So far, the people using smart watches are early adopters: hobbyists, gadget fans, and hackers. They see smart watches as the hardware it is based on: a computer on a wrist. It's got a touchscreen, a processor, some sensors and wireless. Companies who listen to what these early adopters want are going to hear feedback that steers them away from creating a mainstream product. The average iPhone customer is not waiting breathlessly to put another redundant computing gadget on their wrist.
To turn smart watches into a mainstream product, it's going to take some imagination and vision. If Apple simply created a miniature iPod Touch with a tiny touchscreen and an App Store, it wouldn't convince mainstream buyers to spend money on it. Whatever Apple comes up with when they enter this market, it should come with a product vision that sells it. Otherwise, Apple is going to have to call it another "hobby."
I will be surprised if Apple releases anything that is called or is like any modern "smartwatch" in functionality. I feel the right way to make wearables a success is not try to steal as many smartphone features as possible but make it mostly an accessory to an iPhone with some watch features for the UI.
I think the current lot of "smartwatches" are the modern day equivalent to the calculator watch of the 80's. As a kid I thought it was a cool gadget but the reality of what a poor concept that was quickly set in. I don't think it will be what the iPhone did to the smartphone community because even though the Blackberry was limited it was still a great device for what it was, which is not like any of current "smartwatches" I've seen, and most fitness bands I'd categorize more as an equivalent to the pager.
I hope Motorola's concept that is slated to be released this Summer has some wings but this late in the game with nothing but a concept video as a tease is highly suspect.
WOW! no surprise here. As the pointed out and I have said all along, battery life if an issue, 24 hours is not enough. I know most people charge their cell phone at night, most likely next to their bed. For those who wear a watch as jewelry off it comes at night as well. for those who use a watch as a watch it not unusually for them to wear them non stop especially at night when they go to bed, why is it easier to just look at your watch to see what time it is when you wake up. Many people who have one watch usually never take it off.
No think about what a watch/notifier/phone controller/health perfromance monitor should be, and if does all these thinks for you mostly likely you are not going to want to take it off at night since it make it a lot easier to just look at the device to see what is going on verse reaching over to your phone.
It is the same complaint people have about these products already on the market not working and having to reach into their pocket, why bother.
1) Why do I need a display on the backside of my wrist where I can't see it? Can you imagine a watch with that?
2) Why do I want a display and the other electronics to be flexible? Can you imagine a watch with that?
Hi
1) This concept allows several things:
- The contents rotate to always be in your eyesight. However you hold your hand, whatever position it is in, you can always see the display and its data. One of the positions when you can clearly see the back of you wrist is when you hold you hands together, touching your fingertips. It's about continuity, convenience, coherence.
- What others see is also important. Remember the Apple logo - it's meant to be visible for others, not for you. I believe this concept will bring a revolutionary fashion customization through software and downloadable skins. The skin needs to be applied all over the device - just like existing watch bands have the same material and color even in places which you cannot see. This concept is designed for mass-market - for kids, teenagers, adults, seniors. They will customize it with app store skins according to their tastes. Apple's competency is not in sewing machines and leather but in building a combination of revolutionary hardware and software.
- Apple's goal is not to build a watch but to reinvent a product which has been around for several centuries and working merely a few functions: measuring time, fashion and status statement. Apple is bulding a 21st century wearable device. I understand it's hard to imagine a car in the time of horses but we speak Apple, we must forget all paradigms.
2) Apple is doing the same thing as it did when designing the iPhone. It is identifying the high value parts and low value parts and replacing the latter with the former. On the smartwatch just as on the phone, the high value part is the screen. A small screen = baby software, limited functions and visibility, no context, poor user experience. The low value part on the watch is the band. It just holds the device on your wrist plus adds the fashion element. The goal is to replace the low value part with the high value part. The question is can I have a large display which would at the same time work the same functions as the band? Just as with the iPhone - can I have a large screen which would at the same time work the same function as the buttons? And because the wrist is round, the wrap-around display needs to be flexible, just as the watch bands are. Flexible displays, PCBs, baterries - this technology will be to 2014 same as multitouch screens were to 2007.
Again, Apple is not making a watch, it is reinventing it for the 21st century building a revolutionary product which will surprise and delight its customers. What we all need to do is forget about the watch paradigm, leave our tunnel vision and embrace the future. The flexible wrap-around display is a revolutionary, simple, elegant and mass-market design which will together with health, fitness, music, fashion, finance and other functions reinvent the watch industry. The funny thing is just as with the iPhone, Apple does't fully know what the iWatch will do in a few years time. But it will give devs all the tools they need for unbeliavable things - a large display, great UI, sensors, connectivity and an app store.
If you read into Apple's patents, recent acquisions, their former product blueprints, design philosophy, the project's team scale and time it is taking, it all makes perfect sense. The guys who took the easy route are already finished. Their products are already in the warehouses, not sold or returned. The guys who did buy them and wear them are not kids, teenagers, women, seniors. They are an enthuziast niche willing to put up with a long list of inconveniencies - just as this article confirms. Apple is making a mass-market hit which will sell in hundreds of millions.
Should we see a similar keynote like Steve Jobs' in 2007 iPhone event about Smart Phone: "The problem is they (smart phone) are not so smart and are not so easy to use"? Current Smart watches are not so smart and not so easy to use. Apple, please make "a leapfrog product" that's way smarter than any smart watch's ever made that will not only change the way we use a smart watch, but also entire wearable devices. I believe in Apple.
Should we see a similar keynote like Steve Jobs' in 2007 iPhone event about Smart Phone: "The problem is they (smart phone) are not so smart and are not so easy to use"? Current Smart watches are not so smart and not so easy to use. Apple, please make "a leapfrog product" that's way smarter than any smart watch's ever made that will not only change the way we use a smart watch, but also entire wearable devices. I believe in Apple.
Oh, definitely. Phil will say the current smartwatches are worse than the watch and the mobile phone. Compared to the watch, the battery life sucks and the device is bulkier, heavier and ugly. A smaller kid/teen/women version is not possible to bring to market due to the legacy design's limitations. Compared to the phone, the tiny display runs baby apps which are not worth the convenience trade-off. We need a device which is better than the watch and at the same time offers wearable convenience and functions not possible on a mobile phone!
A leapfrog product? Utmost confidence in Apple? You betcha! AAPL bought.
There haven't been any leaks of an iWatch in hardware terms, as far as I know. That suggests to me that either Tim Cook is doubling down on secrecy very successfully or that there is no imminent release this year.
I'm not sold on the idea of a wrap-around bracelet. I don't think I want to wear a bracelet.
1) Why do I need a display on the backside of my wrist where I can't see it? Can you imagine a watch with that?
2) Why do I want a display and the other electronics to be flexible? Can you imagine a watch with that?
1. I totally can! I can imagine it being really, really cool. Imagine it like a bangle rather than a "watch" - even if the bangle rotates around your wrist, the device's sensors always shift the view to the optimum position. Imagine moving it around with your hand and seeing the screen "rubber band" to always be in the right spot. That'd be very cool indeed.
2. Absolutely! I think this would be one of the killer aspects of the product. When you don't want to show information on the screen it might just have a screensaver that wraps all the way around. Again, think of it more like a band than a "watch".
Huge huge possibilities there, I hope that Apple breaks out of existing ideas about what watches should be and delivers something that is an entirely new type of wearable device - not specifically a "watch".
1) Why do I need a display on the backside of my wrist where I can't see it? Can you imagine a watch with that?
2) Why do I want a display and the other electronics to be flexible? Can you imagine a watch with that?
Not saying Apple will be releasing anything like this, but you can imagine how a flexible display could provide a larger viewing area in a low profile, less bulky design...
Not saying Apple will be releasing anything like this, but you can imagine how a flexible display could provide a larger viewing area in a low profile, less bulky design...
[images]
Why does the display and other electronics have to be flexible in order for the display to be curved and ergonomic? Why can't the components be static but curved? Being static makes it stronger, more durable, and cheaper to build.
Why does the display and other electronics have to be flexible in order for the display to be curved and ergonomic? Why can't the components be static but curved? Being static makes it stronger, more durable, and cheaper to build.
The display doesn't have to be anything - but I think what people are saying is that there are some valid reasons why a flexible or curved "panoramic" display would be great (and would be more of a game-changer than, say, another device with a typical watch form factor).
The display doesn't have to be anything - but I think what people are saying is that there are some valid reasons why a flexible or curved "panoramic" display would be great (and would be more of a game-changer than, say, another device with a typical watch form factor).
I'm trying to point out that a curved display doesn't mean it's also flexible. These terms are interchangeable.
I keep reading flexible over curved so I have to wonder.
Maybe the confusion comes in because the two very much go hand-in-hand, who knows.
In any case, I think freediverx underscored the difference between a simple "curved screen iWatch" and some kind of wristband that is entirely a screen. I'm certainly hoping for something like the latter, but I doubt we'll see something that advanced.
1. I totally can! I can imagine it being really, really cool. Imagine it like a bangle rather than a "watch" - even if the bangle rotates around your wrist, the device's sensors always shift the view to the optimum position. Imagine moving it around with your hand and seeing the screen "rubber band" to always be in the right spot. That'd be very cool indeed.
2. Absolutely! I think this would be one of the killer aspects of the product. When you don't want to show information on the screen it might just have a screensaver that wraps all the way around. Again, think of it more like a band than a "watch".
Huge huge possibilities there, I hope that Apple breaks out of existing ideas about what watches should be and delivers something that is an entirely new type of wearable device - not specifically a "watch".
It is a cool concept, indeed. Eg I believe when cycling, the device's motion sensor will trigger a landscape mode. I also loved Apple's idea of notifications - the right edge of the flexible display will flash (in whatever color you choose) so it's visible even if the device is partly covered by your sleeve. And the ideas could go on and on. All in all, a key element of every new Apple product category is a wow factor which captures imagination of the mass-market. Remember iPod's clickwheel and 1000 songs in your pocket. Remember iPhone's revolutionary mobile software powered by the multitouch and accelometer technology. Apple's flexible interactive bracelet has the same magic around it.
Indeed, fashion customization and personality statement via software will be a killer feature delivering another wow. Do you want to support AIDS? Dowload a charity AIDS skin from iWatch store. For kids, Disney has a large collection featuring skins based on all of their movies. Swapping physical watch bands will be so last century.
Definitely huge possibilities. Just like with the iPhone, the iWatch's large flexible wrap-around display will deliver a magic canvas offering endless possibilities.
A watch is a watch as long as it tells time. WHO CARES!
You're right, but that's a fairly myopic comment too.
Is the iPhone just a phone? I don't think so.
Again, my hope is that the "iWatch" is not just an electronic watch with a couple of apps (AKA Samsung Gear). I think it has to be different in order to be relevant and to be a truly viable product. I haven't seen any break-out smart watch products yet; I don't think anyone really knows what a smart watch should be.
A watch is a watch as long as it tells time. WHO CARES!
You're right, but that's a fairly myopic comment too.
Is the iPhone just a phone? I don't think so.
Again, my hope is that the "iWatch" is not just an electronic watch with a couple of apps (AKA Samsung Gear). I think it has to be different in order to be relevant and to be a truly viable product. I haven't seen any break-out smart watch products yet; I don't think anyone really knows what a smart watch should be.
Yes. My limited imagination sees the most compelling uses as mobile payments and as a proximity sensor to enable/disable your Apple hardware.
Comments
I will be surprised if Apple releases anything that is called or is like any modern "smartwatch" in functionality. I feel the right way to make wearables a success is not try to steal as many smartphone features as possible but make it mostly an accessory to an iPhone with some watch features for the UI.
I think the current lot of "smartwatches" are the modern day equivalent to the calculator watch of the 80's. As a kid I thought it was a cool gadget but the reality of what a poor concept that was quickly set in. I don't think it will be what the iPhone did to the smartphone community because even though the Blackberry was limited it was still a great device for what it was, which is not like any of current "smartwatches" I've seen, and most fitness bands I'd categorize more as an equivalent to the pager.
I hope Motorola's concept that is slated to be released this Summer has some wings but this late in the game with nothing but a concept video as a tease is highly suspect.
WOW! no surprise here. As the pointed out and I have said all along, battery life if an issue, 24 hours is not enough. I know most people charge their cell phone at night, most likely next to their bed. For those who wear a watch as jewelry off it comes at night as well. for those who use a watch as a watch it not unusually for them to wear them non stop especially at night when they go to bed, why is it easier to just look at your watch to see what time it is when you wake up. Many people who have one watch usually never take it off.
No think about what a watch/notifier/phone controller/health perfromance monitor should be, and if does all these thinks for you mostly likely you are not going to want to take it off at night since it make it a lot easier to just look at the device to see what is going on verse reaching over to your phone.
It is the same complaint people have about these products already on the market not working and having to reach into their pocket, why bother.
Hi
1) This concept allows several things:
- The contents rotate to always be in your eyesight. However you hold your hand, whatever position it is in, you can always see the display and its data. One of the positions when you can clearly see the back of you wrist is when you hold you hands together, touching your fingertips. It's about continuity, convenience, coherence.
- What others see is also important. Remember the Apple logo - it's meant to be visible for others, not for you. I believe this concept will bring a revolutionary fashion customization through software and downloadable skins. The skin needs to be applied all over the device - just like existing watch bands have the same material and color even in places which you cannot see. This concept is designed for mass-market - for kids, teenagers, adults, seniors. They will customize it with app store skins according to their tastes. Apple's competency is not in sewing machines and leather but in building a combination of revolutionary hardware and software.
- Apple's goal is not to build a watch but to reinvent a product which has been around for several centuries and working merely a few functions: measuring time, fashion and status statement. Apple is bulding a 21st century wearable device. I understand it's hard to imagine a car in the time of horses but we speak Apple, we must forget all paradigms.
2) Apple is doing the same thing as it did when designing the iPhone. It is identifying the high value parts and low value parts and replacing the latter with the former. On the smartwatch just as on the phone, the high value part is the screen. A small screen = baby software, limited functions and visibility, no context, poor user experience. The low value part on the watch is the band. It just holds the device on your wrist plus adds the fashion element. The goal is to replace the low value part with the high value part. The question is can I have a large display which would at the same time work the same functions as the band? Just as with the iPhone - can I have a large screen which would at the same time work the same function as the buttons? And because the wrist is round, the wrap-around display needs to be flexible, just as the watch bands are. Flexible displays, PCBs, baterries - this technology will be to 2014 same as multitouch screens were to 2007.
Again, Apple is not making a watch, it is reinventing it for the 21st century building a revolutionary product which will surprise and delight its customers. What we all need to do is forget about the watch paradigm, leave our tunnel vision and embrace the future. The flexible wrap-around display is a revolutionary, simple, elegant and mass-market design which will together with health, fitness, music, fashion, finance and other functions reinvent the watch industry. The funny thing is just as with the iPhone, Apple does't fully know what the iWatch will do in a few years time. But it will give devs all the tools they need for unbeliavable things - a large display, great UI, sensors, connectivity and an app store.
If you read into Apple's patents, recent acquisions, their former product blueprints, design philosophy, the project's team scale and time it is taking, it all makes perfect sense. The guys who took the easy route are already finished. Their products are already in the warehouses, not sold or returned. The guys who did buy them and wear them are not kids, teenagers, women, seniors. They are an enthuziast niche willing to put up with a long list of inconveniencies - just as this article confirms. Apple is making a mass-market hit which will sell in hundreds of millions.
Should we see a similar keynote like Steve Jobs' in 2007 iPhone event about Smart Phone: "The problem is they (smart phone) are not so smart and are not so easy to use"? Current Smart watches are not so smart and not so easy to use. Apple, please make "a leapfrog product" that's way smarter than any smart watch's ever made that will not only change the way we use a smart watch, but also entire wearable devices. I believe in Apple.
http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/mobile-business/microsofts-smartwatch-patent-fitness-focus/d/d-id/1251102?
Oh, definitely. Phil will say the current smartwatches are worse than the watch and the mobile phone. Compared to the watch, the battery life sucks and the device is bulkier, heavier and ugly. A smaller kid/teen/women version is not possible to bring to market due to the legacy design's limitations. Compared to the phone, the tiny display runs baby apps which are not worth the convenience trade-off. We need a device which is better than the watch and at the same time offers wearable convenience and functions not possible on a mobile phone!
A leapfrog product? Utmost confidence in Apple? You betcha! AAPL bought.
There haven't been any leaks of an iWatch in hardware terms, as far as I know. That suggests to me that either Tim Cook is doubling down on secrecy very successfully or that there is no imminent release this year.
I'm not sold on the idea of a wrap-around bracelet. I don't think I want to wear a bracelet.
1) Why do I need a display on the backside of my wrist where I can't see it? Can you imagine a watch with that?
2) Why do I want a display and the other electronics to be flexible? Can you imagine a watch with that?
1. I totally can! I can imagine it being really, really cool. Imagine it like a bangle rather than a "watch" - even if the bangle rotates around your wrist, the device's sensors always shift the view to the optimum position. Imagine moving it around with your hand and seeing the screen "rubber band" to always be in the right spot. That'd be very cool indeed.
2. Absolutely! I think this would be one of the killer aspects of the product. When you don't want to show information on the screen it might just have a screensaver that wraps all the way around. Again, think of it more like a band than a "watch".
Huge huge possibilities there, I hope that Apple breaks out of existing ideas about what watches should be and delivers something that is an entirely new type of wearable device - not specifically a "watch".
1) Why do I need a display on the backside of my wrist where I can't see it? Can you imagine a watch with that?
2) Why do I want a display and the other electronics to be flexible? Can you imagine a watch with that?
Not saying Apple will be releasing anything like this, but you can imagine how a flexible display could provide a larger viewing area in a low profile, less bulky design...
Why does the display and other electronics have to be flexible in order for the display to be curved and ergonomic? Why can't the components be static but curved? Being static makes it stronger, more durable, and cheaper to build.
Why does the display and other electronics have to be flexible in order for the display to be curved and ergonomic? Why can't the components be static but curved? Being static makes it stronger, more durable, and cheaper to build.
The display doesn't have to be anything - but I think what people are saying is that there are some valid reasons why a flexible or curved "panoramic" display would be great (and would be more of a game-changer than, say, another device with a typical watch form factor).
I'm trying to point out that a curved display doesn't mean it's also flexible. These terms are interchangeable.
I'm trying to point out that a curved display doesn't mean it's also flexible. These terms are interchangeable.
Of course - maybe I'm taking that for granted.
I assume most people know that curved doesn't necessarily mean flexible.
I keep reading flexible over curved so I have to wonder.
I keep reading flexible over curved so I have to wonder.
Maybe the confusion comes in because the two very much go hand-in-hand, who knows.
In any case, I think freediverx underscored the difference between a simple "curved screen iWatch" and some kind of wristband that is entirely a screen. I'm certainly hoping for something like the latter, but I doubt we'll see something that advanced.
A watch is a watch as long as it tells time. WHO CARES!
You do.
It is a cool concept, indeed. Eg I believe when cycling, the device's motion sensor will trigger a landscape mode. I also loved Apple's idea of notifications - the right edge of the flexible display will flash (in whatever color you choose) so it's visible even if the device is partly covered by your sleeve. And the ideas could go on and on. All in all, a key element of every new Apple product category is a wow factor which captures imagination of the mass-market. Remember iPod's clickwheel and 1000 songs in your pocket. Remember iPhone's revolutionary mobile software powered by the multitouch and accelometer technology. Apple's flexible interactive bracelet has the same magic around it.
Indeed, fashion customization and personality statement via software will be a killer feature delivering another wow. Do you want to support AIDS? Dowload a charity AIDS skin from iWatch store. For kids, Disney has a large collection featuring skins based on all of their movies. Swapping physical watch bands will be so last century.
Definitely huge possibilities. Just like with the iPhone, the iWatch's large flexible wrap-around display will deliver a magic canvas offering endless possibilities.
A watch is a watch as long as it tells time. WHO CARES!
You're right, but that's a fairly myopic comment too.
Is the iPhone just a phone? I don't think so.
Again, my hope is that the "iWatch" is not just an electronic watch with a couple of apps (AKA Samsung Gear). I think it has to be different in order to be relevant and to be a truly viable product. I haven't seen any break-out smart watch products yet; I don't think anyone really knows what a smart watch should be.
A watch is a watch as long as it tells time. WHO CARES!
You're right, but that's a fairly myopic comment too.
Is the iPhone just a phone? I don't think so.
Again, my hope is that the "iWatch" is not just an electronic watch with a couple of apps (AKA Samsung Gear). I think it has to be different in order to be relevant and to be a truly viable product. I haven't seen any break-out smart watch products yet; I don't think anyone really knows what a smart watch should be.
Yes. My limited imagination sees the most compelling uses as mobile payments and as a proximity sensor to enable/disable your Apple hardware.