Actual product won’t go on sale until early 2015 so yeah, it’s going to miss the entire holiday shopping season.
This is going to be quick since this whole thing is going to take time to digest (plus I’m under the weather typing this up). Absolutely stunning design with sizes and materials targeted at specific demographics/markets (starting with 3 collections).
Obviously, this is going to change the whole intersection of fashion, design, and technology in terms of setting a new level of standard. It also now gives everyone else what avenues to now attack Apple on in terms of the things that they may have missed. As expected, a user interface that was designed specifically for the form factor as well as a SOC (system on a chip) design for the key hardware logic. Also haptic feedback (Taptic Engine) and force touch were things I didn’t expect.
Both features in conjunction make the device a far more personal user experience. Force touch is a twist on pressure sensitive input; in this case, the screen can discern how hard you are pressing in order to perform some action. For this watch, a harder push results in bringing up customization abilities. It’s obvious this functionality will one day move up to the iPhone (once the costs can come down to building larger displays with this technology).
The Taptic Engine though (which provides haptic feedback) is what takes the user experience to a far more personal level. Through a combination of hardware and hardware, one can experience an actual physical feedback in the form of subtle vibrations that only the wearer can feel/hear. A feature like this obviously has to be tempered so that it isn’t obnoxious or outright gimmicky. Apple kept their applications fairly simple but 3rd party apps will probably change this. Again, this isn’t the first device to do this (virtual reality has utilized haptic feedback and I’ve seen some even more wacky/outrageous use of haptic feedback when it comes to virtual experiences).
The functionality portion isn’t surprising (health sensors, notifications, iPhone viewfinder, ability to work with other Apple devices like an Apple TV, etc) though the whole Dick Tracy thing is happening with talking into your wrist (dictation as well as ability to take calls).
However, the biggie is the starting price: $349 ($100 more than the Moto 360) and requires an iPhone (5 through 6 Plus). Thus it’s the kind of purchase that many are going to have to initially think about; not a no brainer type of purchase. Whether or not the wearable will have the kind of premium cachet associated with it remains to be seen (the build quality looks incredible but it’s too early to know if the device will have that same allure to it like with actual precision time keeping pieces from the likes of Omega or high end designer lines/status symbols like Rolex).
From my line of thinking, it’s going to take awhile for this whole meshing of design/fashion/tech to make people think of these wearable devices, as that (where high end designer brands command those premium price ranges).
Also what is very noticeably missing is battery life. Given that it wasn’t even mentioned, I’m taking that this will be no different than other smart wearables (around a days life). Also, according to those who talked to Apple employees for the on-hands demo, Apple isn’t currently commenting on battery life. Thus it’s probably something they are still working on from a engineering perspective (but I’m also taking it that the battery life won’t be that great).
This whole category also doesn’t necessarily give me the same feeling that I had when the iPhone was first announced. I think that is because of the fact that this device, still has to be wirelessly “tethered” to an iPhone. That isn’t surprising since it’s going to take a few years to get all the functionality of a digital telephony device, onto a SOC package that can fit into this sort of form factor. And by then, this category will be yesterdays news.
Apple Pay is actually something more substantial. I already saw a Wall Street talking head asking how in the world Apple is going to monetize this when they aren’t logging any transaction details (like what someone bought, how much it cost, with which retailer, etc like how companies like Amazon build a profile in order to make better purchasing recommendations/product targeting).
This is one of those initiatives that goes beyond that aspect. It’s about solving the problems that Tim Cook highlighted with the outmoded form of payment systems that has existed. But this is something that is going to take a lot of time to bear fruit (it reminds me of how iTunes started and how the entire current day Apple ecosystem, took years to reach the level that it did).
First of all, NFC (near field communication) hardware is only available in the newest iPhones and the Apple Watch (NFC has been in other smart phones for awhile but rarely utilized). Secondly, it’s going to take awhile for all the foundation to be laid out (businesses will need to implement/integrate hardware and software into their business operations not only domestically, but internationally). Japan has already been using smart card IC chip technology in terms of e-payment for over a decade now (though NFC will be more standardized, and probably also have better security features) and it works exceptionally well (I could just take out my Osaifu-keitai; basically a mobile phone with the chip technology and e-wallet software and swipe it over a sensor to pay for my train fare, use at a vending machine, as well as use it at retailers that had an Edy point of sale payment system).
This is going to be one of those multi-year initiatives; it’s obviously a good thing when the biggies (Mastercard and VISA) are signing on board as the current model (of insecure pieces of plastic) has been in dire need of updating for awhile now. The biggest challenge though is that there is a large demographic that just aren’t smart device savvy (no matter how easy it may seem, there’s a lot of older folks that have a difficult time operating even current day smartphones). Part of this is a psychological mind block but others just cannot wrap their mind around the concept (stuck with the old way of doing things).
That last part, I can understand (it’s similar to how I can’t imagine myself doing phone calls talking to my wrist). But how to include this demographic who have trouble operating these smart devices while depreciating that piece of insecure plastic, is not as simple. Thus it is going to take awhile for regular plastic to be phased out completely in favor of systems like Apple Pay (which will be joining the likes of Amazon 1-Click, Google Wallet, and eBay’s Paypal).
And overshadowed by all of this, are the two new iPhones (6 and 6 Plus) in 4.7″ and 5.5″sizes. Bigger and better for sure but that was to be expected. And they’ll probably be minting money again with these two new phones. The 5.5″ model is going to be exceptionally popular in Asia where portions of the population forsake even smaller laptops and even smaller tablets (like the iPad mini) in favor of a larger smart phone. This may also bring back some of the folks that switched to Samsung/Android during the 4S/5 timeframe. Whether or not it can capture some Android users (by this, I mean the ones who did not go Android because of a deep seated hatred of all things Apple) remains to be seen.
The irony with the 5.5″ model isn’t lost on me. Apple has for the longest time tried to have the smallest footprint (thinnest, weight, overall size) but in this phablet category, it’s actually larger than many competing brands in terms of height and width. Thus it is going to be one of the largest 5″+ bricks that folks will be holding to their heads for calls. Myself, I still rarely use my iPhone for actual calls; it’s mainly data so I can see the merits of the larger screen real estate (especially more so considering that on the UI front, it supports the same multi-panel views in landscape mode which the iPad has). The 4.7″ model is going to more or less be the perfect size for most folks though. But I can see why they just went ahead with the larger model as well; let the market place speak for itself by going head-to-head with the competition.
Overall, I’m glad that Apple did finally show their wearable hand. As noted at the top, there is way too much to digest at the moment as to how this impacts my financial objectives in terms of the stock (but as I alluded to, this isn’t going to be something with the huge sort of impact the initial iPhone had). The Apple Watch is going to be better refined with subsequent releases in the same way that the iPhone evolved.
Similarly, it’s going to be the apps that drive this market and how well the watch works within the ecosystem. Just looking at what was unveiled, I’m guessing it will be at least 2-3 years for an iterative breakthrough (in terms of the sort of shrinkage in terms of shaving thickness from the form factor as well as SOC features/shrink).
As for myself when it comes to wrist watches and styles, I’ve always been a metal wristband sort of wearer. As for the watch face, I’ve had both standard round faces as well as square ones (the latter being all digital watches). I currently wear a round chronograph design (standard hands but that is battery powered for its quartz time keeping) and sort of have a preference for that (which is why the Moto 360 doesn’t look that bad to me).
The Apple Watch is probably something that I’ll need to see and try in person. Myself, I didn’t become an actual iPhone user until the 4S (documented on this blog back in October 2011) because an iPhone had to have certain features (not just in terms of hardware, but also software capabilities). I can see the same thing happening with this for myself; where it may take several iterations before I feel that it is just right for my needs.
I also took a quick look around the tech blogsphere. Reactions are unsurprisingly mixed. I see the same sort of skepticism that existed with the FIRST iPhone and the FIRST iPad when it comes to the technology angle. Something like a watch is in different territory though. There’s the aesthetic design part. Just from seeing it in pictures, it’s a premium design. High end watches also feel good when holding it (the feel of the metal as well as it’s weight). Finally, actually wearing it on your wrist and how it feels overall. These are all very personal experiences.
What’s also interesting is that with the proliferation of smart phones, many have been eschewing an actual wrist watch because their phone, is their watch. Whether or not the Apple Watch along with other smart watches like the Moto 360 and Gear S can reverse that trend, remains to be seen.
