“If it succeeds, Apple Watch will become the company’s fourth major new product category since the turn of the millennium — following in the footsteps of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad that preceded it,” Sam Mattera writes for The Motley Fool. “More than just a different branding (“Apple” replacing ‘i’), there are two stark differences between the Watch and Apple’s other product categories — differences that suggest a more fundamental shift in strategy.
“Although Apple’s products have long been defined by their ability to work together, Apple Watch is the company’s first major product that’s basically an expensive accessory,” Mattera writes. “Without a tethered iPhone, it’s largely useless. This could be a limitation with the technology itself rather than an intentional design decision — virtually every other smartwatch that has been released (at least so far) faces the same limitation — but it still serves to set Apple Watch apart from the company’s other products.”
“As a consequence, it does not — literally by definition — cannibalize Apple’s other product categories. In the past, Apple has not been shy about targeting its own products (‘If you don’t cannibalize yourself, someone else will,’ Steve Jobs famously said) but Watch is a dramatic departure from that philosophy,” Mattera writes. “Indeed, if it’s successful, it will serve to protect the iPhone rather than cannibalize it. Once a customer purchases Apple Watch (perhaps for thousands of dollars), they will be more locked into the company’s ecosystem than ever before — abandoning the iPhone would mean parting with an expensive accessory.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch has onboard storage and can play music via Bluetooth earphones. It does not require an iPhone to be prpesent to perform this function. Apple Watch also contains an accelerometer, so it can track the distance a wearer has traveled. It can also tell you your pulse – without stopping! So – and this is just one example – a runner does not require an iPhone to be present in order to listen to music and track their distance.
Apple Watch requires an iPhone in order to load apps, music, and for other features, but it’s disingenuous to insinuate that Apple Watch is “largely useless” without an iPhone present. Apple has sold hundreds of millions of conventional iPods. They weren’t useless. Among many other functions – again, this is just one example – Apple Watch is an iPod on your wrist – no iPhone required to be present in order to play music, track distance, and monitor your heartbeat.