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Apple Watch Still Waiting On App Developers 213

An anonymous reader writes: It's been almost three months since the Apple Watch launched, and the tiny device hasn't taken people's wrists by storm. That's not to say it's a failure — experts estimate Apple has sold between three and five million of them, and we may get more detailed sales information during their earnings call, tomorrow. But many major app developers are still missing from the Watch's catalog, and Apple doesn't have a good way of roping them into the new section of its ecosystem. "I don't know if we could get it all in there in a way that feels good and works well," said a Facebook executive. "Why would you look at a small picture when you can look at a large one on your phone?" said Snapchat's CEO. The app rush that hit phones and tablets is dampened for the Watch. For now, all Apple can do is improve their development toolkit and hope coders can figure out useful new wrist-based interactions.
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Apple Watch Still Waiting On App Developers

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  • Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:52AM (#50145513)

    Apple Watch is still a solution in search of a problem.

    • You got that right.
    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Interesting)

      by grimmjeeper ( 2301232 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:07AM (#50145631) Homepage

      I dunno. As an extension of your iPhone, it does fit in a niche. It's probably handy to use to see notifications, maybe some status updates, check in on real time data like weather, and to quickly check the current time like any other watch. It can probably serve as an always-connected fit bit or something like that.

      But I agree that it is a solution looking for a problem. In the larger picture, I just don't see the form factor being conducive to a significant variety of applications. So it's useful to a subset of the population but not a must-have for most. And that will prevent it from being a runaway success. That is, until they can find a "killer app" that everyone wants to have. And I'm sure many people are working on ideas for that. Maybe someone will find that problem to solve. Maybe not. Even if they don't, I think enough people will find it useful enough to justify buying it and I think Apple will at least make their money back on the development costs.

      • The thing is great for the reasons that you mention. I also like how it shows my next appointment right on the watch face. but all the apps have been stoopid. I have yet to find any benefit of the apps that outweight the inconvenience of taking the phone out of my pocket.

        things will change as the watch becomes untethered from the iphone. first, over wifi, and then with a cellular connection. that's when the benefits really grow.

        • things will change as the watch becomes untethered from the iphone. first, over wifi, and then with a cellular connection. that's when the benefits really grow.

          What benefits? I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious. What would you want an untethered wrist-worn computer to do? I can't think of anything, myself. It'd be nice to get notifications and texts, but the form factor is too small to actually respond to them. Maybe if voice recognition technology improved by a couple orders of magnitude it'd be

          • one benefit is severing the umbilical cord to your phone. on my watch I get to see text message notifications, email notifications. I can reply if needed with simple responses or voice (which works pretty good). I can take a call if needed. but there's not the temptation of surfing facebook or Slashdot or playing candy crush or whatever. it as a small footprint in my life, filling the basics but freeing me to focus on other things. it's kind of the same argument as a laptop vs. a desktop and a phone vs. a l

          • by SparkEE ( 954461 )

            It would be nice to be able to leave the big phone at home when going for a run, hike, swim, bike ride or such activity, and have the watch able to work by itself for things like fitness tracking, GPS tracking, text messages, making an emergency call, etc. In those cases, simple canned text responses work just fine, and voice-to-text would be a welcome added feature.

            • And when you encounter gangbangers or a heart attack on the running trail, you're going to wish you had brought the "big phone" along too.

          • voice recognition has already improved vastly over the last 1-2 years. it's already pretty usable, about 80% there, i'd say. it's just that the apps will start up faster and you won't have to have your phone near you to run them (i drowned mine a few weeks ago, which reduced the watch to a watch). think about apps like a calculator, a guitar tuner, a workout regime, voice memos or (location aware) remotes.
          • i think it would be cool if they could squeeze in a low power data connection, like the kindle used for whisper sync. Something that would allow connectivity when it lacks wifi or a phone connection. It would give enough bandwidth to get a text or a small picture, but little else.

            oh, and it would be at no additional cost to me. sounds crazy, but amazon did manage to negotiate that with the carriers at one point.
        • the only third party apps i use are: hue, remote, timesheet for work-logging, clear and motion gps. they all work pretty well so far.
        • Most developers haven't figured out how to make a watch app *work*. I like Zillow, Redfin, and ZonePlayer (a Sonos remote). The rest of my third party apps are a disappointment. The apps all require the developer to re-think what the app needs to do on the watch, and how to use the space effectively. If they aren't making money off of it, why bother. Advertising would be hard, and getting the word out is very tricky with the much smaller installed base.

      • For those who justify their lives through status updates and being in the know of their current circle of friends it's convenient.

        Otherwise its just another gizmo that will take your attention away from what you are currently trying to focus on. I've hired many young programmers over the last 3 years and a few of them were so easily distracted by their existing device that I had to constantly remind them to focus on the task at hand. One of them actually had a Android based watch. Let it be known that they

      • iOS doesn't allow Android-style widgets on the phone - only on the watch, so there is an [artificial] niche to fill.

        The big problem is risk management, though. Apple was quite permissive when only 5 million iPhones were on the market. Over time they tightened their grip. Now developers need to ask if they can afford to put their money into an iWatch app only to have Apple capriciously ban it and wipe out their investment - all for a tiny niche market.

        • iOS doesn't allow Android-style widgets on the phone

          iOS developers have been able to add custom widgets to the Today view (easily visible in lock screen) for some time now.

      • It certainly has uses. The problem for me is the value doesn't match up with the asking price.
    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gander666 ( 723553 ) * on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:21AM (#50145741) Homepage
      There is a really good use for it. I am a cyclist. I use Strava to track my rides and the minutia (heart rate, cadence, speed, distance). I can mount my iPhone on my bars (meh) or keep it in my shirt back pocket. But there I can't see my stats unless I pull it out. Risky while riding, as I am sweaty and fumble fingered.

      There is a third party blue tooth computer display (Wahoo Fitness Reflekt), but I haven't bought one yet. The reviews on it are so so, thus I haven't dropped the $120 for it. However, the Apple watch will display all my stats on my wrist. It works with Strava, so I will be satisfied. So I am likely to buy it solely for bicycling. The problems the watch will solve are out there, but they will take time to mature.
    • The Apple Watch is a relationship thing [dilbert.com].
    • I don't see it as a problem that every app maker does not have an Apple Watch app, because not every application NEEDS an Apple Watch app. The Apple watch is not "searching for a problem", it has some very specific things it does that solve problems better than the phone does. But because of the narrow focus not every app will need to be on the watch.

      • by MouseR ( 3264 )

        It stops being a solution at 10PM until you wallhug.

        My watch (Citizen Blue Angler Skyhawk) has never required a recharge since I got it. Yep: it can tell time at 3AM.

    • the "problems" it solved for me: - quickly looking at the time/setting a timer/stopwatch (i know...) - having a remote for my lights/stereo/apple tv right on my wrist eliminates the need of forever looking for the remote/phone. also, looking for the phone and having it beep is only a few swipes away. - my phone is now always turned silent and resting in a charging cradle when i'm home. - no more annoying phone sounds. no more urge to check the phone when i hear a notification sound. - silent alarms that wor
    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Apple Watch is still a solution in search of a problem.

      No, the problem is real, just artificial.

      The problem is that people are buying big-ass phones with big-ass screens, which is great if you're playing videogames or watching movies. However ,they didn't buy a game console or a media player, they bought a phone.

      And then they realize just how inconveniently big it is if you want to stay in touch or in the loop. So now they can't put their phone in a convenient location, so they put it in their bag, or one o

  • oblig (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:53AM (#50145521)
    "wrist-based interactions"
  • by Rik Sweeney ( 471717 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:55AM (#50145535) Homepage

    The battery has gone flat :P

  • by the computer guy nex ( 916959 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:57AM (#50145549)
    It comes down to one key business problem: these companies can't monetize a wearable. No one wants to see ads on their wrist. Facebook fears the Apple Watch. This could hit their top and bottom line.
    • Re:Dollas (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:02AM (#50145593) Homepage

      No one wants to see ads on their wrist.

      No one wants to see ads anywhere, ever.
      Doesn't seem to stop the advertisers, though.

      • It's not the advertisers, it's the consumers. Consumers won't pay for a monthly subscription to Facebook and or for a search engine (Although businesses would).

        The current model for making online services that aren't niche is to monetize them through advertisement. This is especially true if you want the young generation's attention.

  • by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:58AM (#50145559)

    It's been almost three months since the Apple Watch launched, and the tiny device hasn't taken people's wrists by storm. That's not to say it's a failure

    Whether it is a failure or not depends upon Apple's expectations for the device.

    If Apple Watch is selling at a rate of only one-tenth of what Apple expected, then it is indeed a failure.

  • You know ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @10:59AM (#50145571) Homepage

    This might bet the point at which Apple without Jobs falters.

    You can't introduce the "revolutionary" new product and not have the killer use-case for it. You can't release "teh smartwatch" and have no idea of WTF people will use it for.

    Wow, the ability to see my text messages without looking at my phone? Nope, not compelling.

    The smartwatch has always felt like a gimmick with little utility for most people.

    And this got cemented when they were selling the gold plated "gee but I'm a rich asshole" version. I'm pretty sure I've never heard a single person who could finish the sentence "I want a smart watch because ..." with anything substantive.

    Android or Apple, I don't see any value in splashing out for something which they still are hoping someone will create the thing which makes it useful.

    Sorry, no. Increasingly mobile consumer electronics are just vehicles for ads, analytics, and giving up my privacy ... and any app which makes use of this is more of the same. Some of us are moving to less digital crap in our lives, and not more.

    This falls firmly in the camp of no defined purpose, no benefit, and not getting my money.

    • Re:You know ... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by BasilBrush ( 643681 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:17AM (#50145699)

      You can't introduce the "revolutionary" new product and not have the killer use-case for it.

      Of course you can. VisiCalc didn't come along until 2 years after the Apple II debuted. PageMaker didn't come along until a year after the Apple Mac. And those were the killer apps for those computers.

      I'm not sure what would count as the killer app for the PC. Maybe Microsoft Word? That was probably the most used app before the internet came along. Well the first version of Microsoft Word came along 2 years after the first IBM PC.

      The smartwatch has always felt like a gimmick with little utility for most people.

      I think that's fair. The question is: is the minority that does one big enough to make it a worthwhile product. And failing that, will there be a killer app that comes along later that does make the majority want one.

      We'll know the answer to the first question tomorrow. Might take a couple of years for the second.

      • Re:You know ... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by pr0nbot ( 313417 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:32AM (#50145847)

        "I'm not sure what would count as the killer app for the PC"

        Spreadsheets. (Lotus Notes, Excel etc).

        As far as word processing is concerned, in my time something called WordPerfect was the market leader.

        • > I'm not sure what would count as the killer app for the PC.

          Lotus 123 Spreadsheet.

          Later it got nuked by Excel, but that thing made IBM rich.

        • by hodet ( 620484 )

          The web browser would have to be high on the list. PC ownership exploded with the web. But there are a lot of things that drive growth (business products, games etc etc). But I would say the web made the pc a must have item.

    • ... Increasingly mobile consumer electronics are just vehicles for ads, analytics, and giving up my privacy ... and any app which makes use of this is more of the same....

      So I'm not the only person who thinks that apps on mobile devices are written more for the purpose of user data harvesting than anything else.

    • by Karlt1 ( 231423 )

      This might bet the point at which Apple without Jobs falters.

      Well a few responses....

      1. If you look at Apple's stock price, revenue, and profit since Cook took over, Apple clearly hasn't "faltered".

      2. Even before the iPhone came out, the phone market was clearly the largest consumer tech category. In other words, there is no conceivable electronic market that is going to be larger than the phone market in the foreseeable future. The watch couldn't hope to be as larger as the iPhone market.

      3. The watch does

    • This might bet the point at which Apple without Jobs falters.

      You can't introduce the "revolutionary" new product and not have the killer use-case for it. You can't release "teh smartwatch" and have no idea of WTF people will use it for.

      You know that this is exactly what Apple did with the iPhone, right? The original iPhone was just a glorified iPod until Apple allowed 3rd party developers to start writing their own apps. I rarely use any of the software that originally shipped with the iPhone - the only exceptions being the texting app and the calendar app.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:00AM (#50145579)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • +1 for Pebble. I have plenty of apps installed (the Pebble Time did away with the 8 app/face limit), use it all the time, and charge it weekly.
  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:02AM (#50145599)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I am going to write a app that integrates with our company's conference management system. We have an onsite system that allows us to push the start of sessions and talks and such. I think for these things it is actually useful to have this on your wrist, but it is not so important (or complicated) that I am going to spend a lot of time on the problem.

      It is more of a piece of bling that makes our software look cool on paper. "Look! It also supports Apple Watch! All you hipster attendees will go through the

  • Pebble Time (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xantonin ( 1973196 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:05AM (#50145613)

    Meanwhile, my Pebble Time, which was recently released, has a ton of apps on it. And it lasts for 7 days, is 30m water proof, has an accelerometer for fitness or sleep tracking, and a microphone for text responding or other features. Oh, and a color display.

    It connects to Android AND Apple devices. I can control music from it, read texts, check my calendar, and something else too, I can't quite remember, I think it has to do with a clock.. Oh well.

    Why would I want an Apple Watch for more than twice the cost again?

    • Which of the "tons of apps" do you actually use? I'm trying find a reason to buy a smart watch (of whatever variety) but I just haven't found a use case that justifies the cost.

    • I have a Pebble Time, and an Apple Watch (I'm developing apps for both).

      I tried using the Pebble Time exclusively for a week, but it's just not as useful as the watch...

      The Apple Watch apps are better (even with the simpler API of WatchOS 1.0), and I am pretty sure there are more of them than Time apps.

      The biggest issues though is the integration of the Apple Watch just makes it more useful - with the Pebble Time, any notification goes through to the watch. With the Apple Watch, I have carefully narrowed t

      • with the Pebble Time, any notification goes through to the watch

        Does the iOS Pebble Time app not have this screen [imgur.com]? On Android, at least, you can choose which apps send notifications to the watch. Funny, though, one of the first review videos I watched for the Apple Watch complained that notifications were all-or-nothing; when did Apple begin allowing you to control that?

        • Does the iOS Pebble Time app not have this screen?

          Not that I can tell, apps on IOS cannot control the routing of notifications.

          one of the first review videos I watched for the Apple Watch complained that notifications were all-or-nothing; when did Apple begin allowing you to control that?

          From launch of the device, you can also control what apps that have Apple Watch apps show up on the device also. I'm not sure how they could possibly miss it since "Notifications" is at the top level of the Apple Watch co

          • Not that I can tell, apps on IOS cannot control the routing of notifications.

            Sad, because I've met most of the pebble team and they all have iPhones. That would be an Apple-imposed limitation, then, as there's no way the iOS-loving Pebble team would give us Android users that functionality and not implement it for themselves if possible. Just like the Pebble Time microphone being useless on iOS; it's certainly useful on Android, but Apple doesn't allow actionable notifications on iOS, except from their own watch.

            In other words, the Apple Watch is only better on iOS because Apple d

            • gah... failed to close a tag...
            • That would be an Apple-imposed limitation

              Yes, for sure it is, they are dong what they can. But it's also a security issue for applications to be able to intercept notifications for any app in the system... I think the Apple security choice in this case is a good one that protects users more than it limits them.

              However for this specific problem I was thinking, why can't Pebble filter it out on the watch side? I think along with the notifications they get bundle ID's of the app the notification is from and

              • Why should Pebble have to spend the CPU cycles, RAM, and battery life on that? Why, since Apple makes each device register to receive notifications in the first place, can't Apple add a toggle for each registered device? I mean, there's already a Notifications config page for each app, where you can set how you're notified by that app; why not add toggles for devices to those pages? Simple, really, and when you think about it, more secure because you can limit notifications sent to your watch to only those
    • by Kjella ( 173770 )

      Looks like a much better watch hybrid, though I don't remember having a 64 color display since the 80s (actually went 16->256) it should do just fine for non-photo/video use. But boy, is that a lot of bezel.

      Apple Watch: 1.53" display in 42x35.9mm case.
      Pebble Time: 1.25" display in 40.5x37.5mm case.

      Don't know if that's the display technology or just an availability/price issue, but since space is such an extremely limited commodity on a watch I'm surprised they didn't go with a bigger display. If they cou

  • by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:15AM (#50145689)

    1) Buy the Apple Watch
    2) Spend days or weeks of work developing an app
    3) Cross your fingers to hope it goes in Apple's store
    4) See your app listed with dozens of others just like it including about a dozen free options
    5) ???
    6) Profit!

  • I hate watches (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:18AM (#50145719)

    Obligatory XKCD [xkcd.com]

    I'll go out of my way to not buy a smart watch. It's uncomfortable to have something around your wrist, especially while typing. What the heck are you doing all day that you constantly need to know what time it is, or what the stock prices are, or what the weather is? A smartphone is accessed just as quickly as a pocket watch and will notify you when your appointments are coming up. Telling me what time it is before I need to know just makes me worry about what's coming up instead of focusing on what's going on right now.

    Nuts to that. Less is more. Even once we have augmented reality, it shouldn't be popping up useless numbers and text - it should be seamless and unobtrusive, with the "killer apps" removing useless information like billboards from the world.

    • I'll go out of my way to not buy a watch . It's uncomfortable to have something around your wrist. What the heck are you doing all day that you constantly need to know what time it is? A a pocket watch will tell you the time. Telling me what time it is before I need to know just makes me worry about what's coming up instead of focusing on what's going on right now.

      Nuts to that. Less is more.

      maybe it's helpful for you that I edit your response and show what a nonsense argument it is.

      • by pla ( 258480 )
        maybe it's helpful for you that I edit your response and show what a nonsense argument it is.

        I'd have to say that does more to support the GP's point, than to refute it - Do you see a lot of people under 50 wearing watches?

        Wrist watches have a tiny bit more utility than pocket watches; but once everyone had a de facto pocket watch on them at all times (aka a cell phone), most people saw no need to carry both. Wrist watches have effectively gone the way of the dodo, except for one niche purpose: Statu
        • Hey some of us still value the pure utilitarian functionality of a watch because we need to know the time while being away from civilization, running water and electricity, for a couple of weeks. I wear a good wrist watch mostly out of habit but I am out in the boondocks enough and for long enough times hunting that having something that lets me know if I am in legal hunting hours that isn't a cellphone is necessary. Then again I wear a simple watch that is entirely utilitarian.
  • It's hard to justify spending $350 or more on a device that is hobbled by poor battery life, needs to tether to an iPhone 5 or later. And to top it off, the heart rate sensor returns false information intentionally and the oxygen sensor is not enabled. I won't delve into it not working with Android devices simply because it is an Apple product.

    The device is a 1.0 model. And, like most 1.0 models, it has flaws. The flaws listed above will keep all but the purest Apple devote away. Our household is predo

    • I expected the battery to be a problem, but in practice, I have 60% left at the end of the day.
      I guess this is at least in part because I don't find much reason to use the watch beyond the activity tracking.

    • This sounds like some of the first complaints levied at the first digital watches in the mid 70s. They had poor battery life compared to the standard quartz movement ones but then you were talking a battery life of a few months. It wasn't until the advent of LCD instead of LED displays that they really took off. After that you could have battery lifetimes of years instead of months. They were also expensive devices costing around $70-$100 from what I understand. However I don't know if things will change fo
  • "Got to get these WiiU games out the door first, then we'll be right with you," said devs.

  • by ConfusedVorlon ( 657247 ) on Monday July 20, 2015 @11:48AM (#50145969) Homepage

    Background
    - I'm a developer on iOS.
    - My apps seem like good fits for apple watch (VLC Remote and VLC Streamer).
    - I wear an apple watch.

    Data:
    Approximately nobody uses my apple watch app.
    I don't use any apple watch apps.

    My thoughts:
    Having bought the watch, I can see why. It just isn't useful for quick interactions.
    The default setting on the watch is that when you drop your wrist, it resets to the watch face, so every time you lift your wrist, you need to go to the launcher, find the app, launch it (wait some seconds) and then interact with the small screen.

    There is an option to make the watch return to the point you left in the app - but in most cases, that isn't what you want for your watch. You do want it to show you the time when you lift your wrist 10 mins after you last used it.

    On top of this, the things that could be useful like siri interaction are weak. Siri just doesn't work nearly as well as google now.

    I keep wearing the watch because I like the activity monitor, but I don't even use my own apple watch apps.

    • oh - also, notifications are kinda useful on your watch.

      • oh - also, notifications are kinda useful on your watch.

        I think this is where Android Wear got it right. Wear does allow you to open and use on-watch apps, but that's clearly not the intended primary user experience. Instead, everything is design around notifications where you get an instant alert on your wrist, plus an easy way to interact more deeply with the notification if you want. The ability to operate some simple apps without the phone present is another advantage. I use my watch to play music through Bluetooth headphones while I'm running. I like not ha

        • Exactly. Apple botched its watch from day one by trying to cram in far too much and creating a horrendous UI for it. They completely missed that what the watch is useful for isn't trying to run apps, pan around maps, etc., but for quick at-a-glance stuff -- notifications, very quick messages, etc.

          My Android Wear watch -- the Moto 360 -- has the perfect blend of notifications and customizability. I can use apps if I want to -- and the one I use most frequently is a simple "flashlight" app that lights up my
    • The Apple Watch is useful for quick interactions - in the context of a longer activity, where it makes sense to lock in the screen on raise to the current app.

      Going forward your own remote app will make more sense when you can tie into a complication, so the user can just raise the wrist, tap on the complication showing current play time and then open the app to control. It's really easy to set up multiple watch faces you switch between so I see where users would set up task specific faces that would let t

  • That's what I want and love about my Android Wear watch. You don't really need it for anything else.

  • >> For now, all Apple can do is improve their development toolkit and hope coders can figure out useful new wrist-based interactions.

    Or, they could take their famous mountains of cash and contract developers to write the "missing" apps for their watch. But if that's too much of a gamble for Apple...

  • when watchOS 2 - which allows native apps and more functionality - comes out in autumn. as for the "facebook executive" and the snapchat CEO - that's smart. nobody wants apps that don't work on the tiny screen of the watch - at least i don't. don't give in to those imbecile reviewers who lamented the lack of a browser or on-screen keyboard. that's just stupid on a screen twice the size of your upper thumb digit. but i bet there'll be a facebook messenger with a dictation function pretty soon.
  • If you want to know the future of the Apple Watch, look at the history of the calculator watch. Once the "wow factor" wears off, it will be relegated to the wrists of virgins.

  • Pebble is the only one that makes it trivial to program for, you dont even have to install an IDE or software to write for it.

    Apple watch and the Google wear watches all suffer from the same problem The killer apps for them, Health apps like Glucose monitoring and other health apps that are useful are blocked by the idiots at the FDA. Get an affordable non invasive Glucose monitor and an app on the phone and watch for this and you can make a huge change in someone's life.

    Honestly the killer apps are med

  • I've had a Samsung Gear 2 watch now for about a year. I really like it, and don't leave home without it. It has enough conveniences that if it breaks, or I've had it long enough, I'll get another one.

    But ...

    It's not enough to get someone to switch phone types, and neither is the iWatch. Mostly because, with such a small screen, the number of apps is limited. It's not suitable for reading more than a few paragraphs. It's not suitable for typing (other than voice dictation). It's not useful for web browsing.

  • I live in an affluent area with a plethora of iPhones and I have yet to see an iWatch.
  • Apple's (and most other "smart" watches) watch works with smart phones with pretty displays. So, exactly, why bother with a watch? Where it would make sense is paired with a compact tough smart phone with maybe an E-Ink display and no fancy GUI. Keep the phone on your hip, in your shoe, on top of your beanie. Stick a Bluetooth bone-coduction headset on, control everything with the watch, and it's now a semi-hands-free wearable system. Everyone seems to think the iPhone/Android direction is the future path.

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