service for my father in law, and my 2006 iMac only packed in last year. My parents are still using my bought-on-release iPad 2 and 4 years after release its running the latest iOS 8. In my experience the useful lifetime of an Apple product is typically about 6-8 years.
You would probably get a better deal selling the watch as a watch itself than melting it down for its raw gold.
Apple has let you bring you old devices in to be recycled in the past however; Maybe they could extend this to buy back old watches? People have envisioned some upgrade program, though I'm doubtful Apple would be too concerned with melting down old watches for their gold.
If the tech is outdated enough that the OS no longer receives updates, then it's value will be similar to that of a first generation iPad.
I'm sure Apple could buy back, clean, and reuse bands from obsolete watches, but they might be the only buyers if iGold is too difficult for a regular jeweler to work with. It will be interesting to see if one of Apple's first moves on entering the jewelry market is to hamstring the independent secondary market.
(I.e., can this special Apple Gold(TM) be melted and reused like regular gold, or does it just go in a landfill after two years like every other apple product?)