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This is actually taking longer than I thought it would. 5 years ago I wrote a blog post essentially saying everyone will wear a smart watch for health and safe

This is actually taking longer than I thought it would. 5 years ago I wrote a blog post essentially saying everyone will wear a smart watch for health and safety reasons: https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/in-the-future-everyone-will-wear-a-smartwatch/ https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/in-the-future-everyo... It’s disappointing that Google hasn’t done a better job of competing. The industry needs 2 strong competitors.

ve55 6y ago
Competition by Apple and Google in these areas will imo always be a bit asymmetrical as long as Apple makes its money off of selling luxury products and services while Google instead makes its money off of advertisers or data.
- ericmay 6y ago
  I mean... at what point does something become a luxury product? What does it mean to be a luxury product? I see homeless people with iPhones, people put Apple watches on payment plans. I agree with your point about Google and ads, but I feel like this meme of Apple being a luxury product is slowly just not making sense to me.
  - tshaddox 6y ago
    Yeah, I don't really buy the "luxury product" label either, but I suppose everything is relative. All the major brands of smartphones have offerings at similar price points to the iPhone lineup. And in the United States, iPhones have around 50% of the smartphone market share. The same largely applies to Apple's other product lines too, which the exception that they simply don't attempt to compete in the bottom-dollar markets for laptops or desktop PCs. So I would definitely say that Apple doesn't make junk for the race-to-the-bottom market, but I'm hesitant to call them a luxury brand.
    - ericmay 6y ago
      Thanks. I certainly think it’s a luxury product in certain markets, but not in the US. I’ve had others say it’s a status symbol or luxury product and I’m always thinking... a Ferrari is a luxury product. Moet and Chandon is a luxury product... but an iPhone that 50% of Americans have?
      - mjcohen 6y ago
        Not 50% of Americans, 50% of smart watch share.
      - fakedang 6y ago
        Artificial scarcity. It's the only reason why its perceived value is so high in the US, and later gets carried to other foreign markets (like China). Apple is this single entity that creates these products that run this unique OS alone, while Android manufacturers are a dime a dozen - too visible. If I don't get the latest Samsung, I don't mind because I'll just go ahead and buy the latest OnePlus or Huawei or something. But I have nowhere to go if Apple stores run out of the iPhone, and if I'm really bought into the whole design oo-la-lah shtick, I'll just camp outside the Apple store (aside: I have seen fewer campers with each passing year). Ferrari is a luxury product because every engine made is a machining masterpiece largely created by hand. Most and Chandon is a luxury product because it takes a good year and tons of time to perfect that taste. Apple fans may have had something to boast about with the design quality during the Steve Jobs years, but right now, there's little to boast about their mass-produced devices made by underpaid workers in a Chinese/Vietnamese/Indian factory, so they generate artificial oomph over things like the fonts or the app store or whatever. As a Tesla owner, I've seen the same kind of behavior from other Tesla owners, although I find Tesla to be a relatively flawed product compared to other cars such as a Porsche or an Audi. Honestly, I suspect that if Jobs were alive right now, he wouldn't be really happy with today's Apple. Out of the nearly a decade since he's passed, the only thing that was really revolutionary on Apple's part were the Airbuds. And with Jony gone, I suspect there's going to be less of that too.
  - ve55 6y ago
    I would say products where the product price is high, the social status of using the product is high, and the profit margin of the product is high. You could add some other details, but I generally think of those things when I use that term. With that said, it's true the term is a bit overused for a company like Apple. But regardless of the labeling, I think customers of Apple fitness devices will, on average, be happier than customers of Google fitness devices for the aforementioned reason.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - canofbars 6y ago
    To me what makes the AW a luxury product is its something that absolutely no one needs (Except maybe old people). For almost all people buying it, its just a nice to have thing that makes things you could do before a little easier/better. For me I really enjoy using it for walking directions in the city. Yes I could use my phone but this lets me walk more naturally without looking like a phone zombie.
tw04 6y ago
Garmin seems to be doing just fine. And I don’t have to charge it every day.
- dwighttk 6y ago
  How many users?
  - kortilla 6y ago
    At least 1 that we know of
  - mauvehaus 6y ago
    A completely unresearched wild-assed guess: and order of magnitude fewer. But they're nuts, and they are loyal repeat customers and evangelists for the platform. After getting 2 hand me downs from a friend who upgraded, my partner sprung for a new one. Killer features for her: battery life of a week instead of a day and good backcountry navigation. Garmin connect does exercise challenges too, so there's a social aspect as well.
    - dwighttk 6y ago
      So is that guess 1 million or 10 million? the article is about how there are about to be 100 million Apple Watch users. I would definitely like longer battery life on my Apple watch. Barring that it’d be convenient if the chargers were like lightning and usb-c: available in every gas station, drug store, and dollar store.
      - mauvehaus 6y ago
        Probably somewhere in between? So maybe an order of magnitude and a half fewer? But yeah, the charger thing is real. Her new Garmin uses this weird housed pogo pin connector for charging. The last one used a cradle that hugged the back of the watch; no idea what the electrical connection is. I can only assume there's a good reason for the non-standard connector, and that it probably involves waterproofing? I have no horse in this race, to be clear.
GeorgeTirebiter 6y ago
Does Samsung count? https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearables/smartwatches/ https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearables/smartwatches/
- Austin_Conlon 6y ago
  How is their smartwatch software and SDK?
  - m45t3r 6y ago
    The software is pretty good actually. Have a Galaxy Active2, two day battery life, good health sensors, and I find the interface incredible easy to use (after one or two day of adaptation). The fact that it is round is a plus for me too (it looks like a watch if you turn Always on screen, though I use it off in mine). I don't know about the SDK though, but it does seem to have some apps (not that I use many of them).
- cycrutchfield 6y ago
  What's their market share like?
shard 6y ago
I have had a Samsung smartwatch for 5 years now and have been very satisfied. I'm not a big user of health functions, but sleep tracking, being able to see messages quickly without having to reach for my phone, and having an alarm on my wrist that is guaranteed to wake me up are the 3 biggest benefits. I also prefer a round watch face, it give a more classic feel. I feel a rectangular watch face shouts "I'm a smartwatch user!" a bit too much.
- bigdict 6y ago
  Meanwhile a round watch face shouts "I'm a round smartwatch user!".
  - shard 6y ago
    For me at least, a round watch face blends better, and it's harder to tell whether it is a smartwatch or not out of the corner of your eye without specifically checking the face of the watch. For square watches, I can pretty much tell it's a smartwatch, starting from the Pebble days.
benatkin 6y ago
I think Amazon has shown that no competitors are needed. If any are, it's just one. Apple/Microsoft and Apple/Google.
- canofbars 6y ago
  The Apple watch is only an option to iphone users. Since the majority of phone users do not have an iphone it means that the majority of people can not use an Apple watch.
nmlnn 6y ago
Don't they own FitBit?
delfinom 6y ago
Sadly apple watch is the only real product that's making any attempts are iterating to more cases. But the tie in to iphones is sad. Everyone else is still regurgitating the same garbage with their watches.
vbezhenar 6y ago
The only killer feature that's still missing for me would be alarm clock tracking sleep phases and waking me up when it's most appropriate. I'll buy Apple Watch instantly. I've used iPhone apps but they're rather limited, but I really liked what they did even with that limitation.
- adenverd 6y ago
  Sleep Cycle [0] does this with "Intelligent" wake mode, and has a standalone app for the Apple Watch. I'll also be shocked if this isn't a native feature of Apple's Sleep app within a year. [0] https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/12/sleep-cycle-apple-watch-app/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/12/sleep-cycle-apple-watch-app/
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tonyedgecombe 6y ago
The industry needs 2 strong competitors. I think it needs more than two.

ve55 6y ago

Competition by Apple and Google in these areas will imo always be a bit asymmetrical as long as Apple makes its money off of selling luxury products and services while Google instead makes its money off of advertisers or data.

ericmay 6y ago
I mean... at what point does something become a luxury product? What does it mean to be a luxury product? I see homeless people with iPhones, people put Apple watches on payment plans. I agree with your point about Google and ads, but I feel like this meme of Apple being a luxury product is slowly just not making sense to me.
- tshaddox 6y ago
  Yeah, I don't really buy the "luxury product" label either, but I suppose everything is relative. All the major brands of smartphones have offerings at similar price points to the iPhone lineup. And in the United States, iPhones have around 50% of the smartphone market share. The same largely applies to Apple's other product lines too, which the exception that they simply don't attempt to compete in the bottom-dollar markets for laptops or desktop PCs. So I would definitely say that Apple doesn't make junk for the race-to-the-bottom market, but I'm hesitant to call them a luxury brand.
  - ericmay 6y ago
    Thanks. I certainly think it’s a luxury product in certain markets, but not in the US. I’ve had others say it’s a status symbol or luxury product and I’m always thinking... a Ferrari is a luxury product. Moet and Chandon is a luxury product... but an iPhone that 50% of Americans have?
    - mjcohen 6y ago
      Not 50% of Americans, 50% of smart watch share.
    - fakedang 6y ago
      Artificial scarcity. It's the only reason why its perceived value is so high in the US, and later gets carried to other foreign markets (like China). Apple is this single entity that creates these products that run this unique OS alone, while Android manufacturers are a dime a dozen - too visible. If I don't get the latest Samsung, I don't mind because I'll just go ahead and buy the latest OnePlus or Huawei or something. But I have nowhere to go if Apple stores run out of the iPhone, and if I'm really bought into the whole design oo-la-lah shtick, I'll just camp outside the Apple store (aside: I have seen fewer campers with each passing year). Ferrari is a luxury product because every engine made is a machining masterpiece largely created by hand. Most and Chandon is a luxury product because it takes a good year and tons of time to perfect that taste. Apple fans may have had something to boast about with the design quality during the Steve Jobs years, but right now, there's little to boast about their mass-produced devices made by underpaid workers in a Chinese/Vietnamese/Indian factory, so they generate artificial oomph over things like the fonts or the app store or whatever. As a Tesla owner, I've seen the same kind of behavior from other Tesla owners, although I find Tesla to be a relatively flawed product compared to other cars such as a Porsche or an Audi. Honestly, I suspect that if Jobs were alive right now, he wouldn't be really happy with today's Apple. Out of the nearly a decade since he's passed, the only thing that was really revolutionary on Apple's part were the Airbuds. And with Jony gone, I suspect there's going to be less of that too.
- ve55 6y ago
  I would say products where the product price is high, the social status of using the product is high, and the profit margin of the product is high. You could add some other details, but I generally think of those things when I use that term. With that said, it's true the term is a bit overused for a company like Apple. But regardless of the labeling, I think customers of Apple fitness devices will, on average, be happier than customers of Google fitness devices for the aforementioned reason.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- canofbars 6y ago
  To me what makes the AW a luxury product is its something that absolutely no one needs (Except maybe old people). For almost all people buying it, its just a nice to have thing that makes things you could do before a little easier/better. For me I really enjoy using it for walking directions in the city. Yes I could use my phone but this lets me walk more naturally without looking like a phone zombie.

tw04 6y ago

Garmin seems to be doing just fine. And I don’t have to charge it every day.

dwighttk 6y ago
How many users?
- kortilla 6y ago
  At least 1 that we know of
- mauvehaus 6y ago
  A completely unresearched wild-assed guess: and order of magnitude fewer. But they're nuts, and they are loyal repeat customers and evangelists for the platform. After getting 2 hand me downs from a friend who upgraded, my partner sprung for a new one. Killer features for her: battery life of a week instead of a day and good backcountry navigation. Garmin connect does exercise challenges too, so there's a social aspect as well.
  - dwighttk 6y ago
    So is that guess 1 million or 10 million? the article is about how there are about to be 100 million Apple Watch users. I would definitely like longer battery life on my Apple watch. Barring that it’d be convenient if the chargers were like lightning and usb-c: available in every gas station, drug store, and dollar store.
    - mauvehaus 6y ago
      Probably somewhere in between? So maybe an order of magnitude and a half fewer? But yeah, the charger thing is real. Her new Garmin uses this weird housed pogo pin connector for charging. The last one used a cradle that hugged the back of the watch; no idea what the electrical connection is. I can only assume there's a good reason for the non-standard connector, and that it probably involves waterproofing? I have no horse in this race, to be clear.

GeorgeTirebiter 6y ago

Does Samsung count? https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearables/smartwatches/ https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/wearables/smartwatches/

Austin_Conlon 6y ago
How is their smartwatch software and SDK?
- m45t3r 6y ago
  The software is pretty good actually. Have a Galaxy Active2, two day battery life, good health sensors, and I find the interface incredible easy to use (after one or two day of adaptation). The fact that it is round is a plus for me too (it looks like a watch if you turn Always on screen, though I use it off in mine). I don't know about the SDK though, but it does seem to have some apps (not that I use many of them).
cycrutchfield 6y ago
What's their market share like?

shard 6y ago

I have had a Samsung smartwatch for 5 years now and have been very satisfied. I'm not a big user of health functions, but sleep tracking, being able to see messages quickly without having to reach for my phone, and having an alarm on my wrist that is guaranteed to wake me up are the 3 biggest benefits. I also prefer a round watch face, it give a more classic feel. I feel a rectangular watch face shouts "I'm a smartwatch user!" a bit too much.

bigdict 6y ago
Meanwhile a round watch face shouts "I'm a round smartwatch user!".
- shard 6y ago
  For me at least, a round watch face blends better, and it's harder to tell whether it is a smartwatch or not out of the corner of your eye without specifically checking the face of the watch. For square watches, I can pretty much tell it's a smartwatch, starting from the Pebble days.

benatkin 6y ago

I think Amazon has shown that no competitors are needed. If any are, it's just one. Apple/Microsoft and Apple/Google.

canofbars 6y ago
The Apple watch is only an option to iphone users. Since the majority of phone users do not have an iphone it means that the majority of people can not use an Apple watch.

nmlnn 6y ago

Don't they own FitBit?

delfinom 6y ago

Sadly apple watch is the only real product that's making any attempts are iterating to more cases. But the tie in to iphones is sad. Everyone else is still regurgitating the same garbage with their watches.

vbezhenar 6y ago

The only killer feature that's still missing for me would be alarm clock tracking sleep phases and waking me up when it's most appropriate. I'll buy Apple Watch instantly. I've used iPhone apps but they're rather limited, but I really liked what they did even with that limitation.

adenverd 6y ago
Sleep Cycle [0] does this with "Intelligent" wake mode, and has a standalone app for the Apple Watch. I'll also be shocked if this isn't a native feature of Apple's Sleep app within a year. [0] https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/12/sleep-cycle-apple-watch-app/ https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/12/sleep-cycle-apple-watch-app/

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tonyedgecombe 6y ago

The industry needs 2 strong competitors. I think it needs more than two.