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From the bottom of the page: Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) requires an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 11 or later. Apple Watch and iPhone service provider
by protomyth 9y ago
From the bottom of the page:
Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) requires an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 11 or later. Apple Watch and iPhone service provider must be the same. Not available with all service providers. Roaming is not available outside your carrier network coverage area. Wireless service plan required for cellular service. Contact your service provider for more details. Check apple.com/watch/cellular for participating wireless carriers and eligibility.
So, using it as a cellular device by itself would seem to be impossible.
- URSpider94 9y agoCan't tell 100%, but it looks as if you will still need a companion iPhone as the "master" device. So, you won't be able to use the watch as a stand-alone phone.
- jessewmc 9y agoI wonder if there is a technical reason for that or if they aren't ready for possible cannibalisation yet. I was really hoping it wouldn't require a phone at all.
- askafriend 9y agoIt probably piggy backs off the SIM information from the "Master" device (which is the phone in this case).
- JigglyGigalo 9y agoSo it has a software SIM? If so it's the first time I've heard of a device with one.
- et-al 9y agoYup. They call it an eSIM: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/the-cellular-enabled-apple-watch-has-the-sim-built-in/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/the-cellular-enabled-apple... "The eSIM has to be provisioned via the device itself, which is handy if you want to switch between T-Mobile and AT&T in a hurry, but not handy if you want to switch to a carrier not supported by Apple, or sell your device to someone on a different carrier."
- mark212 9y agoDuring the demo they described a small chip built in that worked as a SIM so I don't think it's purely software / eSIM.
- signal11 9y agoPeople who want a fully independent Watch will probably be disappointed, but for the use-case of "I want to leave my iPhone at home while I go out for a jog", the fact that the watch uses the same phone number as your iPhone is very good indeed -- having yet another number to manage for the relatively short duration of a jog/swim seems ugly.
- gehsty 9y agoI think it's technical. Apple are fairly comfortable with their own products taking over their own products (iPod -> iphone, and pushing people from mac to iPad). If they thought that the smart watch would cannibalise the phone market I'm fairly sure that they would make sure you didn't need to own an iPhone to use the watch.
- pm90 9y agoThis is just not right. Apple didn't cannibalize iPod with iPhone: it recognized that people wanted it to build a phone and did just that. Apple didn't cannibalize Mac for iPad: it recognized that people were buying tablets in lieu of PC's and thus invested heavily in making iPad's more user friendly. Having spoken to many Apple engineers, the company is now as corporat-ey as any other BigCo and will NOT actively cannibalize a product unless it sees an expanding/new market.
- wlesieutre 9y ago>it recognized that people were buying tablets in lieu of PC's and thus invested heavily in making iPad's more user friendly. Who was doing that? Before the iPad came out I saw tablets used in exactly one place, and it was a university research project on construction management and coordination between building trades. Even after the iPad came out, the people using them as PC replacements were using them mostly for the same set of tasks like email and web browsing, and (flat iOS 7 redesign aside) the experience for those is basically the same as always. EDIT - I suppose there have been major additions to iOS since then (like multitasking), but I'd argue it's less because they're threatened by users buying a Surface (or whatever crappy HP tablet existed at the time) instead of a Mac, and more because it's the obvious direction that iOS devices have been steadily improving in regardless of the competition. Apple's perfectly happy to eat the Mac's market with it if there are Mac users who can get by on better iPads.
- KGIII 9y agoMaybe some selection bias? Tablets have been in use since at least early Windows XP days. I'm not sure I'd call them common, back then, but they were hardly unique. We used them in the field when collecting data.
- christinamltn 9y agoThey explicitly said you could leave your phone at home while running errands and not worry about being out of reach. You need a phone for the cellular plan but not to use the watch as a phone.
- protomyth 9y agoI think some folks were hoping they could use the Watch without owning an iPhone. In other words, as a cell phone replacement. This line dashes those hopes.
- kitotik 9y agoMy hopes are definitely dashed! I had visions of never buying another iPhone again and just using a watch, iPad, and laptop. Much like the iPod and iPhone were tethered to iTunes and then later gained autonomy, I’m hoping they’ll get there with the watch in just a couple iterations.
- FussyZeus 9y agoThe thing is, that would be an investment that would ultimately cost Apple business (or at least has the potential to) so I don't see it happening. They'd effectively be expending resources to make it possible for people who want a Watch to not use an iPhone. Doesn't add up in my head why they'd do that (though I'm with you, I'd much rather just have my iPad).
- fgonzag 9y agoSame logic could be applied to the iphone vs the ipod, people who wanted an iphone but not an ipod. The reality of the market is that either you kill your cash cow (with a hopefully bigger cash cow) or someone else will do it for you.
- FussyZeus 9y agoI get what you're saying, but I'm not sure it applies in the same way. The market demand for a Watch that acts independently of an iPhone entirely isn't even remotely close to the one that killed the iPod. Sure, I want one, but I know I'm part of a very small minority, I think the majority of owners by a huge margin who feel that way are going to get a Cellular Series 3 and be completely satisfied.
- malyk 9y agoThe phone is how you configure, update, etc. the watch. So I'm betting you need a phone for all the initial setup, and then you can leave your phone at home and go on a marathon run and take phone calls while you are out and about.
- robbyking 9y agoYep! That's exactly what they said in the demo.
- valuearb 9y agoI have an iPad. If I get this watch why do I need an iPhone too?
- cschep 9y agoyour ipad doesn't have a phone number :)
- girvo 9y agoMine does!
- anarchimedes 9y agoCould you use T-Mobile's DIGITS and apply that to the watch?
- make3 9y agowhy couldn't you do that with a computer or an ipad, or an older iphone? ofc you could. Just Apple being really greedy, as we are getting used to
- bobsil1 9y agoMobile is the new PC. Config on the dominant platform is simplest.
- OberstKrueger 9y agoIt wasn't until a later version of iOS that you could setup an iPhone without iTunes. The same independence should come to the Apple Watch eventually, it just might take a few more versions.
- jonny_eh 9y agoHow could you log into icloud with just the watch? Does it have a virtual keyboard?
- TheCoreh 9y agoYou could have it set up on the apple store, or you could use your computer, or you could (one can dream) use a phone from a different manufacturer?
- glhaynes 9y agowatchOS has “Scribble”: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206907 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206907 Or Siri dictation.
- eli 9y agoAnd there initially was no Windows version of iTunes. The iPod's market was at first only people who already owned Macs.
- TomatoTomato 9y ago
- kingnothing 9y agoGet a Samsung S3 with LTE. It doesn't sound like you need a standalone phone to use the watch as a phone.