First compelling case I've heard for a smartwatch

[BernDog]

http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/

Gotta love Tog's vision. Mostly brainstorming new ways a smartwatch could be used, that none of them do yet (or at least do well).

[cbelt3]

Interesting

[Speedy]

It's a long read. Apple won't make a watch.

[M A V I C]

I did a quick scan... still makes no sense. All of the "pros" are things an iPhone already does. Many people no longer wear a watch because they have a smartphone. If there was huge market of people who don't use a phone, but wear a watch, THEN this might make sense.

[sekker]

This could be a nice niche product for Apple.

The problem is that it's not a big enough market. Could be a hobby product but not a 'next big thing.'

[RAMd®d]

I did a quick scan, and it makes perfect sense.

Apple has never needed huge markets to launch a product. They either believe in a product or they don't. If they do, production only has to make sense, not huge marketshare.

Someone said some time ago many people no longer wear a watch because they have a smartphone. So I made it a point to ask anybody I saw not wearing a watch, why that was. A few people were taken slightly taken aback but everybody answered my polite questions. Hardly a large pool of data points, but enough that I can call "many". Not one stopped wearing a watch because they had a smartphone. (I remember that three didn't have smartphones, but they did have phones that displayed the time.) They all had reasons other than that. So there may be some out there, but how many is many is entirely subjective, at this point.

Yes, it could end up a niche product, like the iPod. Or it could just start out as one. Like the iPod. It will, if produced, garner insightful "More money than brains" and "only rich Preppies and Apple fanboys will buy it" rhetoric. Like the iPod. It can add value to the iPhone, which carrying a separate iPod generally does not.

In this article, the smartwatch is to work with the smartphone, not replace it. I am one of the "few" people who own a smartphone and wear a watch. I wear one because I want to be aware of the time. A watch is always on my wrist, the phone is not. It's not always in my hand and it's never, never more convenient or efficient to reach for my phone rather than check my wrist.

When the day comes that I have my arms full of groceries or I'm in the modified Weaver stance and need to know the time while wearing a BT earpiece, and Siri will answer merely saying her name, without waiting for acknowledgement ("Siri, what time is it?") then I will have found a scenario where it's more convenient to use my smartphone than check my watch. That day won't be anytime soon.

Were the iWatch to be produced, incorporating the functionality outlined in the article for the reasons attributed, it might start as a niché product. But it would certainly be bigger than a "hobby". The AppleTV is a hobby. And there are a lot more iPhones sold than ATVs.

The next Big Thing? Like the iPhone- no. But it could easily be the Next Thing We Didn't Even Know We'd Use So Much.

[RAMd®d]

I hate emoticons.

[Black]

RAMd®d wrote:
("Siri, what time is it?")

Stop, you're exciting me.