“The big trend in computing this year is the move from staring at your phone to glancing at your wrist,” Rory Cellan-Jones writes for BBC News. “Once the Apple Watch is released in April, the smartwatch sector will really take off. Or at least that is the received wisdom.”
“But some figures released this week by the research firm Canalys should give us pause for thought. They show that just 720,000 Android Wear devices were shipped in 2014, out of a total of 4.6 million smart wearable bands, which include fitness trackers such as the Fitbit and the Jawbone Up,” Cellan-Jones writes. “To be clear, the Android Wear platform was the big new thing in smartwatches in 2014, launched at Google’s I/O conference with lots of hoopla along with new products like the Motorola 360 and the Samsung Gear 2.”
MacDailyNews Take: Why would a raft of stupidwatches, produced only in order to drive a stake in the ground where they can claim “first” before they start infringing on Apple’s patented intellectual property and trade dress, give anyone pause about Apple Watch’s potential?
“But it seems hardly anybody was interested in having one of the watches. Google gave away tens of thousands of the devices to I/O attendees and to its own staff, so the number of people actually buying one with their own money was even lower,” Cellan-Jones writes. “Meanwhile, the Pebble smartwatch which really kickstarted the whole idea a couple of years ago had sold a total of one million by the end of the year – great for a start-up business, but hardly earth shattering.”
MacDailyNews Take: Because they’re mediocre garbage; just like personal computers before Macintosh, MP3 players before iPod, cellphones before iPhone, and tablets before iPad.
“Having worn an Android Wear device on and off over the past few months I think I know what the problem is,” Cellan-Jones writes. “The gadget in question, the Moto 360, is the best-looking of the latest smartwatches but I still can find little reason to remember to put it on each morning.”
MacDailyNews Take: The problem is that these stupidwatches, like the Moto 360, aren’t designed for the user, they are designed to provide chronological deniability for the companies that produce them before they embark on attempting to knock off the Apple Watch.
“Of course, the argument goes, all that will change when the Apple Watch arrives. A JP Morgan analyst is predicting that more than 26 million will be sold this year, which would instantly make it as dominant in this sector as the iPod was in MP3 players. With 400 million people owning the kind of iPhone that would be compatible with the Watch, that does not seem an outlandish forecast,” Cellan-Jones writes. “So I am convinced that Apple will be the giant of the smartwatch sector within a couple of months. What I’m less clear about is whether clever watches are anything more than a niche product for gadget fans and fitness addicts – unlike smartphones which are becoming essential for everyone.”
MacDailyNews Take: Some people are imagination-challenged.
The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks. In terms of its impact on the industry, the iPhone is less relevant… Apple is unlikely to make much of an impact on this market… Apple will sell a few to its fans, but the iPhone won’t make a long-term mark on the industry. – Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg, January 15, 2007
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote last month:
With iPhone, Apple changed the fabric of our everyday lives: All around the world today, you see people constantly pulling phones from pockets and staring at them. With Apple Watch, Apple will change behavior worldwide once again. A quick glance at your Watch and you’re off. No more smartphone zombies. Watch and see.
Related articles:
Tim Cook: Apple Watch will become as essential as iPhone – February 10, 2015
Samsung: Apple Watch doesn’t worry us – February 6, 2015
Swatch preps Apple Watch killer – February 5, 2015
CNN’s David Goldman: ‘The Apple Watch will flop’ – February 4, 2015
The Apple Watch could push techies out of Apple Retail Stores – How about ‘Apple Watch Stores?’ – February 3, 2015
Clueless companies race to debut stupidwatches before Apple defines the smartwatch – January 3, 2014
I want mine yesterday !!!
Plus given the astonishing performance of the stock.. Im buying one for each one of my special friends ! 🙂
B
I’m admittedly obsessed with the Apple Watch. I’ve watched the introduction video a dozen times by now and I’ll be first in line to purchase four (for myself, wife, mother, and mother’s husband) I’m an early adopter of many apple products and I’ve never been unhappy with jumping in at the beginning of a product. I can’t wait!!
The wifey and I are both getting them. Just as I swore in 07 that we’d be getting iPhones as soon as our Verizon contract ran out. We will undoubtedly be getting AppleWatches!! Has the line started at the Apple Store yet?
Cellan-Jones though he has become somewhat more enlightened and less of a Microsoft tool of late, is still very limited in vision and imagination much of the time. He is one of those who sees the future as a projection of the present or alternatively fanciful inventions taking off and changing life as we know it rather more than serious changes of direction through sensible innovation along with a remoulding of the support network that Apple has perfected.
That said, at least he broke his mold somewhat by coming out a few months back with the declaration that Glass was an absolute waste of space so maybe he is slowly developing a more objective perspective.
Droid users want a smart watch, they just don’t want to have to pay for one. 😀
The Brits are not amused when it comes to Smart Watches.
Probably because they haven’t seen or used one.
Nobody outside of apple has used a smart watch. Yet.
Or because they feel left out – as they think they are only meant for smart people. 😉
What the fuck has any of this got to do with British people, specifically?
Were you born an ignorant asshole, or have you put in years of diligent effort?
There aren’t any watches on the market that deserve the description ‘Smart’, and there is nothing of any real significance available from high street stores, so hardly any British people are even aware of such things.
Clot.
Go easy on the Pebble . For the price they did an admirable job with very good battery life. they would tell me who was calling on my phone without taking it out when I was in meetings and that alone was worth the price.
Apple watch will be more of a luxury item and I will get one but I do hope that the Pebble people survive
I’m skeptical on watches, mainly because I’ve been using one for several years and I’m familiar with their limitations. Still, if Tim says he finds it indispensable, then I will certainly consider one when they are launched. I’ve tried lots of first-gen tech products and generally expect a few problems here and there. If Apple gets it right, then I expect that they will sell a ton of them – but it will take some time to build momentum.
The moment smartwatches became a thing, everyone looked to see what Apple would do. The moment it became clear by rumor that Apple was working on a smartwatch, most people decided to wait and see what they came up with before dropping money on a soon-to-be obsolete and fashionless device.
This is the reason the Apple watch was announced almost a year before it will be released – to freeze the market (and get everyone to save their pennies for their new iPhone in the fall).
Whether there’s still 26 million people willing to own such a thing remains to be told, but its only a month or few away.
“…Apple watch was announced almost a year before it will be released…”
6-8 months is almost a year?
“…to freeze the market…”
How about giving developer to create apps, and all time and effort to get every thing necessary in place?
Matthew Lynn has made a career of being wrong it appears.
Never worn a watch (or anything actually), and never will… just never felt comfortable having something hanging off me.
But I do think the Apple Watch will be a hit – there’s no question about it. It’s one of those conveniences that no one gets until they start using it – and then wonder how they got along without it for so long.
I didn’t need an iPod, I used to connect my iBook to my car stereo when I wanted to listen to my music. But after i got one (as a gift) I’ll be damned if I didn’t think the iPod was one of the greatest gadgets of all time – and used it ALL THE TIME.
That sounds really liberating, but sadly here in the United States we have laws regarding public nudity. 😉
There is no “smartwatch” sector. There is (will be) AppleWatch and other. Just like iPhones and other, and before that, iPods and other.
I haven’t worn a watch in 15 yrs…bring it on!
Rory Cellan-Jones is consistently negative about Apple. Any time he writes an Appe-related story for the BBC, he always manages to squeeze a negative aspect into it.
His predictions of impending doom and gloom for Apple have been hilariously wrong over the years, while his adoration of everything to do with Microsoft and Android hasn’t exactly made him look like he has his finger on the pulse.
The thing everyone misses with smartwatches is the duplication factor. The smartphone was a game changer because before that there was no quick, simple way to get all the things done you can do on one short of lugging round a laptop, point & shoot camera, dumbphone, scientific calculator etc. and probably a backpack full of batteries. With smartwatches that’s not true – you have that device with you already and the difference between pulling your phone out to do something and not being able to do any of those things at all is in no way comparable to pulling your phone out to do something or being able to do it on your wrist. I’m sure the Apple Watch will be the best smartwatch as the iPhone is the best smartphone, but that doesn’t mean it can create need where that doesn’t exist (or at least not in the same way).
The other issue is watches. I have a really lovely watch already. I don’t want to stop wearing it, which is why I won’t be buying an Apple Watch (or any other) for the forseeable future. This wasn’t true of dumbphones – no one wants to carry round a sony ericsson z600 because they prefer how it looks to the Apple Watch. And crucially, I lose out on nothing in this choice. There’s nothing I can’t do with my iPhone that I could do with Apple Watch, so again it’s down to how much that bit of extra convenience means to you.
I also have a much cheaper, tougher, longer battery life fitness tracker with limited smartwatch function (a Garmin Vivosmart). I can get my notifications should I want them and track steps etc. without having to worry my watch will simply die on me during the day. That whittles down the case for a smartwatch even further, given this sort of quick glance convenience is a key selling point. Notifications are notifications – they’re of no more inherent value just because they’re on a different device.
I can see why Apple are making the Watch, and I’m sure it’ll be excellent for what it is and a success. But slating people for looking at it objectively and claiming they lack vision is plain stupid. I’m also genuinely surprised Apple haven’t got a fitness band solution for those who don’t want/need a smartwatch – where’s the wearable equivalent of the iPod shuffle? That, I’d buy in a heartbeat. An expensive device that offers me minor extra convenience but coupled with some serious drawbacks and the requirement I either wear 2 watches and look like a tool or abandon my other much-loved watch? Not just now, thanks.
You get it. Almost nobody on MDN does. The Apple watch will provide MARGINAL improvement over using your phone. For some people, that will be worth it. It really isn’t comparable to iPhone and the advantages it had over cellphones of the same era.
My attitude is “show me”. Show me that it will revolutionize my life.
Lots of good points, most are ones I was going to make. I own a number of watches, my absolute favourite is a Seiko SPORK, bought with money left me by my mum. It cost me £350, has the clearest face I’ve found, and is an automatic mechanical, with excellent time-keeping; I set the time back in October for winter and it’s now 50 seconds fast. I don’t wear it to work as a rule, as I occasionally have to operate print finishing machinery with lots of exposed steel, so I wear a Casio G-Shock with analogue face.
I cannot have my phone with me in work for security reasons, but I rarely receive phone calls anyway.
I’d be reluctant to wear an Apple Watch to work, for fear of damaging it on machinery, and I love my Seiko so much I doubt I’d want to wear the Watch as an alternative, because I’ll have my phone with me.
It’s a really beautiful device, though, and I’d be seriously tempted by a Watch, if I didn’t already own one that gives me enormous pleasure to wear and look at.