Examples:
1. Students who aren’t allowed phones in school (and don’t say wall clocks, because they often don’t work).
2. Anyone working in a secure environment (government, contractor, military, corporate research) where most personal electronics aren’t allowed. That includes hundreds of thousands of employees of companies like Raytheon, CSC, and other defense contractors.
3. Anyone in an environment that’s tough on personal accessories, such as machine shops, auto repair shops, construction sites…

That doesn’t begin to cover the numbers… Sometimes there’s just no replacement for a simple device that does one thing well.

Just today, I pulled my car into a parking space to wait for someone. When they didn’t show up in a few minutes, I needed to check the time. There were no clocks within sight. So I could…

a) Turn on the car to read the dashboard clock…
b) Wriggle around and go through the process of extricating my iPhone from my pocket while seated behind a steering wheel, or…
c) Lift my wrist and read the time.

I don’t know why anyone would choose a or b when you can do c.

——RM

What you describe is a niche market.

I don’t think the majority of people that comment on this ist would have a positive reaction to that.

So, no, this is not about a trend of being cool or uncool; it is simply which is more convenient and less uncomfortable.

I am sure you don’t find your watch irritating on your wrist, and that’s perfectly fine (as someone said, different stokes for different folks). But I won’t argue that is old-fashioned. I’ll just argue why I think so many people are no longer wearing watches. My statement does NOT disqualify the choice of those who do. It just states the reasons why their numbers are dwindling.

The new model reminds me of the first nano, which I loved.

And it’s true I get asked the time a lot by people who don’t wear watches. I guess they don’t want to haul their phones out of their pockets?

Over the years, the first group has been dwindling rapidly, as it began acquiring mobile phones. Most of those have realised they no longer have to ask others for time. Fundamentally, thought, these are still two separate groups; the first one with very loose sense of time (and generally always late for appointed events), and the other with keen sense of time.

Today, we are mostly discussing this other one. I belong to the other one. Above, I said my own story about wrist watches.

This summer, I tried to spend ten days with no cellphone. As I stopped wearing a watch some 12 years ago (sometime after I got my first cellphone), I ended up with no way to tell time. This was somewhat uncomfortable, as I was on vacation, in places with few public clocks. I ended up bringing along my phone, after all, and only using it as a timepiece. Wearing a wrist watch was just completely out of the question. It was too uncomfortable to endure for the entire day, just so that I could tell time the few times I needed to.

Wearing a helmet all day long because there is a risk you may be hit by a bus makes little less sense than wearing a wrist watch because you may need it three times a day (and it may be slightly more convenient than pulling a cellphone out of your pocket / belt holster).

Everything these days has a clock on it- what is the purpose?

Maybe that’s why Apple didn’t persue it?

But hey, if you totally have your heart set on it the new Nano is narrow enough to fit on your wrist. I’m sure somebody will make a strap for it.

Seriously though, I have worn watches at various times, but generally find them uncomfortable. Lacking any “emergency” need to know the time in half a second versus the 3 or 4 it takes me to pull out and look at a phone, I haven’t worn a watch in at Lear 10 years.

That the nano no longer addresses the watch market, but instead better addresses the media player market it is designed for just strikes me as smart. The design of the nano as a device no longer capable of video, but in a more compact square design never say right with me. It is far more important that an iPod be watchable than “watchable”.

Watches will always have a place for many people. They are a fashion accessory, a tradition, a (slight) convenience, etc. for most people though, the cell phone long ago replaced the watch as the preferred way to tell time on the go.

Apple was smart to go back to a more traditional design for the nano. Period.

Well, seems to me that tattoos and piercings are quite popular to wear these days and they certainly provide a whole new market for Apple to tap into.

One of the biggest of drawbacks of tattoos is their permanent nature. Johnny Depp for example changed his tattoo from “Wiona Forever” to “Wino Forever.” in a painful and long process.

The itatt would change all that by allowing regular tattoo changes to be programmed on a regular basis. Just think off all those useful applications, not to mention advertising space.

Same thing for the piercings, expecially the ones around the ear, it’s a perfect match for Apple’s earphones.

Lile I said, don’t see this as ridiculous anymore, its obvious and inevitable.

What does it mean, really? It doesn’t do a song and dance? It doesn’t help you get an orgasm? It doesn’t have the latest hairstyle?

“The biggest danger sign for Apple is the iPod nano.” REEEAAALLLYYY!!! Wow! Let history record that Apple destroyed itself by not turning the iPod nano into a proper watch.

Sheesh. How do people like Patel end up foisting their stupidity on the public? There should be a law against that.

Recently over retail VP Browett where they questioned whether Tim Cook was a good choice to run the company. They criticized Apple for banning fart apps and certain other Apps, for AT&T exclusivity, and those are just ones that pop into my head, there have been others.

Apple fans like their products because they are well designed, work well, and are easy to use. I do believe Apple could engineer a product to last as long as or far longer than your wrist watch if that was their design goal. They clearly have the talent to do so. Given the orders of magnitude less complexity of your watch vs modern electronic products I think it’s a silly comparison tho.

I can see they want to stick to significant products where they make a difference. Watches are a niche market they will let others live in…if they can.