“The iWatch will not by any means be just a watch,” Cary Hammer writes for Seeking Alpha. “It will assumedly have so many more functions — phone communications, health monitoring, maps and GPS directions, texting, voice-requested information, perhaps music and video and games and who knows what else — that timekeeping will be seen as a minor feature, as it is on the iPhone. The only similarity this product will have to a wristwatch is that they both reside on your wrist.”
“Yes, consumers that purchase an iWatch will not additionally buy a regular watch, but this is for Swatch to worry about. Apple doesn’t need to lie awake thinking that people won’t buy an iWatch because they already have a watch,” Hammer writes. “Did people not buy an iPad because one of the many things it lets you do is read eBooks, and they already have books?”
“It now seems likely that the iWatch will be an add-on to the iPhone. I would be greatly surprised if this weren’t true; this makes perfect sense from a practical standpoint. Rather than having to build telephone capability and internet connectivity and GPS into the iWatch itself, greatly increasing its cost as well as its size, these functions will be channeled through the iPhone, which already provides them,” Hammer writes. “But crucially, this means that you can’t use the iWatch without an iPhone. This will give iPhone a huge marketing advantage, pushing a lot of phone customers that are on the iPhone/Android fence firmly over to the iPhone side. Even for those customers that don’t want to spring for the iWatch at the time they purchase their phone, I expect many will not want to lock themselves later out of the iWatch option by going with Android.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
After Google’s lackluster Android Wear demo, Apple’s iWatch is cleared for takeoff – June 26, 2014
Apple’s iWatch could be the next big sports fashion accessory – June 21, 2014
Apple enlists MLB, NHL, and NBA pro athletes to test iWatch fitness capabilities – June 20, 2014
Kobe Bryant seen on Apple’s Campus reportedly meeting with Jony Ive about upcoming products – May 15, 2014
Apple’s iWatch awaits FDA approval; device to include blood glucose, sweat analysis sensors – June 20, 2014
Apple to begin mass production of 2.5-inch iWatch with wireless charging and pulse sensor in July, sources say – June 19, 2014
LG to supply Apple iWatch display in two sizes for late 2014 release, sources say – April 15, 2014
Apple’s iWatch said to come in two sizes, high-end model to cost several thousand dollars – April 10, 2014
Apple iWatch to sport 1.52-inch curved OLED, set for summer launch, report claims – January 20, 2014
Clueless companies race to debut stupidwatches before Apple defines the smartwatch – January 3, 2014
Apple to make two iWatch models: 1.7-inch display for men, 1.3-inch for women, sources say – November 13, 2013
Will the iWatch finally allow me to control time?
Possibly!
Speculating on an unconfirmed product is pointless. Refuse to click on the bait!
Maybe we’ll be able to beam ourselves to places like on Star Trek!
Getting tired of “experts” speculating about the iWatch, why not just wait and see.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Got to build up expectations
With the recent updates to iPod touch, perhaps one will be able to use something else besides iPhone with iWatch.
Exist?
It’ll do all kinds of s… including finding bad guys so maybe it should be called called the iDick a la Tracy.
If we are to be living in a new age of continuity, then I wonder if the iWatch will need the iPhone specifically. Perhaps it will be able to talk to your mac, apple-tv, home-kit appliances, etc., just as easily. The wristband would not be a satellite to one paired device, but yet another star in the constellation of apple devices.
The more I think about this watch thing, the more I see it being a companion piece for the iPhone keeping the phone in the pocket as much as possible. Notifications, Siri, Controls, that sort of thing. It could be quite useful; if a call came in that you quickly needed to decline, you could just tap your wrist, that type of function and such.
As a companion for athletes, as so many of the “health” related vignettes seen in Apple commercials are, I would think they would like to leave their iPhone home, or otherwise not on their body.
I disagree with the author he is implying that non-iPhone users will switch to the iPhone because of the watch.
I disagree because the phone is more important than the watch, people buy the iphone because they like the phone and they will buy the iWatch because it will probably be the only watch to work with the iPhone.
Android users will still buy Android phones for all the reasons they already do, then buy a watch that can work with Android.
Users will only buy an iWatch, if the iPhone becomes their preferred choice and then they will have no choice but to buy the iWatch, if they want a watch to go with the phone.
“Even for those customers that don’t want to spring for the iWatch at the time they purchase their phone, I expect many will not want to lock themselves later out of the iWatch option by going with Android.”
The flip-side to this may be that Android Wear simply might go with simply using any smartphone’s GPS, Data, etc via bluetooth connection to an App on the device. iPhones now support Google service apps like Google Now, Google Maps, etc. I would think the Android Wear devices would be a less locked-in option than the iWatch considering that.
The iWatch cannot stop jouranalist from being moronic speculators. Fortunately there are other miracles coming up.
With all the bitching and moaning about how small the iPhone screen is, can you imagine how those people will react to the tiny screen on the iwatch?