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« If You Want My Thoughts on the Apple Watch - This blog from last year is still 100% valid | Main | What Happens in the Handset Store? If salesrep recommends one smartphone or another.. what is impact? »

March 10, 2015

Comments

tz

Killer #2, it isn't waterproof but merely water resistant. You aren't going to wear it in the shower or pool. And I wonder about working or exercising where it will get scratched or impacted.

Killer #1 is the 18 hours. They should have done e-ink, ble reduced and more. A swappable battery. 30 minute Qi recharge.

and it isn't 25% unless you only sleep for 6 hours or wake up and put it on when it is recharged. 8 hours + shower or other time.

tz

My second thought was Google Glass was more functional. It was just there and "ok, glass" would do something useful if your hands were busy. A crown makes it a two handed device - as does touch. May as well pull out the phone as one hand can do most things.

The old Palm Pilot was the right idea of a peripheral - it brought clippings and notifications from your desktop.

Catriona

Don't be such a Debbie Downer. This device will do just fine. It isn't the next iPhone or iPad, but those kinds of products don't come around very often. Apple needs a wearable because it's possible that wearables will ultimately replace the cell phone (or at least a lot of its functionality). It won't happen tomorrow or even 3 years from now, but it likely will happen eventually.

Compared to the original iPhone and iPad, the Apple Watch is well done for a first generation Apple product. It looks good, particularly in the stainless steel version. I think there is a lot of promise in Research Kit, and Force Touch has already made the leap to the MacBook line. People have such unrealistic expectations of Tim Cook and Apple. I'd have shortened yesterday's presentation and focused more on fashion, but the long term success won't be based on yesterday's presentation or even the initial reaction. I remember there was a backlash against the original MacBook Air. It was underpowered and featured one USB port. It was a slow seller at first, but it's become Apple's mainstream product. I predict the same with the new MacBook introduced yesterday.

Catriona

@tz, Google Glass was creepy. Apple Watch is more discreet. As soon as I saw Google Glass I knew it wouldn't work as a consumer product. Google should have kept it a beta and developed it for medical and industrial use, where it could serve a legitimate purpose.

RottenApple

@Catriona:

"...because it's possible that wearables will ultimately replace the cell phone (or at least a lot of its functionality). It won't happen tomorrow or even 3 years from now, but it likely will happen eventually."

Possible... as a long shot.
likely... rather not.

Just do a little test yourself and try to simulate a phone call with a wrist bound device. No, it's not the most comfortable thing to do, a regular mobile phone is far, far less stressful. So as a future replacement for regular smartphones it's a no-go by default for entirely mundane aspects, no matter how advanced the tech gets.

What we see here is marketing in full swing trying to peddle the latest useless gadget to unsuspecting customers.

Truth

Hmmm..., interesting web site. But, I see the microsoft trolls pretending to be neutral but consistently attack Google every chance they get. Not a productive discussion. I see just trolling non-sense from some posters. Gotta to wonder who is getting paid by micro$oft?...

Tomi T Ahonen

To all in this thread (and continuing from yesterdays' posting)

Think about Apple Watch what we just heard yesterday. Compare to Macintosh 1984 or iPod 2001 or iPhone 2007. Those were revolutions and it was OBVIOUS the day they were shown. Wow, how can computers behave like this? Gosh if it rally is this easy as the original Mac, yes, even our parents could be users some day... without going to computer courses. The iPod, what? Carry how many songs with me? Thats my whole music collection.... and the iPhone. A revolution.

This Apple Watch, there is NOTHING that it did we didn't have. Nothing. It did NOTHING that other smartphones don't do already - and often do better. The trend is AWAY from wearing ANY watch. Do you seriously think that this device that added NOTHING revolutionary to us, will somehow reverse the unstoppable worldwide trend away from wearing wristwatches. Seriously? Its the YOUTH who most are quitting wristwatches, so if you find some older (haha readers of this blog) people who find that value in 'health' haha, they are prone to also be among the luddites who still have that old trusty watch they strap onto their wrists..

So do you see this truly as the Macintosh momement, the iPod moment, the iPhone moment. Or is this a Lisa or Newton, at best its too early and future TOTALLY revised editions will build on this (failure) or at worse, its a dead end already now. There was NOTHING that thrilled us as a miracle on our wrists. Nothing. Not one thing why to get it except ooh, we do metal now in an Apple way, ooh Apple Steel, ooh, 18K gold. Where is my digital utility that the Mac had or iPod or iPhone?

Tomi Ahonen :-)

tz

Siri on AW: Now because “active listening” for a “Hey Siri” command can drain the device’s battery quickly, users should note that the “Hey Siri” command can only be implemented when the Apple Watch is raised to a user’s face. Or you can press the button. Hand up! Don't Siri!

Apple Excessory.

I wonder if you can gold-plate the aluminum version.

Interestingly, I stopped wearing any watch as soon as I had a phone - all of which display the time. I'm still using a "featurephone" which connects to my bluetooth headset, has somewhere above 12 hour talk time and a month idle (with extended battery), and it boots in 5 seconds. And I have a hotspot. Now if the AppleWatch was even wifi enabled, it might be useful. But I have my tablets. And one BLU cheap android phablet (Studio 7.0" dual sim - really good battery life) With all the widgets that instantly show everything I'd see on the watch.

On twit.tv, Leo Laport pointed that out about Android widgets v.s. Apple.

tz

It's an Apple TV or "Ping" social music moment.

GG was creepy, but it was already in your field of view, so you didn't have to do any kind of gesture. Your field of view was overlaid with the information and it could record.

And note - Android (and Windows!) smartphones do notifications better because they have widgets - all the various bits of info right on the homescreen. Apple doesn't have then on the iPhone (you have to swipe or tap or something). So you have Apples fix: a $350 widget platform. That isn't waterproof and has bad battery life (for a wearable).

Catriona

Actually, as I recall the original iPod announcement, it was met with a "meh." It was hyped as the next big thing, and the reaction was along the lines of "Apple did all this for a music player that only works with Macs?"

The Verge had a good point. The Watch's best selling point is one that neither Apple nor Google want to talk up. It helps us keep our phones in our pockets or purses, and not take them out all the time. I think little things such as opening up hotel doors, unlocking cars, etc. will also drive the case for getting it. Since Apple is behind it, companies will take it seriously. Just as Apple Pay was able to get the notoriously stodgy U.S. banks to get on board the way Google Wallet was not, I think Apple Watch will get more attention from hotel and retail chains.

The fact that we're all talking about this here shows its relevance. Was there a thread back when the Galaxy Gear was released?

steve epstein

If I see 25 % of apple store employees or guru bar people using an apple watch by august, i will be shocked.
Women receiving mocks from friends or from men are likely to shelve these 18 hour lasting door stops.

On the plus side, the mhealth data collection possibilities via a global user base are mond bending.
S.

Catriona

Here's one guy who thinks the Apple Watch will be a success. But what does he know?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-10/swatch-co-inventor-sees-apple-causing-ice-age-for-swiss-watches

Earendil Star

So, only water resistant: this could be a severe drawback if turns out that the iWatch gets damaged by sweat during sports.
Battery life is short.
As a fashion accessory it is a gamble, because it's expensive, and every year a new model comes out, making the previous one look outdated. Not to mention the edition version.
Mostly works only with an iPhone (but you would mostly be carrying your phone with you anyway, so this is not really crucial)

I don't know.

However, it's not the usual uses that will make or break this device, but some possibly unexpected use, where having an intelligent device on your wrist may be useful.

We'll see.

Meanwhile, Apple is placing (or trying to) place itself even more as a luxury brand. And prices are growing. Not a bad move. Not bad at all.

Steve

Years before Seiko did a pager watch Motorola made an excellent one that worked with traditional paging systems. It wasn't even that huge and the battery lasted a full month!

Catriona

@Earendil Star, my guess is that we'll see improvements in areas like water resistance and battery life in the next version. I don't think sweat will damage the watch, but immersion is not recommended. Supposedly Apple is experimenting with new ways to add waterproofing to the iPhone, and presumably it would also make its way to the Watch.

John

For once I 100% agree with every single word you wrote. I don´t know if I am a big iSheep, but for sure I really love my iPhone and I owned iPhones since the 3G.

I don´t understand Apple´s rational behind the Watch, there is clearly a big hole at Apple, nobody knows nothing about watches, smart or not.

AND WHAT ABOUT FASHION:

I´m surprised you omitted the Watch Edition (the 17K gold freak), WHO IN HIS OWN MIND thinks that anybody will buy a 17K electronic device which will be obsolete in a year?? A 17K Apple Watch is not a 17K gold Rolex (or put your favorite brand), at the end of the day the Rolex is an asset, a statement, it says who you are, it has a soul, those of us who really appreciate watches understand that a watch mechanism is the soul of the watch, I don´t like gold watches but I understand those who choose to encase this "soul" in a gold jacket. What is inside the 17K Apple Watch? 25 dollars of crap...Off course this applies also to LG, Samsung or Motorola smart watches, but at least these companies are no trying to sell their products as "luxury items", they are plain an simple plastic piece of craps, and they know it.

I really cannot believe seriously that any Swiss Watch Maker are concerned about Apple making a watch. A phone is an utilitarian article, says nothing about you, or may be the only thing is if you prefer iOS, Android, or whatever, big or small and black or white, no more, no less.

A watch is a bold statement about you, for a man not a kid or a nerd choosing a watch is like choosing a good pair of shoes or an expensive tie, a watch tells a lot about you: are you a gentleman, an adventurer, conservative, innovative, elegant, sport, etc etc,

Think about JAMES BOND, his watch does a lot of thinks, but is a SEAMASTER (or Submariner before), not a Chinese peace of crap with a display...(yeah, I know about the Hamilton Pulsar and the Seikos, but even Bond could make mistakes...and were the 70s), could you imagine Bond using an Apple Watch?????

I´m not going to leave my Aquatimer for this, hey, I´m not going to leave my IWC for anything with the word "smart" on its name, I only will swap it for my Submariner or my Seamaster from time to time.

Of course this applies not only to the Apple Watch, again it applies to Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc, but at least these companies are not try to sell their smartwatches as real luxury watches, I thought that Apple has taste enough to understand this.

As per pure function, again agree with you, is really limited. If you need an activity tracker and you are a watch lover buy yourself the Withings Activite, it´s expensive ($450) but elegant as well, if you don't want to spend so much the Activite Pop is $150, is a peace of plastic but at least it is designed to adult people, all the "smart" things are done by the app in your phone.

E.Casais

I agree with Tomi that this iWatch will be a dud. It has no autonomous functionality, poor battery life, unexciting applications. For an expensive fashion accessory, it should have some very exclusive functionality -- like the "concierge" service on the Vertu phones (whose specs were never that great).

I disagree with Tomi that iWatch will die afterwards, and agree with Leebase that Apple will improve it at the next iteration. However, I totally disagree with him that this will be the kind of incremental improvement typically brought to other product lines at Apple.

In fact, iWatch v.2 will be to the current iWatch what the iPhone 2G was to the ROKR E1, or the iPad 1 to the Newton: a complete redesign from scratch, throwing away most of the assumptions built in the previous device -- because it was so mediocre. I expect iWatch 2.0 to have practically nothing in common with the first foray of Apple into wrist-wearable devices.

RottenApple

@Leebase:

"So which is it? A flop or a device sure to sell to millions?"


These do not contradict themselves.
Knowing the mentality of the typical iSheep they'll flock out in droves to be the first to get the new iGadget.

The real question here is whether the smartwatch as a product group can stick or if it fizzles out after initial interest has been served.

We also have no idea how much Apple spent on R&D and advertising to get the watch out, so yes - even if it sells a few million it may still be considered a flop.

@John:

Nice to see an Apple user who hasn't lost his touch with reality. Especially your take on the 17k luxury version. I have to admit I never thought that far - but for a first generation release with all its flaws and inevitable quick replacement cycle this truly sounds like lunacy to buy such a thing...

mark

If its a dud, then its 2nd hand value will only go up, like with Roland 808 drum machines. Thrown in the trash! But now you'd trade your 18k gold watch for one.

Buy up these iWatches before they get stacked on top of ET game cartridges in New Mexico.

Catriona

@ E Casias, I expect the next version to be more like what the iPad 2 was to the original iPad. That version endured the longest, and is still around in some form as the basic iPad mini. However, there are still plenty of original iPads still in use.

The biggest limitation to me is that it is still heavily dependent on the iPhone. My guess is that they couldn't make it so (comparatively) small while maintaining decent battery life without outsourcing so much to the phone. That should change in future generations as it switches to 14nm processors.

Most of the naysayer criticism reeks of the "let's complain until we're finally right" sentiment that has dogged every Apple release since the iPod back in 2001. The Apple Watch isn't a blockbuster in its current form, but should generate sufficient interest to insure a second and third generation. And we will see a bigger emphasis overall on fashion. The new MacBook, for instance, looks really sharp, and the latest rumor is that we'll have more colors (and Force Touch) on the next iPhone.

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