Here's how you can rent an Apple Watch for $50
If the $350 to $17,000 price tag on an Apple Watch leaves you feeling skittish about pulling out your wallet (or Apple Pay), San Francisco startup Lumoid will let you try one before you commit.
The company already has a home try-on program for other wearables, including the Jawbone UP24 fitness tracker, Fitbit Surge, Samsung Gear Fit and the Pebble smartwatch. "We spoke to many Lumoid customers to understand how they bought and used these items, and realized that these devices are so personalized -- what works for your friend, might not be suitable for you. So we decided to provide a simple Home Try-On program, to fully test-drive the devices before you commit to purchasing them," Lumoid says on its site.
Customers pay $25 to have up to five fitness bands or smartwatches delivered to their homes for a weeklong trial period. Should a user choose to buy one, Lumoid will replace the trial product with a new one and put the fee toward the purchase price.
Apple Watch will cost a tad more to rent. The Sport -- the cheapest version, at $349 or $399 -- will cost $45 for a week, and a trial of the steel Apple Watch ($549 to $1,099) will run $55. The company won't be offering the $10,000 Edition, which is probably smart. (And, of course, if you have the cash to actually buy one, you probably don't care whether you get to test it out first.)
Lumoid has an AppleWatch waiting list sign-up on its website.