by Dan Moren
Apple halting sales of Series 9 Apple Watch, Apple Ultra Watch 2
Chance Miller at 9to5Mac writes:
In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple has announced that it will soon halt sales of its flagship Apple Watch models in the United States.
The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 will no longer be available to purchase from Apple starting later this week.
The move comes following an ITC ruling as part of a long-running patent dispute between Apple and medical technology company Masimo around the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor technology.The Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9 will no longer be available to order from Apple’s website in the U.S. after 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 21. In-store inventory will no longer be available from Apple retail locations after December 24.
These kinds of patent disputes aren’t uncommon, but to get to the point that products are about to be pulled from shelves is surprising—usually they get nipped in the bud before then.
That said, it’s important to note that President Biden can override this order within a 60-day window that expires on December 25; after that point, Apple can appeal the decision. As Miller notes, this ban also won’t immediately apply to third-party resellers like Amazon, who have already purchased inventory from Apple, though if it does go into effect, those stores will presumably be depleted.
Doing this right at the culmination of the shopping season is kind of fascinating—on the one hand, it feels a bit as if Apple is playing chicken with the economy; even though most holiday shopping has probably been finished before Christmas Eve rolls around, it still means that anybody who gets an Apple gift card and wants to walk into the store after Christmas to get their Apple Watch is going to be out of luck. That’s not a great look for Apple, but it also doesn’t feel like something the administration particularly wants either, especially in the run-up to an election year.
The biggest question, to me, is whether Apple will choose to try and settle this matter with Masimo. Cupertino certainly has the money to make it go away, but it also doesn’t want to have to pay out if it doesn’t have to. The fact that the company hasn’t already settled suggests that it would rather pursue other routes if possible. (Unlike a lot of these patent disputes, which are often conducted by holding companies that have acquired large patent libraries purely for the purpose of suing big companies and getting payouts, Masimo is actually a health technology company that makes products related to pulse oximetry.)
Personally, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this story for this week.