“Originally pitched as a multitude of things, including an intimate communication tool and new frontier for mobile apps, the Apple Watch has been refined and simplified in the years since its debut, focusing on what Apple has determined to be the fledgling device’s core strengths,” Neil Hughes writes for AppleInsider. “Any new platform and product category takes time to find its footing —the first iPod was Mac-only, the first iPhone shipped without an App Store, and the first iPad required activation through iTunes before it could even be used. The Apple Watch has been no different.”
“In the last two years, Apple has quickly learned that the less you need to interact with your wearable device, the better,” Hughes writes. “Accordingly, Apple has shown a willingness to go back to the drawing board with the Apple Watch, refining what works and eschewing what does not. Those changes have helped sales of the Apple Watch to grow, reaching a new record in the holiday 2016 quarter.”
“Features that work without much— or any— physical input have proven to be the ‘killer apps’ for Apple Watch,” Hughes writes. “Apple has also partnered with Nike on specialized versions of its watch, though the hardware is essentially identical to the standard Series 2 models. This week, the partnership with Nike will expand with a new NikeLab model set to go on sale Thursday with a new watch band color. The partnership with Nike, in some ways, summarizes where the Apple Watch has succeeded, and where the original vision fell short.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When we’re running, there is no more favored Apple product than our Apple Watch Nike+ units. To have a device so small, on your wrist that tracks your run, measures your pace, monitors your heart rate, and plays music so effortlessly is wonderful. If and when the Apple Watch gains the ability to make/receive voice calls and text messages without an iPhone present, it will transcend into insanely great territory!
SEE ALSO:
Happy second birthday, Apple Watch! – April 24, 2017
New limited edition Apple Watch Nikelab champions neutral-toned style – April 20, 2017
Apple Watch Series 3 coming in second half 2017, sources say – April 5, 2017
The Apple Watch is still the best designed smartwatch – March 14, 2017
The Apple Watch is winning – March 2, 2017
Apple Watch had massive holiday quarter; took nearly 80% share of total smartwatch revenue – February 10, 2017
The Apple Watch ‘WOW’ moment – February 3, 2017
Apple Watch dominates with 63% of worldwide smartwatch market – February 2, 2017
Apple smashes Street; iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch set all-time records – January 31, 2017
Apple Watch has blood on its hands: Pebble is dead – December 7, 2016
Apple Watch has blood on its hands: ‘Microsoft Band’ wearable is dead – October 4, 2016
Computerworld reviews Apple Watch Series 2: It’s time to jump in – September 27, 2016
Ars Technica reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘Great experience with very few hiccups’ – September 22, 2016
Mossberg reviews Apple’s watchOS 3: Quicker, easier, and more useful – September 21, 2016
CNET reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘The smooth wrist companion it was always meant to be’ – September 14, 2016
WSJ reviews Apple Watch Series 2: ‘Apple Watch finds its purpose in life’ – September 14, 2016
The Verge reviews Apple Watch Series 2: There’s something effortlessly cool about it – September 14, 2016
Apple Watch Series 2: Apple refocuses its smartwatch – September 12, 2016
I still LOVE my series 1. After many years of not wearing a watch my wrist feels naked once again on the couple times I forgot to put it on in the morning.
What i’m looking forward to:
Continued waterproofing, getting thinner, MORE WATCH FACES!!!!
Cellular for text and calls would be neat, but IF they do that, the speaker needs to be at least 2 times louder IMO.
With AirPods you don’t need that speaker. I never used EarPods at all choosing instead to wear a full Bluetooth headset around my neck. Now with AirPods I truly do turn around and go back home if I forget that little white case. I can certainly imagine life without an iPhone if the watch had cell connectivity. Add some sort of wireless interface for the occasional app I may use and the watch suddenly is the center of communications.
Apple Watch – over promised and under delivered. Apple Watch is now “simplified”, meaning its true “usefulness” is a narrow and limited set of “functions”. Apple Watch is merely an Apple fanboy identity bracelet.
Since you clearly despise Apple, its products, and its “fanboys,” why are you wasting your time (and ours) posting on this site?
Just asking.
Wasting my time with the likes of you, obviously. I’m corresponding with men here, you don’t qualify, sycophant.
Oooo… I’m so impressed with your manly intellect, Frank. I would guess that you think women fall all over you for your witty repartee, although you don’t seem to think that there are any women here worth corresponding with.
It was actually a serious question. If you are convinced that all Apple products are crap and their users are unmanly “fanboys,” why do you bother reading or posting on an Apple site?
Apple is not beyond criticism, sycophant. Of course, anyone who claims to be objective, unbiased, and intelligent would know that.
Frank it sounds like you’ve don’t own an Apple Watch so you don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a very useful product that augments the funtionality of an iPhone and AirPods.
Picked up my Apple Watch Series 2 three hours ago. I finally caved – not even unboxed yet.
Certainly Apple Watch 2 simplified the UI—but it also added GPS and water resistance to 50m. Lack of those two features were deal-killers for me.
I haven’t purchased one yet, but now it is most definitely on my wish list.
Apple Watch series 2…like all other series, is bulky, boxy, and thick and bouncy, especially when running. As said before, it is a watch designed by 40-somethings for 40-somethings.
Apple watch is a compromise!
If Apple wants teenagers to wear something on their wrist for the first time, the design is going to have to be sleek, slick, curved, super thin, and colorful. When Ive and Cook finally realize that they live in a bubble and finally deliver a wrist device that teenagers will consider buying, then they will see sales in the stratosphere. The competition is going to figure it out first…it’s just plain common sense and Steve Jobs would have thrown that boxy, thick device across Apple Park into the fountain. Visual design is Apple. This is Cook’s first design and it is visually bad.
It doesn’t sound like you own one. “Bouncy” WTF?
Thank for sharing,you did very good job. .Apple watches are very nice look. This watch look different then i want buy it.I suggest everyone to use this greatest watch.Keep it up.