“Originally pitched as a multitude of things, including an intimate communication tool and new frontier for mobile apps, the Apple Watch has been refined and simplified in the years since its debut, focusing on what Apple has determined to be the fledgling device’s core strengths,” Neil Hughes writes for AppleInsider. “Any new platform and product category takes time to find its footing —the first iPod was Mac-only, the first iPhone shipped without an App Store, and the first iPad required activation through iTunes before it could even be used. The Apple Watch has been no different.”
“In the last two years, Apple has quickly learned that the less you need to interact with your wearable device, the better,” Hughes writes. “Accordingly, Apple has shown a willingness to go back to the drawing board with the Apple Watch, refining what works and eschewing what does not. Those changes have helped sales of the Apple Watch to grow, reaching a new record in the holiday 2016 quarter.”
“Features that work without much— or any— physical input have proven to be the ‘killer apps’ for Apple Watch,” Hughes writes. “Apple has also partnered with Nike on specialized versions of its watch, though the hardware is essentially identical to the standard Series 2 models. This week, the partnership with Nike will expand with a new NikeLab model set to go on sale Thursday with a new watch band color. The partnership with Nike, in some ways, summarizes where the Apple Watch has succeeded, and where the original vision fell short.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: When we’re running, there is no more favored Apple product than our Apple Watch Nike+ units. To have a device so small, on your wrist that tracks your run, measures your pace, monitors your heart rate, and plays music so effortlessly is wonderful. If and when the Apple Watch gains the ability to make/receive voice calls and text messages without an iPhone present, it will transcend into insanely great territory!
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