“Brian Blair of Rosenblatt Securities, who has a Buy rating on Apple, nevertheless writes that he ‘remains skeptical’ of the outcome of Apple Watch, which went on sale last month, given ‘I’m not convinced that I need a wearable on my wrist every day,’ Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
Ray reports, “To that point, there’s no ‘killer app’ for Apple Watch: ‘The main reason for my skepticism with the Apple Watch is that there still isn’t a killer application for it. There isn’t a single feature that is causing the masses to say ‘I need that.’ When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, it was ‘an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator.’ It was obvious why you wanted it. The must-have/ use case for the Apple Watch is still unclear.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch is an iPod, an electronic wallet, and a [fill in the blank: weather forecaster, gaming device, wrist messenger, sportscaster, heart rate monitor, etc., etc. etc.]
Beyond the fact that it is a miniature computer on your wrist and offers an initial reaction of ‘gee whiz’, it’s not certain why we need it. – Brian Blair
MacDailyNews Take: But, Brian, you just said it: “It is a miniature computer on your wrist.” Think of all that entails!
At my core, I am a consumer electronics aficionado. With nearly every major consumer product of the last 20 years, I have had an ‘aha’ moment that allowed me to see the opportunity for the product/platform and to visualize its potential impact. I have had moments like this with many devices and platforms and I remember those feelings well and with clarity. I had one with the Nintendo NES, the Nintendo Wii, the Nintendo GameBoy, the original US Robotics Palm Pilot, Motorola’s StarTAC phone, the original pager-style Blackberry, the first generation iPhone and the first generation iPad – to name a few. I haven’t yet had that moment with the Watch. – Brian Blair
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: After reading the whole thing, we’re not sure Blair even has an Apple Watch on his wrist. Perhaps that’s the real reason why he’s still waiting for his “aha” moment.
Maybe he’s just going off of his prior Pebble experience and a bunch of Apple Watch videos. That’s what his opinion feels like, to those who’ve been living with Apple Watches on their wrists for nearly two weeks. When people ask us what does it do, we say “What doesn’t it do?!” Apple Watch abounds with “aha” moments!
Related articles:
Analyst: Apple Watch’s killer app is Apple Pay – May 4, 2015
Cult of Mac reviews Apple Watch: ‘Futuristic, fun and fan-flipping-tastic’ – April 28, 2015
PC Magazine reviews Apple Watch: ‘The best smartwatch available’ – April 28, 2015
Apple Watch owners shame so-called professional reviewers – April 27, 2015
The 2:26 Apple Watch review (with video) – April 9, 2015
Tech.pinions’ Ben Bajarin reviews Apple Watch: ‘Powerful’ and ‘completely new’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Stern reviews Apple Watch: ‘Good looks and coolness’ – April 8, 2015
The Verge’s Patel reviews Apple Watch: ‘A masterpiece of engineering’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Fowler reviews Apple Watch: ‘The first smartwatch worth buying’ – April 8, 2015
Yahoo Tech’s Pogue reviews Apple Watch: ‘Magical’
New York Times’ Manjoo reviews Apple Watch: ‘A power you can’t live without’ – April 8, 2015
Bloomberg’s Topolsky reviews Apple Watch: ‘The world’s best smartwatch’ – April 8, 2015
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple Watch: ‘Second to none; I want one’ – April 8, 2015″>Daring Fireball’s Gruber on a week with Apple Watch – April 8, 2015
Tech.pinions’ Ben Bajarin reviews Apple Watch: ‘Powerful’ and ‘completely new’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Stern reviews Apple Watch: ‘Good looks and coolness’ – April 8, 2015
The Verge’s Patel reviews Apple Watch: ‘A masterpiece of engineering’ – April 8, 2015
WSJ’s Fowler reviews Apple Watch: ‘The first smartwatch worth buying’ – April 8, 2015
Yahoo Tech’s Pogue reviews Apple Watch: ‘Magical’
New York Times’ Manjoo reviews Apple Watch: ‘A power you can’t live without’ – April 8, 2015
Bloomberg’s Topolsky reviews Apple Watch: ‘The world’s best smartwatch’ – April 8, 2015
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple Watch: ‘Second to none; I want one’ – April 8, 2015
I am still waiting for the ‘ah-ha’ moment from analysts!
Analyst begins with Anal. This guy just cannot see the forest for the trees. At work it is not only frowned on to pull out a cell phone in MANY circumstances and can get downright tense if done in others, (Such as checking a text message or new email for something important during a meeting) checking my watch is (so far) not even glanced at. Everyone checks there watch during meetings if for no other reason to make sure everything needed to be dealt with gets done during the meeting. This ‘analyst’ must not have to attend meetings often….
Who the “F” needs a Gameboy? AHA!
Gameboy and Apple Watch are not the same. Gameboy had a “killer app” — portability.
Apple Watch and other wrist computers have most people nothing in a new use class. Smartphones are bigger, but hardly prohibitively so.. and the watch isn’t doing anything the phone can’t.
That said, their “Taptic Engine” certainly seems like it could qualify for the blind community as a “killer app,” in light of an article linked earlier this week on MDN on the subject. But that’s a pretty small demographic of customers, and based on their advertising dollars, not the group they’re primarily pursuing, which seems at this time to be the health/exercise community.
I’m still waiting for the “aha” moment when I actually receive my Apple Watch. (June!)
My black sport band was processed and will be shipped soon. I’m still waiting for news of my black stainless.
Brian, if you did not have that aha moment when you first experienced the Apple Watch then you are without taste, vision, or the ability to understand and appreciate technology.
You don’t deserve an Apple Watch.
Seriously I can’t recall an analyst writing about an ‘aha’ moment for the wheel so I think they might have a ways to go.
I think the big aha will come in the future when this watch is fully utilized as a doctor/911 device for you wrist. It’ll monitor your health, detect and diagnose disease, and notify 911 when it detects a medical emergency like a heart attack
That last might be more like an “uh-oh” moment, I would think
As above, I don’t think even this case would qualify. For people known to be at risk for heart attack, such monitoring technology already exists, and includes things like pacemakers which can actually provide simple, low-level medical ASSISTANCE to such a person.
If the watch provides some of this application, it will be a nice plus, but the question here is what’s new and better about the Apple Watch versus the thing(s) we already have?
42/SS/Milano will arrive tomorrow. Originally slated for
May 15-27 delivery.
Nice watch, Dude! I’m sure that version will be the museum piece. It’s a masterpiece, no doubt. My SG sport also arrives tomorrow! Soooo stoked, can’t hardly wait! Yeah, we’re ot, but hella excited!
Go Apple!
Mine arrived today! Obviously, I haven’t yet spent a lot of time with it, but it seems mildly useful. I have used Apple products, and I trust it will get better and better though it will, undoubtedly, cost me more money along the way.
I am fascinated that the analysts expect a “killer app” already. VisiCalc was not released when the Apple II first went on sale. Lotus 1-2-3 came out two years after IBM started selling PCs. There were only a few canned apps when iPhone came out, and for several years thereafter. I don’t expect to see Watch’s killer app until version 2 or 3 comes out, but (as Steve Jobs would have pointed out) it is the journey from where we are to where we will be that is the reward. Over-concentrating on the destination causes one to miss the joy of the ride!
He just didn’t want to admit that he didn’t rate high enough to get a free watch from Apple.
I wonder if he had a “a-ha” moment after his first sexual encounter?
Siri on the Apple Watch is very good. Multiple times its correctly translated replies to text messages. I wouldn’t have thought this was something the watch would be useful for but it certainly is.
That’s an Aha moment for me. There will be more I’m sure.
i believe there is a disconnect between analysts and the apple buyers. i have an apple watch and quite frankly in a short period of time i find that i find it becoming very meaningful in my life. my iPhone tends to stay in my pocket and i get all the function i need from my watch. i have a number of expensive watches that my wife has to remind me to wear. since i got my apple watch, it’s all that i wear daily. further, we don’t need an “a-ha” moment or a killer app to realize the value of watch. it’s the CUMULATIVE EFFECT that makes the “a-ha” experience.
I believe the analysts said the same thing about the iPod and iPad. They didn’t see any “a-ha” moment but consumers did. Consumers also saw an “a-ha” moment with the Pet Rock, but so what because it didn’t last. Success can’t necessarily be defined by having an “a-ha” moment. I’m sure a lot of failed marriages came after having an “a-ha” moment. AppleWatch will simply have to prove itself over time and evolve into a useful product. Analysts come up with such weird sh!t to express themselves.
Analyst a-ha moment: seeing something I can ridicule, and generate clicks for my web site, and get paid. Ethics? Balance? Never heard of ’em.
Use it for a week or so… And you will see! Every interaction becomes an Aha moment and then some!
I interact with my watch more than my iphone now….80/90% of the time !
That is some seriouse Aha!
Lol….. Trolls are out in full force against the apple watch..
Why would i get 25 down votes for my comment… .?
As always … Why dont you down voters state your mind?
Lol
Here’s an aha moment I just had today. I probably missed/forgot this after a keynote demo, but I just learned that it is possible to arrange the home screen icons single file into geometric shapes like hearts or honeycomb lattices.
It takes some practice to get the scaffolding figured out, but with spread out icons, the home screen is a really appealing and functional interface.
I am seeing a lot of positive comments on this thread already – but a tremendous amount of down voting. Lots of twos and two and a half votes. I really do think the trolls or some kind of troll bot is working.
MDN, any way to check the voting and see if a trollbot IS voting?
I think the easiest solution is one of these two: a) disable voting altogether. I mean does it really mean anything? And that point leads me to solution b) ignore the voting system. I already do.
People have short memories, there were so many ‘what is the point of this’ or ‘what is new about this’ analyst responses to the iPod, iPhone and iPad that a digital forest was flattened in the making of them. equally devices are much more about refining experiences and ways of doing things than creating whole new ones simply because mobile exploitation of internet or computerised services is much more nature now, while device driven direct control of the environment around us i.e. cars, entertainment, security, purchase, home automation is both in its infancy and can only be truly tapped once a whole range of external factors change to support and encourage it. The watch is a beacon and inspiration for that to happen but it will take a few years before such things truly tie into those possibilities. But then that is similar to what happened to the I devices that preceeded it its just that they had a single core function for the unimaginative to focus upon a little easier while their brains caught up. Time telling is a little too long in the tooth to quite pull that off so immediately.
I think in 5 years, be it the Apple Watch or other similar devices I doubt that those using them will be thinking that they still only marginally useful… well with some of the competitor’s devices they might.
AHA! Your an idiotic analyst! I knew it!