“Police say the smartwatch, which goes on sale in Australia on Friday, will be treated as a mobile phone and should not be used by drivers in a vehicle that is moving or stationary,” Steve Rice reports for The Advertiser. “But a prominent solicitor has argued the watch is a Bluetooth accessory and storage device — and therefore legal for drivers to use — because it cannot be independently used for phone calls, text messages and emails.”
MacDailyNews Take: Duh.
“Traffic Support Branch acting officer-in-charge Inspector Steve Kameniar said the Apple Watch was still considered a mobile phone under rule 300 of the Australian Road Rules,” Rice reports. “The rule states that a motorist can use a mobile phone while driving via Bluetooth, a headset or earphones without touching, holding or resting the phone on their body. It further states that it is an offence to create, send or look at a text, video message or email on a mobile phone. Insp Kameniar said the watch, therefore, should not be used in a vehicle that is moving or stationary.”
“Lawyer Michael Woods said he believed, at present, the Apple Watch was a Bluetooth accessory that also functioned as a storage device,” Rice reports. “He said it was not illegal to use Bluetooth technology, including an earpiece, while driving. ‘You have a Bluetooth earpiece and the fact that you can press that button to make it work and answer your calls is no different to answering calls if I have Bluetooth linked to my car and I hit a button on my car to answer my calls,’ he said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Once again, the world of static rules struggles to keep pace with Apple’s paradigm-destroying ways.
Apple Watch is not a mobile phone. It is a Bluetooth accessory to iPhone 5 or greater. It’s exactly the same as having a Bluetooth earpiece (that’s capable of more volume and with a better microphone) on your wrist.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “skylark” for the heads up.]