10 ms·

Meet the Apple Watch

80 points by harryzhang 12y ago

elyrly 12y ago
News overload: TC Disrupt, Hacker News, Product Hunt, Apple Event!!!
rohunati 12y ago
I think I'll stick with my jawbone up for now... What I think is interesting, however, is what the apple watch will look like 5 years from now.
cnbuff410 12y ago
I think there are two things Apple did wrong here 1. They have customized size and band, while not the shape. I for one love round shape and hate the square shape, and I believe I'm not the only one with this preference. 2. They emphasized too much on the interaction with watch. IMO, watch is supposed to notify you new things, have you glance over it and do some quick responding. That's it. User should not use watch in the same way they use phone. In Apple watch's demo, they have too much interaction showing there and the information on one screen is sometimes crowded. That's not a good sign. I do like the new interaction pattern they introduced there though. Quite innovative IMO.
- bvi 12y ago
  > User should not use watch in the same way they use phone. Nonsense. Would you have said the same thing about people using phones only to talk when the iPhone came out? Not an Apple enthusiast, but I'm impressed with their efforts in constantly trying to redefine how we use "established" products. Not impressed by what is shown of the Apple Watch, by the way.
  - seanflyon 12y ago
    > Nonsense. I entirely disagree. I would hate to use a tiny watch the same way I use a phone. Input is dramatically more constrained and expecting to use it the same way seems silly to me.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "IMO, watch is supposed to notify you new things, have you glance over it and do some quick responding. That's it. User should not use watch in the same way they use phone." Not enough people will pay several hundred dollars for that. I'm a geek and heavy smartphone user and I wouldn't pay $50 just to get notifications on my wrist. It needs to do more or there's only a small market.
  - x0x0 12y ago
    yup. I keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket; the fundamental question they have to answer is why the hell do I need to pay $400 just to get notifications on my wrist? I presume the answer is look at all this cool stuff too! fitness / ui tracking, quick interactions, etc
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- x0x0 12y ago
  customizing shape (round, oval, square) would make app development incredibly painful -- you'd probably have to design one UI per
- adventured 12y ago
  It's going to remain a fundamental problem for the smart watch market: watches are primarily fashion items, and every single person has an often quite different preference from the next person. I have a very specific style of watch I like to wear, and there's zero chance Apple or Samsung is just going to happen to make that style. That said, I'm sure they can sell millions of watches per year. It's just not going to move the needle on their $170 billion in sales. I think even now, the smart watch market is very, very, very early. As in, these products are ten years too early, at least. The technology needs to get so small, the watch stays primarily what it will always be about: fashion, and the technology becomes so small, cheap, and hidden away you don't notice that first and it doesn't get in the way of the primary role of a watch.
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    >> "watches are primarily fashion items, and every single person has an often quite different preference from the next person. I have a very specific style of watch I like to wear, and there's zero chance Apple or Samsung is just going to happen to make that style." I think it's important to remember than most people under around 30 years old do not wear a wrist watch. So they probably don't have a specific strap or face style they like. They want something cool something that makes it easier to take selfies or send stuff to Facebook. I think that we will look back on this like the first iPhone. Very cool but missing lots of obvious features. If they can sell enough of them they can afford to push the research to make them smaller, faster, and better and in a few years we'll have the equivalent of the iPhone 4 which is when I think the iPhone finally nailed it. But to get there you have to start somewhere. I think this is the right place to start. It's good enough, it's better than what's out there, and lots of people will buy it.
rnernento 12y ago
:( I was really hoping for something more impressive. This doesn't even hold up to the Moto 360.
- hxw 12y ago
  Can you pay using the moto 360?
  - rnernento 12y ago
    No, but I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear it in public... ;)
    - hxw 12y ago
      To each his own, I think the Moto 360 looks like a hockey puck :) (I'm not Che or Maradona, so I'm not ditching my analogue watch for a smart watch any time soon, even if I can pay with it..)
daddykotex 12y ago
I think this design is much uglier than the Moto 260[1]. [1] https://moto360.motorola.com/ https://moto360.motorola.com/
- daddykotex 12y ago
  Some of the configuration can look nice though.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  I think the Moto 360 looks great in pictures but IRL the screen is too large, the black bar at the bottom is irritating and the UI isn't custom for the round watch face (the square interface is just cut out).
- Gormo 12y ago
  Wow, that's probably one of the most unusable, non-responsive product pages I've ever seen on the web. After clicking the link, I stared at a black screen containing nothing but the "Moto 360" logo and a throbber for about 10 seconds before the actual page content started to display. Scrolling is just completely broken: moving the mouse wheel in any direction will scroll the page down. But there's no at-a-glance summary of product features, so you must scroll through the whole mess just to find out about the product. Animations and videos begin playing as soon as their section of the page is scrolled to, without being triggered by deliberate user action. One of the sections uses some sort of bloom effect on the text that doesn't work properly and makes the text unreadable. So after wading through all of that, I started reading some of the copy on the page, and while I was doing so, I was spontaneously sent back to the 'loading screen' with the logo and throbber while more content downloaded for another 5-10 seconds. I'm on a 10 MB/s DSL connection at the moment. The page took a whopping 228.85 seconds (that's three minutes and forty-nine seconds) to load over 13 MB of content. And, after all of that, I still don't have a clear idea of why I'd be interested in the product. This is just absolutely hellish web design.
  - sg47 12y ago
    If I understand correctly, OP's comment was not about the web page but on the product listed on that page.
julianpye 12y ago
When they announced the feature of sharing your heartbeat with your partner via vibrate, both my girlfriend and I went 'eeeeew'. Some things shouldn't be done through technology, just like that Japanese remote kissing device :)
- revelation 12y ago
  Well, I don't see the eww factor in sharing a number. But then I also don't see the point, because the sensor will (just as the Motorola one) not reliably work when exercising and theres no tracking mechanism anyway. (There are optical heart rate sensors that are made for exercise, and they have much brighter LEDs and specially designed case for shutting out exterior light)
  - mcphage 12y ago
    > have much brighter LEDs Where did they announce the brightness of the heart rate LEDs? > specially designed case for shutting out exterior light Well, it's sitting right against your wrist, pressed against it. I think that'll block out enough light.
- yeukhon 12y ago
  How about listening to your newborn's heartbeat while you are away? It's just a selling point :) I don't mind listening to my own heartbeat once in a while.
- kawera 12y ago
  And with their emphasis on "the most intimate device" I can only imagine what the killer app will be!
6thSigma 12y ago
I'm skeptical about a few things - mostly regarding the dial. They are trying to replace pinch-to-zoom, but how does it know where to zoom? Also, the main UI screen with all of the apps looks ridiculous. They don't want you touching the watch, unless it's to click on a tiny app icon? I need to see this in person.
- cylinder 12y ago
  It reminds me of Google Glass' interface, which for me was terrible and the reason I returned it immediately.
- Spooky23 12y ago
  I like the idea, except that I'm left handed, and wear watches on my right hand. So turning the dial won't be very convenient for me.
  - pat2man 12y ago
    Technically there is no reason why they can't let you flip it around and wear it upside down, provided the software supports it.
- vamin 12y ago
  I wonder what the experience will be like for left-handed people. Can the watch be rotated to have the dial on the opposite side?
  - 51Cards 12y ago
    You could put the bands on reversed, and the software could invert the screen but the knob would be on the bottom, vs. the top. It would work though not ideal. Overly not impressed by the crown control... people who wear watches that need to be wound rarely do it while it's on their wrist. I would need to feel this "dial" control to be convinced this is a good idea.
- ionforce 12y ago
  > how does it know where to zoom If it's a single element/app, it will just transition to a more detailed mode. If it's a 2D canvas, it will be the center of that canvas. Kind of like how the zoom widget on Google Maps works today.
revelation 12y ago
Seems like a complete reversal. You have the watch-like Motorola running Android and looking like an actual watch, and here is Apples watch that looks like a refined Pebble and has quirky stuff like quick exchange bands that were previously more of the Android domain.
patrickaljord 12y ago
This is an Apple watch so they'll make billions of dollars out of it, no doubt. It looks like a good product too. But it doesn't have anything special compared to android based smartwatches, not even a round shaped one, plus I prefer google now for smart alerts. Still, of course it'll sell well and you'll still be able to install google now on it I guess.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
It's still a little geeky looking - but much, much less geeky looking than the competitors. I would personally prefer a round face but I can understand how that make it harder to do such a useful/interactive UI. Round face is fine for notifications but not as good if you're interacting.
hxw 12y ago
Finally, someone not trying to mimic analogue watches.
osxrand 12y ago
I am liking the idea of using the crown to help navigate around the interface. Glad they thought about it a lot more vs just compressing the phone down into a smaller UI (similar to the small iPod was). Also, how smoothly did those icons on the home screen move around? For some reason I found that really impressive, now to find out what the battery life is like (nice use of MagSafe as well for charging, IMO) Not a fan of those animated emoji at all. Not sure why they included those tbh.
- 51Cards 12y ago
  I'm not seeing the crown being that effective. People who needed to use the crown to wind/set a watch almost always took it off to use it effectively. I don't see it being easy to use while it's on your wrist but I would have to put my hands on it I guess to really feel it. I am a collector of antique watches though, and none of them I would wind while wearing it.
fakeasaur 12y ago
I don't know If I'm an idiot, but I'm not seeing the huge deal here. Is the space from the pocket to the wrist such a chasm that it merits making a device like this?
- TwiztidK 12y ago
  I think a watch would be extremely handy to have while running, cycling, kayaking, etc. Something to track activity, change songs, or show a map when you are unable to use your phone. Unfortunately, the $350 price point is way too high for something like that.
  - matthewmcg 12y ago
    Kayaking...if you keep your phone within Bluetooth Low Energy range in a waterproof sack.
    - mcphage 12y ago
      > if you keep your phone within Bluetooth Low Energy range 300 ft. > in a waterproof sack Probably the one that contains your wallet and keys as well.
      - collyw 12y ago
        Not much use as a watch then.
        seanflyon 12y ago
        Are you saying that the phone in the water tight bag is not much use a a watch? Because yeah that makes sense. Or are you saying that the watch on your wrist with a Bluetooth connection to the phone is not much use as a watch? I don't understand that point.
        collyw 12y ago
theg2 12y ago
$350 and not out until "early 2015" Dead in the water. That's insanely expensive and too late in the smartwatch market in my mind.
- smm2000 12y ago
  There is no mass smartwatch market at the moment. There are some smartwatches that sells in very small amount to niche audience but there is no mass market and I doubt one will exist until the end of the year. It's like 2005 for smartphones - there were some smartphones in the market but they were pretty bad and definitely not for everyone.
- matthewmacleod 12y ago
  You might be right, but do bear in mind that almost exactly the same thing was said about the iPhone. I have to imagine that if third-party apps make good use of the features and interface, it'll be quite a useful device to have. The fact that you can make NFC payments with it is cool.
  - slantyyz 12y ago
    >> You might be right, but do bear in mind that almost exactly the same thing was said about the iPhone. But the difference is that the original iPhone was vastly better than everything else on the market in 2007/2008. It took a few years before we saw real parity from its competitors. This Apple Watch appears to be a little bit better than its current crop of competitors, not vastly better.
- eknkc 12y ago
  Which market? This might fail, but eveything else on the market is miserable too.
- pat2man 12y ago
  That exact comment has been said about every new Apple hardware product over the last 15 years.
- aaronbrethorst 12y ago
yodsanklai 12y ago
I can see it as being slightly useful to monitor heart rate and piloting the mp3 player, occasionally. But certainly not worth the cost and the burden (one more device to recharge and carry around). Also, a watch is a personal item. I wouldn't like to have the same watch as everybody else. I wonder if they'll find a market for this.
julianpye 12y ago
Apple Watch has NFC - now that is something none of the Android watches have. Don't pull your phone or wallet out, pay with your wrist. But by early 2015, Android Wear will catch up.
- daeken 12y ago
  That's the single feature that the Apple Watch has that I'm interested in. Over the past year, I've been integrating NFC into a huge part of my daily life (from implants to door locks to smart tags all over my house) and having it in a watch is killer. Just not enough to jump back to the iPhone. Can't wait to see the Moto 360 r2 with NFC.
- cheald 12y ago
  I'm curious about authentication. How do you make sure only authorized transactions go through without pulling out the phone (which would make having NFC on the watch irrelevant anyhow)?
ap22213 12y ago
Maybe I'm missing the point with these new devices, but I can't be the only one not interested in ever wearing a watch again.
- humanrebar 12y ago
  I'm with you. A watch just gets in the way of the keyboard and mouse.
- owenversteeg 12y ago
  Ehh, I have a nice mechanical watch. It and a notepad in my pocket mean I have no use for a smartphone, and I can use it in places where a smartphone would be inappropriate (rowing, exercising, during a concert, etc.) I doubt I'll ever buy a smartwatch but I love my dumbwatch.
nfmangano 12y ago
Too bad about it requiring a phone. I was hoping to be able to ditch my phone and talk with a watch paired to a blue tooth headset. I'll keep dreaming.
rnernento 12y ago
"Watch", "Watch Edition", "Watch Sport" - The bad Chinese knockoffs already have their naming taken care of...
crazypyro 12y ago
I just don't think the watch market is really there. I feel like its shrinking steadily among younger people as the need for a time teller is replaced by the modern cell phone. I believe people have convinced themselves into convincing companies that they actually want a high tech wrist watch when, in reality, the market isn't that big and it is shrinking. I believe this whole craze started with the pebble. People see and think "cool", but then realize after a week of wearing it that they have no additional need being filled by it. There are of course exceptions (joggers for example might be a specific use case), but overall I think demand is lower than the current market saturation. Also it requires an iPhone.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  That's because all a watch did up to now was tell time, was wasn't enough to justify hanging one off your wrist unless you wished to signal your fashion sense/wealth. This watch does an awful lot more and appears to do it very very well. They'll sell by the truckload.
  - collyw 12y ago
    Pulse rate monitors, calculators, altimeters. Watches have done these things for years.
- benologist 12y ago
  I think the watch as a phone accessory is a waste of time. Developed countries are still selling dumbphones like crack, the number of people who want a smartphone with a 2nd, expensive interface to it is probably pretty boring. But these are going somewhere interesting - they could end up replacing phones, 4g sticks / hotspots, usb sticks etc.
  - CamperBob2 12y ago
    Developed countries are still selling dumbphones like crack But those people don't have any money, or at least don't spend any money, and are consequently of no interest to the larger ecosystem that can be built around smart devices. A cynical view, perhaps, but a realistic one.
cwal37 12y ago
No talk of water resistance or battery life is pretty disappointing. Those two things are key for something I would like to keep on my wrist for as long as possible.
- bobbles 12y ago
  They did say that the speaker was water resistant and all the internal electronics were sealed, but didnt explicitly say the device itself was water resistant.
- derwiki 12y ago
  For real. Will this last a week or a day? I like that my Pebble isn't another smartphone that I have to charge on the daily.
  - mrslx 12y ago
    seems to imply its daily charge - 'easy to charge everynight'.
- ScotterC 12y ago
  Bummed about lack of battery talk but there was at least one picture of the watch with water in it and a mention of sealed internal components. Believe waterproofing is a must
- callmeed 12y ago
  When showing the inductive charger, he mentioned charging it at night ...
  - baddox 12y ago
    Presumably no one would expect that it lasts more than a day. The real trick is getting it to actually last an entire day.
- x0x0 12y ago
  You know they're not done yet? I mean, at least wait until the presentation is over before you complain that certain information wasn't provided.
ragecore 12y ago
As someone who uses the NikeFuel, I've gotta say this watch is COMPLICATED.
radicalbyte 12y ago
Ugly. It looks like something from the 1980s. What happened to the beautiful minimilistic design? I can imagine Roger Moore and Christopher Walken wearing one in "A View To A Kill".
Zaheer 12y ago
$350? That's fairly pricey!
post_break 12y ago
Left handed people are kinda screwed with this thing.
- ninkendo 12y ago
  I'm sure you can turn it around.
  - post_break 12y ago
    Then the button is on the top.
precyse 12y ago
I rather prefer the Garmin Fit. Battery life is almost a year. It does only 2 things: whether I am active enough and sleeping enough. Do we really need to have notifications on the watch. Not sure. May be i am too old.
- blktiger 12y ago
  You can now get the vivosmart instead of the vivofit if you want notifications. The tradeoff is your battery life drops to something like 7 days. That's still pretty good though. (Full disclosure, I'm a current Garmin employee but I don't work in the fitness area)
pilif 12y ago
Me personally, I don't see myself ever wearing a watch, but if I was, I would be annoyed about that crown thing being on the right side of the watch. As a more or less leftie, wearing a purely non interactive element on the left hand as it is custom for watches is ok, but having to interact with that crown thing using my right hand feels wrong. I could probably get used to it, but then, I can doost things with both hands, but I can imagine some left handed people having trouble with this (or obscuring their display when using it with the left hand)
- adventured 12y ago
  I'm guessing either they'll make a left handed version, or you'll be able to just flip it (positioning the crown to the bottom on the right hand wrist), and the screen will be able to flip accordingly.
nokiaman 12y ago
The marketing hype is ridiculous and the fanboys are going to be unbearable: Ion strengthened glass. 18K Gold developed to be twice as hard as standard gold.
- 51Cards 12y ago
  "18K Gold developed to be twice as hard as standard gold." Did they really say that? Ha! Who knew my 9K gold stuff was vastly superior to higher grades.
  - femto113 12y ago
    18K just means "75% pure gold", it doesn't say what the other 25% is and there are a lot of different alloys. Most commonly it's mostly copper, which ironically is what gives it the standard "gold" tint (white gold uses metals like silver instead). I assume they mean "we picked an alloy that's harder than most".
    - nokiaman 12y ago
      Apparently Apple has their own metallurgists now... nauseating... "crafted from 18-karat gold that our metallurgists have developed to be up to twice as hard as standard gold." http://www.apple.com/watch/apple-watch-edition/ http://www.apple.com/watch/apple-watch-edition/
      - mcphage 12y ago
        > Apparently Apple has their own metallurgists now... nauseating... Given how many things they make out of metal, they've probably had metallurgists for years. I'm not sure what you find nauseating about that idea.
- cylinder 12y ago
  No idea what "ion strengthened" means.
deleted 12y ago
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Someone1234 12y ago
Three things: 1. No word on battery. This has been a huge problem for other (sometimes larger) watches. Does it have to be charged daily? 2. More expensive than the competition ($350 Vs. $250 and $150, for the Galaxy Gear+Moto 360/Pebble+Sony Smartwatch). 3. They release in "early 2015" so miss this Christmas holiday season which MIGHT negatively impact adoption (or not, dunno). 4. iPhone only. I understand their reasoning but this will definitely limit adoption somewhat (not really too surprising however). The battery question is the biggest ??? hanging over this. A watch that can barely last a day (e.g. Moto 360) is a huge negative to a lot of people, myself included. That's one area where the Pebble really excelled. With its eInk display, the screen was always "on" and it would run for several days on a single charge. We need a combination LCD/eInk panel to get the best of both.
- skrause 12y ago
  Tim Cook said about the magnet connector "so that you can easily charge it at night". So expect to charge it daily.
  - kbd 12y ago
    That's crazy. One of the great things about my Pebble being my alarm is that vibration on your wrist is hard to sleep through. If you have to charge your watch every night...
paulojreis 12y ago
No "visible" Apple logo? Now, that's strange.
sixQuarks 12y ago
How I miss Steve Jobs. He would never allow a POS like this to be revealed.
QuantumGood 12y ago
Don't see how this fits with Apple's core competency—creating a hardware device in a category where competitive devices have poor usability and limited function. This is Apple's first "me too" mobile product, as far as I can see.
- chrisstanchak 12y ago
  The iPod was a "me too" product.
talles 12y ago
I'm excited to see more about inductive charging. They showed anything about it on the presentation (I couldn't watch). And also, it is said that requires an iPhone. Does it have to be nearby it? Are the phone and the watch always connected?
arrel 12y ago
To sum up: No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
kunstmord 12y ago
Ah, screw this. I was hoping for 1) A round watch. Indeed, it looks geeky at best. 2) More talk about health options (sleep tracking?). Besides, after all the specialists Apple hired, it just measures your heartbeat and walking distance. An iPhone with an M chip can do that (OK, you won't probably have it with you all the time, especially when jogging), but still. And instead there's a load of talk about emoji, causing another user's watch to vibrate, notifications, etc. I would've been fine with less functionality app-wise, a nicer overall look and a lower price. I don't need to watch photos and read twitter on my watch (it still needs an iPhone for that, right? So what's the friggin' point?) The wireless things like payments and opening hotel rooms are kinda cool, though, but then again, I'd probably be too lazy/paranoid to enter the data into the watch than to get out my wallet/hotel room key.
MisterBastahrd 12y ago
Possibly the ugliest of all smartwatches, useless for the majority of people out there, not likely to be on the wrists of most of the target demographic (they already own watches and fitness bands), and incredibly expensive. Not sure how many people need a watch to tell them that their phone is ringing. Good job, Apple. While I'm sure there will be some adherents who will buy whatever you will produce, the Android watch makers will already be on their next iteration AND will have seen your specs to boot. Never thought I'd say this, but Apple has fallen WAY behind in terms of product design.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  > not likely to be on the wrists of most of the target demographic (they already own watches and fitness bands) You could've said that about phones and PDAs pre-iPhone.
whiddershins 12y ago
I think it is great to be skeptical, and it is fun to slag on Apple, especially if they insist on having U2 play their event. But on a more serious note, I won't underestimate the potential for a widely adopted device that is: 1) always visible to the user. Yes, in my opinion taking my phone out of my pocket and putting it back in again is one of those irritations you don't notice until it goes away and then you wondered how you lived for so long doing that dumb behavior. Setting your phone on the dinner table, constantly looking at it when you are trying to walk around town ... the watch could be subtly revolutionary for those thousands of glances a day. 2) always touching the user. I am extremely excited, or at least intrigued, by what is possible with persistent two-way haptic communication. Without having used the dev kit, and without feeling the actuators, I don't know how nuanced the communication can be. But there could be a whole new world here. Just a thought from the "maybe they aren't idiots at Apple" perspective.
- sirn 12y ago
  I got really excited when they mentioned about haptic feedback for turn by turn directions. That was the moment I feel how a wearable could become an extension to our sense. If it could provide me some information without me using or looking at it, then that's really indeed a whole new world. I can't wait to see it in action.
jarjoura 12y ago
Sorry, I just had to be the one to say it. If SJ were presenting, he would have focused 10 minutes on how this device was the best and most precise thing at telling time. He would have shown how the hardware surpassed anything a mechanical watch would have ever done and it would be the time/watch nerds dream device. With all the compromises in size and battery life, this is what you would gain in return for it. Instead, it was sold as a "me too", complementary device, just with Apple magic thrown in there. So now in the end, I don't need a mini-iphone on my wrist or do I want one. I can just as easily pull the phone out of my pocket as it takes the same amount of time. Such a shame really, because it's obvious that Apple had their brightest engineers work long hours on it.
n0rm 12y ago
Terrible design. The high-end customers you desire will never abandon their shiny Swiss watches for this. The low-end customers will (once again) be claimed by Samsung. I didn't really like him, but Jobs was indeed a visionary. Apple is losing ground (alarmingly rapidly, I might add) after him. May he rest in peace.
- dghughes 12y ago
  Low end customers and Samsung? The Gear S smart watch is stand-alone (or tether), has 3G cellular, wifi and looks far better than the Apple watch. It will probably cost about the same as the Apple watch too.
grey-area 12y ago
This watch looks like it was designed by a committee: Two ways to navigate the interface (wheel for zooming, to avoid touching the screen, and panning by...touching the screen). Tasteless misfeatures like customisable emoji [1] and drawing your own fail whale on a tiny screen [2], and most inexplicable of all for an expensive watch - very little attention paid to the actual watch face designs, which are not even adapted to the square frame, and some of which have numbering superimposed awkwardly over images like a butterfly or globe, or mickey mouse...ugh [3] [1] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0243.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple024... [2] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0252.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple025... [3] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0216.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple021... Combining all that stuff with materials like 18 carat gold or brushed steel doesn't really make sense - it's as if they asked a different person about each feature included and then mashed it all together in some frankenstein mess. The fitness features look quite nice in contrast. I actually think in future we'll all be using wearables like this far more than phones - little status bands or com badges or glasses/contact lenses, but this is not a glimpse of the future so much as a glimpse at the dysfunction in the current Apple design process, post Steve Jobs, and their inability to produce coherent products.
- threeseed 12y ago
  It's designed to appeal to broad audiences. Just because you're too sophisticated for emoji and Mickey Mouse doesn't mean everyone else is.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- berberous 12y ago
  I'm not sure how I feel about those Mario 64-esque emoji, but to the extent they become popular and don't work so well cross platform, it helps lock people in to the Apple ecosystem. I know many people who were hesitant to switch from Blackberry because they would lose BBM (I still miss those BBM emoji actually...), and many people who were hesitant to switch away from iPhone because Emoji didn't always work as seamlessly on Android. Perhaps a sad fact of today's world, but true.
brian_cloutier 12y ago
We'll have to wait until a tear-down comes out, but there's no way this costs $350 to make. Hasn't apple's strategy always been to sell hardware with a healthy margin and make almost nothing off their software ecosystem. Could this signal a change? Even assuming this watch becomes insanely popular, will it really drive more iPhone sales?
- slantyyz 12y ago
  >> We'll have to wait until a tear-down comes out, but there's no way this costs $350 to make This should probably go without saying, but a bill of materials is probably not very representative of the real costs of this product.
matthewmcg 12y ago
Anyone else have or remember the universal HomeLink transmitters that came in cars? Your car had a button that could "learn" the sequence from most garage door openers, apartment gate clickers, and the like. I would love for this watch to be able to be able to clone all the various NFC-type items and building access cards people carry around. I suspect there are considerable technical and legal obstacles to this, but hey, there's an API!
losvedir 12y ago
At the end of the announcement they mentioned using it for NFC payments. But anyone have an idea how that would work without the thumbprint scanner of the iPhone? It seemed like that was one of the key features of the Apple Pay announcement earlier in the keynote.
stefan_kendall3 12y ago
I'm buying at least 2. One for me, and one for my girlfriend. I may also get one for my mom. Mine is for development. I see 10x returns easily, possibly 100x.
- collyw 12y ago
  What kind of apps do you see bringing in such revenue?
  - stefan_kendall3 12y ago
    I'm mostly interested in specialty/niche sports/fitness applications. All of the built-in stuff is great for people who think running is where fitness ends or need to be reminded to walk every day, but not so great for someone looking to improve a 600lb deadlift or cut their 40m time. I also think a handful of other fun apps could be profitable, like using the local communication thing to send shock images/reaction gifs/dumb sticker packs. The first IAP Tamagotchi-type game will make a million dollars easily. I'll probably stick to focusing on health and performance, but plenty is possible.
crystaln 12y ago
Looks like a beautiful product. Unclear to me why anyone would want one. Much like Google Glasses, I'm straining to think of a compelling use case in my own life.

80 points by harryzhang 12y ago

News overload: TC Disrupt, Hacker News, Product Hunt, Apple Event!!!

I think I'll stick with my jawbone up for now... What I think is interesting, however, is what the apple watch will look like 5 years from now.

cnbuff410 12y ago

I think there are two things Apple did wrong here 1. They have customized size and band, while not the shape. I for one love round shape and hate the square shape, and I believe I'm not the only one with this preference. 2. They emphasized too much on the interaction with watch. IMO, watch is supposed to notify you new things, have you glance over it and do some quick responding. That's it. User should not use watch in the same way they use phone. In Apple watch's demo, they have too much interaction showing there and the information on one screen is sometimes crowded. That's not a good sign. I do like the new interaction pattern they introduced there though. Quite innovative IMO.

bvi 12y ago
> User should not use watch in the same way they use phone. Nonsense. Would you have said the same thing about people using phones only to talk when the iPhone came out? Not an Apple enthusiast, but I'm impressed with their efforts in constantly trying to redefine how we use "established" products. Not impressed by what is shown of the Apple Watch, by the way.
- seanflyon 12y ago
  > Nonsense. I entirely disagree. I would hate to use a tiny watch the same way I use a phone. Input is dramatically more constrained and expecting to use it the same way seems silly to me.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> "IMO, watch is supposed to notify you new things, have you glance over it and do some quick responding. That's it. User should not use watch in the same way they use phone." Not enough people will pay several hundred dollars for that. I'm a geek and heavy smartphone user and I wouldn't pay $50 just to get notifications on my wrist. It needs to do more or there's only a small market.
- x0x0 12y ago
  yup. I keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket; the fundamental question they have to answer is why the hell do I need to pay $400 just to get notifications on my wrist? I presume the answer is look at all this cool stuff too! fitness / ui tracking, quick interactions, etc
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
x0x0 12y ago
customizing shape (round, oval, square) would make app development incredibly painful -- you'd probably have to design one UI per
adventured 12y ago
It's going to remain a fundamental problem for the smart watch market: watches are primarily fashion items, and every single person has an often quite different preference from the next person. I have a very specific style of watch I like to wear, and there's zero chance Apple or Samsung is just going to happen to make that style. That said, I'm sure they can sell millions of watches per year. It's just not going to move the needle on their $170 billion in sales. I think even now, the smart watch market is very, very, very early. As in, these products are ten years too early, at least. The technology needs to get so small, the watch stays primarily what it will always be about: fashion, and the technology becomes so small, cheap, and hidden away you don't notice that first and it doesn't get in the way of the primary role of a watch.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "watches are primarily fashion items, and every single person has an often quite different preference from the next person. I have a very specific style of watch I like to wear, and there's zero chance Apple or Samsung is just going to happen to make that style." I think it's important to remember than most people under around 30 years old do not wear a wrist watch. So they probably don't have a specific strap or face style they like. They want something cool something that makes it easier to take selfies or send stuff to Facebook. I think that we will look back on this like the first iPhone. Very cool but missing lots of obvious features. If they can sell enough of them they can afford to push the research to make them smaller, faster, and better and in a few years we'll have the equivalent of the iPhone 4 which is when I think the iPhone finally nailed it. But to get there you have to start somewhere. I think this is the right place to start. It's good enough, it's better than what's out there, and lots of people will buy it.

rnernento 12y ago

:( I was really hoping for something more impressive. This doesn't even hold up to the Moto 360.

hxw 12y ago
Can you pay using the moto 360?
- rnernento 12y ago
  No, but I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear it in public... ;)
  - hxw 12y ago
    To each his own, I think the Moto 360 looks like a hockey puck :) (I'm not Che or Maradona, so I'm not ditching my analogue watch for a smart watch any time soon, even if I can pay with it..)

daddykotex 12y ago

I think this design is much uglier than the Moto 260[1]. [1] https://moto360.motorola.com/ https://moto360.motorola.com/

daddykotex 12y ago
Some of the configuration can look nice though.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
I think the Moto 360 looks great in pictures but IRL the screen is too large, the black bar at the bottom is irritating and the UI isn't custom for the round watch face (the square interface is just cut out).
Gormo 12y ago
Wow, that's probably one of the most unusable, non-responsive product pages I've ever seen on the web. After clicking the link, I stared at a black screen containing nothing but the "Moto 360" logo and a throbber for about 10 seconds before the actual page content started to display. Scrolling is just completely broken: moving the mouse wheel in any direction will scroll the page down. But there's no at-a-glance summary of product features, so you must scroll through the whole mess just to find out about the product. Animations and videos begin playing as soon as their section of the page is scrolled to, without being triggered by deliberate user action. One of the sections uses some sort of bloom effect on the text that doesn't work properly and makes the text unreadable. So after wading through all of that, I started reading some of the copy on the page, and while I was doing so, I was spontaneously sent back to the 'loading screen' with the logo and throbber while more content downloaded for another 5-10 seconds. I'm on a 10 MB/s DSL connection at the moment. The page took a whopping 228.85 seconds (that's three minutes and forty-nine seconds) to load over 13 MB of content. And, after all of that, I still don't have a clear idea of why I'd be interested in the product. This is just absolutely hellish web design.
- sg47 12y ago
  If I understand correctly, OP's comment was not about the web page but on the product listed on that page.

julianpye 12y ago

When they announced the feature of sharing your heartbeat with your partner via vibrate, both my girlfriend and I went 'eeeeew'. Some things shouldn't be done through technology, just like that Japanese remote kissing device :)

revelation 12y ago
Well, I don't see the eww factor in sharing a number. But then I also don't see the point, because the sensor will (just as the Motorola one) not reliably work when exercising and theres no tracking mechanism anyway. (There are optical heart rate sensors that are made for exercise, and they have much brighter LEDs and specially designed case for shutting out exterior light)
- mcphage 12y ago
  > have much brighter LEDs Where did they announce the brightness of the heart rate LEDs? > specially designed case for shutting out exterior light Well, it's sitting right against your wrist, pressed against it. I think that'll block out enough light.
yeukhon 12y ago
How about listening to your newborn's heartbeat while you are away? It's just a selling point :) I don't mind listening to my own heartbeat once in a while.
kawera 12y ago
And with their emphasis on "the most intimate device" I can only imagine what the killer app will be!

6thSigma 12y ago

I'm skeptical about a few things - mostly regarding the dial. They are trying to replace pinch-to-zoom, but how does it know where to zoom? Also, the main UI screen with all of the apps looks ridiculous. They don't want you touching the watch, unless it's to click on a tiny app icon? I need to see this in person.

cylinder 12y ago
It reminds me of Google Glass' interface, which for me was terrible and the reason I returned it immediately.
Spooky23 12y ago
I like the idea, except that I'm left handed, and wear watches on my right hand. So turning the dial won't be very convenient for me.
- pat2man 12y ago
  Technically there is no reason why they can't let you flip it around and wear it upside down, provided the software supports it.
vamin 12y ago
I wonder what the experience will be like for left-handed people. Can the watch be rotated to have the dial on the opposite side?
- 51Cards 12y ago
  You could put the bands on reversed, and the software could invert the screen but the knob would be on the bottom, vs. the top. It would work though not ideal. Overly not impressed by the crown control... people who wear watches that need to be wound rarely do it while it's on their wrist. I would need to feel this "dial" control to be convinced this is a good idea.
ionforce 12y ago
> how does it know where to zoom If it's a single element/app, it will just transition to a more detailed mode. If it's a 2D canvas, it will be the center of that canvas. Kind of like how the zoom widget on Google Maps works today.

revelation 12y ago

Seems like a complete reversal. You have the watch-like Motorola running Android and looking like an actual watch, and here is Apples watch that looks like a refined Pebble and has quirky stuff like quick exchange bands that were previously more of the Android domain.

patrickaljord 12y ago

This is an Apple watch so they'll make billions of dollars out of it, no doubt. It looks like a good product too. But it doesn't have anything special compared to android based smartwatches, not even a round shaped one, plus I prefer google now for smart alerts. Still, of course it'll sell well and you'll still be able to install google now on it I guess.

k-mcgrady 12y ago

It's still a little geeky looking - but much, much less geeky looking than the competitors. I would personally prefer a round face but I can understand how that make it harder to do such a useful/interactive UI. Round face is fine for notifications but not as good if you're interacting.

hxw 12y ago

Finally, someone not trying to mimic analogue watches.

osxrand 12y ago

I am liking the idea of using the crown to help navigate around the interface. Glad they thought about it a lot more vs just compressing the phone down into a smaller UI (similar to the small iPod was). Also, how smoothly did those icons on the home screen move around? For some reason I found that really impressive, now to find out what the battery life is like (nice use of MagSafe as well for charging, IMO) Not a fan of those animated emoji at all. Not sure why they included those tbh.

51Cards 12y ago
I'm not seeing the crown being that effective. People who needed to use the crown to wind/set a watch almost always took it off to use it effectively. I don't see it being easy to use while it's on your wrist but I would have to put my hands on it I guess to really feel it. I am a collector of antique watches though, and none of them I would wind while wearing it.

fakeasaur 12y ago

I don't know If I'm an idiot, but I'm not seeing the huge deal here. Is the space from the pocket to the wrist such a chasm that it merits making a device like this?

TwiztidK 12y ago
I think a watch would be extremely handy to have while running, cycling, kayaking, etc. Something to track activity, change songs, or show a map when you are unable to use your phone. Unfortunately, the $350 price point is way too high for something like that.
- matthewmcg 12y ago
  Kayaking...if you keep your phone within Bluetooth Low Energy range in a waterproof sack.
  - mcphage 12y ago
    > if you keep your phone within Bluetooth Low Energy range 300 ft. > in a waterproof sack Probably the one that contains your wallet and keys as well.
    - collyw 12y ago
      Not much use as a watch then.
      - seanflyon 12y ago
        Are you saying that the phone in the water tight bag is not much use a a watch? Because yeah that makes sense. Or are you saying that the watch on your wrist with a Bluetooth connection to the phone is not much use as a watch? I don't understand that point.
        collyw 12y ago

theg2 12y ago

$350 and not out until "early 2015" Dead in the water. That's insanely expensive and too late in the smartwatch market in my mind.

smm2000 12y ago
There is no mass smartwatch market at the moment. There are some smartwatches that sells in very small amount to niche audience but there is no mass market and I doubt one will exist until the end of the year. It's like 2005 for smartphones - there were some smartphones in the market but they were pretty bad and definitely not for everyone.
matthewmacleod 12y ago
You might be right, but do bear in mind that almost exactly the same thing was said about the iPhone. I have to imagine that if third-party apps make good use of the features and interface, it'll be quite a useful device to have. The fact that you can make NFC payments with it is cool.
- slantyyz 12y ago
  >> You might be right, but do bear in mind that almost exactly the same thing was said about the iPhone. But the difference is that the original iPhone was vastly better than everything else on the market in 2007/2008. It took a few years before we saw real parity from its competitors. This Apple Watch appears to be a little bit better than its current crop of competitors, not vastly better.
eknkc 12y ago
Which market? This might fail, but eveything else on the market is miserable too.
pat2man 12y ago
That exact comment has been said about every new Apple hardware product over the last 15 years.
aaronbrethorst 12y ago

yodsanklai 12y ago

I can see it as being slightly useful to monitor heart rate and piloting the mp3 player, occasionally. But certainly not worth the cost and the burden (one more device to recharge and carry around). Also, a watch is a personal item. I wouldn't like to have the same watch as everybody else. I wonder if they'll find a market for this.

julianpye 12y ago

Apple Watch has NFC - now that is something none of the Android watches have. Don't pull your phone or wallet out, pay with your wrist. But by early 2015, Android Wear will catch up.

daeken 12y ago
That's the single feature that the Apple Watch has that I'm interested in. Over the past year, I've been integrating NFC into a huge part of my daily life (from implants to door locks to smart tags all over my house) and having it in a watch is killer. Just not enough to jump back to the iPhone. Can't wait to see the Moto 360 r2 with NFC.
cheald 12y ago
I'm curious about authentication. How do you make sure only authorized transactions go through without pulling out the phone (which would make having NFC on the watch irrelevant anyhow)?

ap22213 12y ago

Maybe I'm missing the point with these new devices, but I can't be the only one not interested in ever wearing a watch again.

humanrebar 12y ago
I'm with you. A watch just gets in the way of the keyboard and mouse.
owenversteeg 12y ago
Ehh, I have a nice mechanical watch. It and a notepad in my pocket mean I have no use for a smartphone, and I can use it in places where a smartphone would be inappropriate (rowing, exercising, during a concert, etc.) I doubt I'll ever buy a smartwatch but I love my dumbwatch.

nfmangano 12y ago

Too bad about it requiring a phone. I was hoping to be able to ditch my phone and talk with a watch paired to a blue tooth headset. I'll keep dreaming.

rnernento 12y ago

"Watch", "Watch Edition", "Watch Sport" - The bad Chinese knockoffs already have their naming taken care of...

crazypyro 12y ago

I just don't think the watch market is really there. I feel like its shrinking steadily among younger people as the need for a time teller is replaced by the modern cell phone. I believe people have convinced themselves into convincing companies that they actually want a high tech wrist watch when, in reality, the market isn't that big and it is shrinking. I believe this whole craze started with the pebble. People see and think "cool", but then realize after a week of wearing it that they have no additional need being filled by it. There are of course exceptions (joggers for example might be a specific use case), but overall I think demand is lower than the current market saturation. Also it requires an iPhone.

anigbrowl 12y ago
That's because all a watch did up to now was tell time, was wasn't enough to justify hanging one off your wrist unless you wished to signal your fashion sense/wealth. This watch does an awful lot more and appears to do it very very well. They'll sell by the truckload.
- collyw 12y ago
  Pulse rate monitors, calculators, altimeters. Watches have done these things for years.
benologist 12y ago
I think the watch as a phone accessory is a waste of time. Developed countries are still selling dumbphones like crack, the number of people who want a smartphone with a 2nd, expensive interface to it is probably pretty boring. But these are going somewhere interesting - they could end up replacing phones, 4g sticks / hotspots, usb sticks etc.
- CamperBob2 12y ago
  Developed countries are still selling dumbphones like crack But those people don't have any money, or at least don't spend any money, and are consequently of no interest to the larger ecosystem that can be built around smart devices. A cynical view, perhaps, but a realistic one.

cwal37 12y ago

No talk of water resistance or battery life is pretty disappointing. Those two things are key for something I would like to keep on my wrist for as long as possible.

bobbles 12y ago
They did say that the speaker was water resistant and all the internal electronics were sealed, but didnt explicitly say the device itself was water resistant.
derwiki 12y ago
For real. Will this last a week or a day? I like that my Pebble isn't another smartphone that I have to charge on the daily.
- mrslx 12y ago
  seems to imply its daily charge - 'easy to charge everynight'.
ScotterC 12y ago
Bummed about lack of battery talk but there was at least one picture of the watch with water in it and a mention of sealed internal components. Believe waterproofing is a must
callmeed 12y ago
When showing the inductive charger, he mentioned charging it at night ...
- baddox 12y ago
  Presumably no one would expect that it lasts more than a day. The real trick is getting it to actually last an entire day.
x0x0 12y ago
You know they're not done yet? I mean, at least wait until the presentation is over before you complain that certain information wasn't provided.

ragecore 12y ago

As someone who uses the NikeFuel, I've gotta say this watch is COMPLICATED.

radicalbyte 12y ago

Ugly. It looks like something from the 1980s. What happened to the beautiful minimilistic design? I can imagine Roger Moore and Christopher Walken wearing one in "A View To A Kill".

Zaheer 12y ago

$350? That's fairly pricey!

post_break 12y ago

Left handed people are kinda screwed with this thing.

ninkendo 12y ago
I'm sure you can turn it around.
- post_break 12y ago
  Then the button is on the top.

precyse 12y ago

I rather prefer the Garmin Fit. Battery life is almost a year. It does only 2 things: whether I am active enough and sleeping enough. Do we really need to have notifications on the watch. Not sure. May be i am too old.

blktiger 12y ago
You can now get the vivosmart instead of the vivofit if you want notifications. The tradeoff is your battery life drops to something like 7 days. That's still pretty good though. (Full disclosure, I'm a current Garmin employee but I don't work in the fitness area)

pilif 12y ago

Me personally, I don't see myself ever wearing a watch, but if I was, I would be annoyed about that crown thing being on the right side of the watch. As a more or less leftie, wearing a purely non interactive element on the left hand as it is custom for watches is ok, but having to interact with that crown thing using my right hand feels wrong. I could probably get used to it, but then, I can doost things with both hands, but I can imagine some left handed people having trouble with this (or obscuring their display when using it with the left hand)

adventured 12y ago
I'm guessing either they'll make a left handed version, or you'll be able to just flip it (positioning the crown to the bottom on the right hand wrist), and the screen will be able to flip accordingly.

nokiaman 12y ago

The marketing hype is ridiculous and the fanboys are going to be unbearable: Ion strengthened glass. 18K Gold developed to be twice as hard as standard gold.

51Cards 12y ago
"18K Gold developed to be twice as hard as standard gold." Did they really say that? Ha! Who knew my 9K gold stuff was vastly superior to higher grades.
- femto113 12y ago
  18K just means "75% pure gold", it doesn't say what the other 25% is and there are a lot of different alloys. Most commonly it's mostly copper, which ironically is what gives it the standard "gold" tint (white gold uses metals like silver instead). I assume they mean "we picked an alloy that's harder than most".
  - nokiaman 12y ago
    Apparently Apple has their own metallurgists now... nauseating... "crafted from 18-karat gold that our metallurgists have developed to be up to twice as hard as standard gold." http://www.apple.com/watch/apple-watch-edition/ http://www.apple.com/watch/apple-watch-edition/
    - mcphage 12y ago
      > Apparently Apple has their own metallurgists now... nauseating... Given how many things they make out of metal, they've probably had metallurgists for years. I'm not sure what you find nauseating about that idea.
cylinder 12y ago
No idea what "ion strengthened" means.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Someone1234 12y ago

Three things: 1. No word on battery. This has been a huge problem for other (sometimes larger) watches. Does it have to be charged daily? 2. More expensive than the competition ($350 Vs. $250 and $150, for the Galaxy Gear+Moto 360/Pebble+Sony Smartwatch). 3. They release in "early 2015" so miss this Christmas holiday season which MIGHT negatively impact adoption (or not, dunno). 4. iPhone only. I understand their reasoning but this will definitely limit adoption somewhat (not really too surprising however). The battery question is the biggest ??? hanging over this. A watch that can barely last a day (e.g. Moto 360) is a huge negative to a lot of people, myself included. That's one area where the Pebble really excelled. With its eInk display, the screen was always "on" and it would run for several days on a single charge. We need a combination LCD/eInk panel to get the best of both.

skrause 12y ago
Tim Cook said about the magnet connector "so that you can easily charge it at night". So expect to charge it daily.
- kbd 12y ago
  That's crazy. One of the great things about my Pebble being my alarm is that vibration on your wrist is hard to sleep through. If you have to charge your watch every night...

paulojreis 12y ago

No "visible" Apple logo? Now, that's strange.

sixQuarks 12y ago

How I miss Steve Jobs. He would never allow a POS like this to be revealed.

QuantumGood 12y ago

Don't see how this fits with Apple's core competency—creating a hardware device in a category where competitive devices have poor usability and limited function. This is Apple's first "me too" mobile product, as far as I can see.

chrisstanchak 12y ago
The iPod was a "me too" product.

talles 12y ago

I'm excited to see more about inductive charging. They showed anything about it on the presentation (I couldn't watch). And also, it is said that requires an iPhone. Does it have to be nearby it? Are the phone and the watch always connected?

arrel 12y ago

To sum up: No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

kunstmord 12y ago

Ah, screw this. I was hoping for 1) A round watch. Indeed, it looks geeky at best. 2) More talk about health options (sleep tracking?). Besides, after all the specialists Apple hired, it just measures your heartbeat and walking distance. An iPhone with an M chip can do that (OK, you won't probably have it with you all the time, especially when jogging), but still. And instead there's a load of talk about emoji, causing another user's watch to vibrate, notifications, etc. I would've been fine with less functionality app-wise, a nicer overall look and a lower price. I don't need to watch photos and read twitter on my watch (it still needs an iPhone for that, right? So what's the friggin' point?) The wireless things like payments and opening hotel rooms are kinda cool, though, but then again, I'd probably be too lazy/paranoid to enter the data into the watch than to get out my wallet/hotel room key.

MisterBastahrd 12y ago

Possibly the ugliest of all smartwatches, useless for the majority of people out there, not likely to be on the wrists of most of the target demographic (they already own watches and fitness bands), and incredibly expensive. Not sure how many people need a watch to tell them that their phone is ringing. Good job, Apple. While I'm sure there will be some adherents who will buy whatever you will produce, the Android watch makers will already be on their next iteration AND will have seen your specs to boot. Never thought I'd say this, but Apple has fallen WAY behind in terms of product design.

ceejayoz 12y ago
> not likely to be on the wrists of most of the target demographic (they already own watches and fitness bands) You could've said that about phones and PDAs pre-iPhone.

whiddershins 12y ago

I think it is great to be skeptical, and it is fun to slag on Apple, especially if they insist on having U2 play their event. But on a more serious note, I won't underestimate the potential for a widely adopted device that is: 1) always visible to the user. Yes, in my opinion taking my phone out of my pocket and putting it back in again is one of those irritations you don't notice until it goes away and then you wondered how you lived for so long doing that dumb behavior. Setting your phone on the dinner table, constantly looking at it when you are trying to walk around town ... the watch could be subtly revolutionary for those thousands of glances a day. 2) always touching the user. I am extremely excited, or at least intrigued, by what is possible with persistent two-way haptic communication. Without having used the dev kit, and without feeling the actuators, I don't know how nuanced the communication can be. But there could be a whole new world here. Just a thought from the "maybe they aren't idiots at Apple" perspective.

sirn 12y ago
I got really excited when they mentioned about haptic feedback for turn by turn directions. That was the moment I feel how a wearable could become an extension to our sense. If it could provide me some information without me using or looking at it, then that's really indeed a whole new world. I can't wait to see it in action.

jarjoura 12y ago

Sorry, I just had to be the one to say it. If SJ were presenting, he would have focused 10 minutes on how this device was the best and most precise thing at telling time. He would have shown how the hardware surpassed anything a mechanical watch would have ever done and it would be the time/watch nerds dream device. With all the compromises in size and battery life, this is what you would gain in return for it. Instead, it was sold as a "me too", complementary device, just with Apple magic thrown in there. So now in the end, I don't need a mini-iphone on my wrist or do I want one. I can just as easily pull the phone out of my pocket as it takes the same amount of time. Such a shame really, because it's obvious that Apple had their brightest engineers work long hours on it.

n0rm 12y ago

Terrible design. The high-end customers you desire will never abandon their shiny Swiss watches for this. The low-end customers will (once again) be claimed by Samsung. I didn't really like him, but Jobs was indeed a visionary. Apple is losing ground (alarmingly rapidly, I might add) after him. May he rest in peace.

dghughes 12y ago
Low end customers and Samsung? The Gear S smart watch is stand-alone (or tether), has 3G cellular, wifi and looks far better than the Apple watch. It will probably cost about the same as the Apple watch too.

grey-area 12y ago

This watch looks like it was designed by a committee: Two ways to navigate the interface (wheel for zooming, to avoid touching the screen, and panning by...touching the screen). Tasteless misfeatures like customisable emoji [1] and drawing your own fail whale on a tiny screen [2], and most inexplicable of all for an expensive watch - very little attention paid to the actual watch face designs, which are not even adapted to the square frame, and some of which have numbering superimposed awkwardly over images like a butterfly or globe, or mickey mouse...ugh [3] [1] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0243.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple024... [2] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0252.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple025... [3] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple0216.jpg http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/apple021... Combining all that stuff with materials like 18 carat gold or brushed steel doesn't really make sense - it's as if they asked a different person about each feature included and then mashed it all together in some frankenstein mess. The fitness features look quite nice in contrast. I actually think in future we'll all be using wearables like this far more than phones - little status bands or com badges or glasses/contact lenses, but this is not a glimpse of the future so much as a glimpse at the dysfunction in the current Apple design process, post Steve Jobs, and their inability to produce coherent products.

threeseed 12y ago
It's designed to appeal to broad audiences. Just because you're too sophisticated for emoji and Mickey Mouse doesn't mean everyone else is.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
berberous 12y ago
I'm not sure how I feel about those Mario 64-esque emoji, but to the extent they become popular and don't work so well cross platform, it helps lock people in to the Apple ecosystem. I know many people who were hesitant to switch from Blackberry because they would lose BBM (I still miss those BBM emoji actually...), and many people who were hesitant to switch away from iPhone because Emoji didn't always work as seamlessly on Android. Perhaps a sad fact of today's world, but true.

brian_cloutier 12y ago

We'll have to wait until a tear-down comes out, but there's no way this costs $350 to make. Hasn't apple's strategy always been to sell hardware with a healthy margin and make almost nothing off their software ecosystem. Could this signal a change? Even assuming this watch becomes insanely popular, will it really drive more iPhone sales?

slantyyz 12y ago
>> We'll have to wait until a tear-down comes out, but there's no way this costs $350 to make This should probably go without saying, but a bill of materials is probably not very representative of the real costs of this product.

matthewmcg 12y ago

Anyone else have or remember the universal HomeLink transmitters that came in cars? Your car had a button that could "learn" the sequence from most garage door openers, apartment gate clickers, and the like. I would love for this watch to be able to be able to clone all the various NFC-type items and building access cards people carry around. I suspect there are considerable technical and legal obstacles to this, but hey, there's an API!

losvedir 12y ago

At the end of the announcement they mentioned using it for NFC payments. But anyone have an idea how that would work without the thumbprint scanner of the iPhone? It seemed like that was one of the key features of the Apple Pay announcement earlier in the keynote.

stefan_kendall3 12y ago

I'm buying at least 2. One for me, and one for my girlfriend. I may also get one for my mom. Mine is for development. I see 10x returns easily, possibly 100x.

collyw 12y ago
What kind of apps do you see bringing in such revenue?
- stefan_kendall3 12y ago
  I'm mostly interested in specialty/niche sports/fitness applications. All of the built-in stuff is great for people who think running is where fitness ends or need to be reminded to walk every day, but not so great for someone looking to improve a 600lb deadlift or cut their 40m time. I also think a handful of other fun apps could be profitable, like using the local communication thing to send shock images/reaction gifs/dumb sticker packs. The first IAP Tamagotchi-type game will make a million dollars easily. I'll probably stick to focusing on health and performance, but plenty is possible.

crystaln 12y ago

Looks like a beautiful product. Unclear to me why anyone would want one. Much like Google Glasses, I'm straining to think of a compelling use case in my own life.