“As Apple prepares to unleash Apple Watch on yet another unsuspecting industry, analysts such as Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty are busy upping their estimates for Apple Watch sales,” Mark Hibben writes fro Seeking Alpha. “Meanwhile luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer, part of the LVMH Group (OTCPK:LVMHF) has announced plans for a smart watch, which supposedly involves new partnerships and possibly acquisitions.”
“For Tag Heuer, and anyone else trying to jump on the smart watch bandwagon at this juncture, it will be too late,” Hibben writes. “Due to its superior systems integration expertise, Apple Watch will achieve huge advantages in usability compare to its competition.”
“Apple’s systems integration expertise, which has worked so well to integrate the hardware and software of individual devices, is now being applied to integration between devices,” Hibben writes. “Because Apple controls the hardware and software on both ends of the data link between the Apple Watch and iPhone, it can assure that communication between the devices is seamless and effortless for the user.”
“This will prove absolutely essential to the market success of such devices,” Hibben writes. “Competitors such as Android Wear or even Microsoft’s Band, which aspire to broad compatibility, will inevitably fail to achieve the integration necessary for a truly satisfying experience. The pastiche of hardware and software that is Android will founder on the rocks of systems integration.”
“By making it so easy for iPhone developers to build Apple Watch apps, Apple has assured it will have a large vibrant app ecosystem for Apple Watch virtually overnight,” Hibben writes. “As we have seen with mobile devices, the health of the app ecosystem is often critical for the success of the device. Here, Apple will quickly outpace its nearest rival, Android, while leaping far ahead of any other competitors.”
Read more in the full article here.
If I have read the promo info correctly, using an Apple Watch to monitor my exercise routines requires I carry my iPhone to make full use of the Watch’s exercise monitoring features. Is that correct?
Your Apple Watch connects to your iPhone over Bluetooth, so you’ll need to be within 30 ft. for them to talk. So, yes, full functionality will require your iPhone to be nearby.
Apple is updating its SDK for developers to write standalone apps for the Apple Watch later in the year, probably during the WWDC if I had to guess.
Apple Watch will evolve…hopefully where it won’t have to be tethered to an iPhone to be fully functional in the exercise/health monitoring area.
….but not before a breakthrough in battery capacity methinks!
That breakthrough has already occurred. But time to market is still 2 years away. Then the watch and phone batteries will last for weeks. The breakthrough was recently achieved in Singapore. Google it.
The “hidden advantage” of Apple Watch is that it is designed to extend and improve the iPhone user experience, not create a separate Apple Watch user experience. Every recent iPhone owner will at least consider getting one. Although not every iPhone owner will buy an Apple Watch, if even 10% decide to get an Apple Watch, it will be a HUGE hit. And just as iPods helped sell more Macs, Apple Watch will help sell even more iPhones.
Most of the Apple Watch competitors are creating a separate product and user experience, and compatibility with other mobile products is mostly “incidental.”
My problem is that I don’t need an iPhone. I have an iMac and the new tablet plus an older iPod Touch. I have a little flip phone for phone calls. I don’t like carrying the large smart phones and don”t need their horsepower. I probably use 100 minutes / Mo. The iWatch will mean nothing to me.
So why is that a “problem”? If the watch and the phone don’t work for you, don’t buy them. No problem.
“The iWatch will mean nothing to me.”
The iWatch means nothing to everyone. The Apple Watch on the other hand is designed to appeal to people who the hundreds of millions of iPhones have been sold to.
The fly in the ointment regarding perceived value for me personally is that normally when you pay for a watch for these price levels (especially for a supposed $5K rose gold version) you expect it to last for decades – by nature these will not.
As the technology leapfrogs to be able to accurately read and transmit more in-depth information about the body, the use/value of newer versions of the device will skyrocket.
I can see apple charging a grand or $1200 for the gold version, but not 5k. Granted, this is my opinion and is based on my own health and financial situation, but the rose gold watch can never become an heirloom. It just won’t last that long (it’s electronics not crafted internally for the long haul), and it’s technology will become dated at the speed of computers.
You’re jumping to a conclusion on a product that has not been fully realized yet. We don’t know what “future-proof” engineering Apple built-in to these devices. Perhaps the main SoC will be upgradable, maybe the sensor “disc” that lays against your skin will be as well. If you spend $5k on a piece of jewelry, spending $200 more every couple of years to upgrade it, isn’t going to be a big deal. They obviously thought of the fact that it needs to be somewhat modular and customizable. Furthermore, due to the size of its display and lack of input methods the scope of apps will be fairly limited – they will most certainly not be very processor hungry.
That’s not to say that people who value financial status symbols won’t rush out and buy one.
Anyone who pays a few thousand dollars for a showy purse they will only use for a few months is going to have no trouble rationalizing a gold Apple Watch they can show off for a whole year!
Who proof read this?
Founder?compare?
Apple watch will succeed because, as Jony Ive said, it is the MOST PERSONAL product Apple has ever made. Apple users love the design esthetic, functionality, and ease-of-use case of ALL of their Apple products. That’s why all of these MacBook users you see at Starbucks, the office, or in the classroom would likely NEVER give up their Apple products and be very reluctant to drop the Apple brand.
Apple Watch will also be the most INTIMATE product Apple has ever produced. The TAPTIC and little drawing features BETWEEN lovers or friends will take off like wildfire, IMO, as there is no WiFi needed.
Try to imagine, within two years, the prospect of half of these MacBook Air or iPad owners walking around town, subtly “displaying” the striking, unique, colorful-watchband visibility of their new computers-on-their-wrists, ready to tap out “I love you” in coded taptics!
Forgot to mention, it will also expand ApplePay. It may also extend to opening doors, passing through (subway/bus/stadium, factory) turnstiles, etc.
A digital ID band that supports a variety of secure transactions.
If Apple is smart, Apple Watch will have a Disney Magic Band app available for it from day one.
I’m sick of Apple hiding stuff. Why can’t the advantages be obvious?
I find it rather amusing that rumors of the Apple Watch provided other companies with several years of opportunity to take the initiative and produce something truly innovative before Apple showed them what to do. But the best that anyone could do were limited ‘fitness bands’ or Samsung’s craptastic Gear.
Apple does not have to worry so much about secrecy. Apple could post their product plans on YouTube and those other companies could not do much with them. They are a bunch of followers.