The Watch in its current form is a toy for hobbyists

[DavidTheExpert]

And I couldn't be happier. It's like a blank canvas that all us nerds will get to paint on.

You guys aren't seeing the real potential of this thing. This is a lightweight tiny computer that stays on your wrist everywhere you go. It can be made to do anything imaginable. Anyone who wears a watch understands how useful this could be. It may not have all the bells and whistles yet, but maybe in 2 more generations it will.

 

[Antgb84]

The Watch in its current form is a toy for hobbyists

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone. Knowing Apple I would honestly wait for the second-generation until then I'll rely on my phone as far as keeping track of time etc.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone.

I think that's an exaggeration and even if true, not really a big deal since the vast majority of us keep our iPhones on our persons 24/7.

 

[douglasf13]

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone. Knowing Apple I would honestly wait for the second-generation until then I'll rely on my phone as far as keeping track of time etc.

From what I've read, time, workout functions, the built-in music player, and possibly even NFC payments all work without your phone. I'm sure there are more things that we don't know, yet. Either way, I always have my phone with me, so it doesn't matter.

 

[iBook_Clamshell]

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone.

I think that's an exaggeration and even if true, not really a big deal since the vast majority of us keep our iPhones on our persons 24/7.

I don't own an iPhone and I'm not going to spend $349+whatever a iPhone costs.

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone. Knowing Apple I would honestly wait for the second-generation until then I'll rely on my phone as far as keeping track of time etc.

Maybe that's why they call it the Watch. All iDevices can be considered computers, but this can't. It's possible that they are working on a device that looks like a watch, is the same size, but does everything an iPhone can do-all by itself. That will be called the iWatch.
I think I'll wait a couple years till the stand-alone iWatch comes out...

 

[TheDeviceUser]

The only drawback is it can barely if not function at all without the iPhone. Knowing Apple I would honestly wait for the second-generation until then I'll rely on my phone as far as keeping track of time etc.

It does function without an iPhone! You can do all the health tracking, just not device centric things, such as answering phone calls.

It may be the case already, but I think data will be 'synced' to the Apple Watch, rather than projected. Therefore you can use things like Mail elsewhere.

 

[nope7308]

And I couldn't be happier. It's like a blank canvas that all us nerds will get to paint on.

You guys aren't seeing the real potential of this thing. This is a lightweight tiny computer that stays on your wrist everywhere you go. It can be made to do anything imaginable. Anyone who wears a watch understands how useful this could be. It may not have all the bells and whistles yet, but maybe in 2 more generations it will.

Apple ain't got **** on Casio! 80's all day long, baby!

 

[nope7308]

I don't own an iPhone and I'm not going to spend $349+whatever a iPhone costs.

Most people seem to be missing the business perspective on this. The iPhone has the biggest profit margin for Apple, so it's really the bread and butter of their product line. Competition is getting fierce in the smartphone market, and Apple knows their iron grip is slipping. So, what to do?

You release some fancy gizmo in an attempt to bring new customers into the iOS fold. If the Apple Watch is sufficiently enticing, then you make two sales. Not only that, you bring a new customer into the iOS ecosystem, thereby increasing the likelihood of future sales, while also making it more difficult for them to jump ship to Android. You increase your market share, and thereby your leveraging power during negotiations with major partners. This further weakens your competition, burning the candle at both ends, so to speak. Think guerrilla warfare.

What's the risk? They could lose potential sales of the Apple Watch, but the profit margin isn't nearly as high, and the smart watch market is still fairly nascent, so they don't risk losing significant market share to the competition. If you weigh that against the potential rewards, this is an excellent business decision.

I just don't see this working on a large scale because I don't think the Apple Watch is sufficiently enticing. Then again, I own a mechanical watch that I have to wind every day, so what do I know?

 

[yep-sure]

I think that's an exaggeration and even if true, not really a big deal since the vast majority of us keep our iPhones on our persons 24/7.

Sure. Again I'll ask the question, if you have your phone on you, why on earth would you ever look at your Apple Watch, when you could look at your phone?

 

[Antgb84]

Also why does Apple have a strategy of announcing something then only telling you it will be out months later?

You know its ideas will get borrowed or straight up copied or become outdated by the time it's out and the excitement will fade.

Seriously if they rave about their new watch why don't they live up to the hype and make it available for purchase week or two later just like they do with each and every single iPhone?

Point is technology evolves at such fast pace that you do want to get your paws on something freshly announced do you know what I mean or do they just test us to see how much talk they can generate?

 

[Sonmi451]

Also why does Apple have a strategy of announcing something then only telling you it will be out months later?

You know its ideas will get borrowed or straight up copied or become outdated by the time it's out and the excitement will fade.

Seriously if they rave about their new watch why don't they live up to the hype and make it available for purchase week or two later just like they do with each and every single iPhone?

Point is technology evolves at such fast pace that you do want to get your paws on something freshly announced do you know what I mean or do they just test us to see how much talk they can generate?

Since everything gets leaked during production, they wanted to be the first to show it off.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Sure. Again I'll ask the question, if you have your phone on you, why on earth would you ever look at your Apple Watch, when you could look at your phone?

Sounds like you don't understand the concept of a smartwatch.

Many messages (including email) only need to be read but not replied to, so why take it out of the pocket when you can read it on your wrist? Likewise, why take your iPhone out of your pocket if you can flick your wrist for Apple Pay? Ditto for turn-by-turn navigation and many more applications.

 

[yep-sure]

Sounds like you don't understand the concept of a smartwatch.

Many messages (including email) only need to be read but not replied to, so why take it out of the pocket when you can read it on your wrist? Likewise, why take your iPhone out of your pocket if you can flick your wrist for Apple Pay? Ditto for turn-by-turn navigation and many more applications.

That's absolutely correct, I don't understand the purpose of a smart watch at all.

So someone sends you a message. Previously, you would feel the vibration in your pocket, take out your phone, read the message and reply if needed.

With the watch, you hear/feel the notification, read the message (which probably won't fit on the screen so you may have to scroll), then take your phone out of your pocket, and go through the process above, right? If that were me, to avoid the whole situation, every time I got a message I would go straight for the phone, just in case I needed to reply. Unless I'm wrong, and you can reply from the Watch, but I don't remember seeing an onscreen keyboard during the demo. What used to be a simple process, has now become more complex, unless of course you just ignore the watch completely.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Unless I'm wrong, and you can reply from the Watch, but I don't remember seeing an onscreen keyboard during the demo.

No onscreen keyboard needed. It will populate prospective answers that you can select (e.g., Love Shack or Wild Thing) or you can use Siri to speak your reply.

 

[yep-sure]

What percentages of your texts are simple questions that could have predicted responses?

Sorry if I'm coming across as negative - I'm not one of those types who's saying it's going to a failure just for the sake of it, I just can't understand the purpose of a device that is inconvenient and adds complexity to what used to be simple tasks.

It's so un-Apple. Each of their other portable products has simplified the way we do things - communicate, use the internet, purchase and listen to music, where's this device takes things in the opposite direction.

I'm sure there is more to it, as we only got a basic demo of a few things. At this point, to me, it just seems like the UI is not intuitive and overly complex, and the apps seem like "light" versions of the ones you have on your iPhone (which has to be in your pocket) - I just don't see what value and positive experience it would bring to the owner/user.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

That's absolutely correct, I don't understand the purpose of a smart watch at all.

So someone sends you a message. Previously, you would feel the vibration in your pocket, take out your phone, read the message and reply if needed.

With the watch, you hear/feel the notification, read the message (which probably won't fit on the screen so you may have to scroll), then take your phone out of your pocket, and go through the process above, right? If that were me, to avoid the whole situation, every time I got a message I would go straight for the phone, just in case I needed to reply. Unless I'm wrong, and you can reply from the Watch, but I don't remember seeing an onscreen keyboard during the demo. What used to be a simple process, has now become more complex, unless of course you just ignore the watch completely.

As phones are getting bigger, and messaging is more common than using the actual phone, and that social media and emails notifications are only growing. It makes sense for some people to have a smart watch, instead of pulling out their phone 50x an hour.

 

[Velin]

I don't like the first gen of Apple Watch. I'm hoping gen. 2 and gen. 3 are vastly superior. Similar to how iPad Air is what iPad first gen should have been.