Teen interest in Apple Watch wanes ahead of launch, most want device for style and design

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 66
    The send your heartbeat feature is totally teen bait.
  • Reply 42 of 66
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post



    Oh God I knew the Applelogists would fill the comments section.

    And thanks for your insightful comments.  Who would ever think that on an Apple enthusiast site, the majority of commenters would be Apple enthusiasts.  Smart you are.

     

    To be among like minded people though, you should really go hang out on the CNET forums.  Majority there seem to dislike Apple immensely, and anyone that is an Apple fan.

  • Reply 43 of 66
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member

    Teenagers buying Apple products?  That is a joke.  They beg their parents to buy them Apple products.  Parents buy the iPhone and pay for the monthly plan.  Same is true for buying them a Mac.  Teenagers won't be wearing an Apple Watch because their parents are smart enough not to buy one for them, unless they are spoiled brats.

  • Reply 44 of 66
    hillstoneshillstones Posts: 1,490member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by brucemc View Post

     

    Who would ever think that on an Apple enthusiast site, the majority of commenters would be Apple enthusiasts.  


    This is not an Apple enthusiast site, it is an Apple RUMOR site.

  • Reply 45 of 66
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    hillstones wrote: »
    This is not an Apple enthusiast site, it is an Apple RUMOR site.

    Nope. News, discussion and rumor.
  • Reply 46 of 66
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    hillstones wrote: »
    This is not an Apple enthusiast site, it is an Apple RUMOR site.

    I beg to differ.
  • Reply 47 of 66
    I believe that everyone would like to have an Apple Watch. But...wait! We all had watches and tossed them off our wrists when the iPhone came along. The buckles bit in to our wrist when typing, we sweated through leather bands, the bezel of the watch, if we wore it to work, began to look, like the glasses most of us wear, nicked and dinged. Jewelry store are now full of fantastically working Rolex used watches. Watches that work for decades and can be passed on to progeny.

    Now all that is forgotten with the Apple Watch? But wait! The Apple Watch only performs 3 of the 10 functions its supposed to deliver. Coming soon? And that is....when?!?

    And you need TWO bands for AW....if you're gonna exercise in it....as they say you should. All the reviewers got two bands not one. And the CNET reviewer says it has enough power to "almost last a day". A business day? A morning to night day? 24 hours, 18 hours, 12, hours? How long is that "day".

    The AW is an accessory to the iPhone. No mention of lastability. Is the investment on a watch now only one year?

    There are too many unknowns to even think of investing in the Apple Watch. It looks like fun but so did the iPhone. It's a hitching post, guys, and ties one to the Iphone experience perhaps in such an intense way that you're never way from social media, emails, and so forth. And all along we say we crave privacy?

    This is not fashion its fad. This is not tech its dreck.

    The AW is NOT being marketed on the basis of need. NO ONE needs it. Yes, I beieve everyone would like to have one. Wants are not needs and that's what the polls are telling us about AW.

    This reminds me about the Apple earpiece. It was nice. No one needed it.
  • Reply 48 of 66
    usb-usb- Posts: 22member

    As an actual teen, I can confirm that I have little to no interest in purchasing an Apple Watch. Don't get me wrong, it's cool and all, but for me it just seems like too much in some places and too little in others

  • Reply 49 of 66
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post



    Oh God I knew the Applelogists would fill the comments section.



    Shocking! And that too on an Apple fan website! The nerve! Why I oughta...

  • Reply 50 of 66
    hillstones wrote: »
    Teenagers buying Apple products?  That is a joke.  They beg their parents to buy them Apple products.  Parents buy the iPhone and pay for the monthly plan.  Same is true for buying them a Mac.  Teenagers won't be wearing an Apple Watch because their parents are smart enough not to buy one for them, unless they are spoiled brats.
    I don't think kids having a watch bought for them makes them a spoiled brat.

    If a parent would buy one for themselves why not there own child?

    Its also not like the cheapest apple watch is completely out of range on what parents spend in there kids. Right from birth you spend hundreds if not thousands on things like prams, wendy houses, climbing frames, games consoles, games for the games console, mp3 players, clothes, trips to theme parks, phones, ipads, baby versions of ipads.

    Teenagers will undoubtedly have these things and the family's that can't afford the apple version will get the android version.
  • Reply 51 of 66
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    The numbers aren't all that low. 66% own an iPhone so 11% would be 1 in 6 iPhone owners. It's an iPhone accessory that not everyone is going to want. Apple currently sells 40-75m iPhones per quarter, it'll probably top 200m this year so 1/6th of that would be about 30m watches in a year. Some expectations are 10-15m so 5% interest level would be in line with that.

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/57940/width/1000/height/1000[/IMG]

    The interest level of tablets and smartphones is also telling. Note the 5% current ownership of smartwatches, those have to be Android watches or Samsung/Tizen watches if they are excluding fitness wearables so 5% out of ~30% (1 in 6) own an Android watch to go with their Android phone too.

    Interest level and ownership level are two different things entirely though. Android watches are dirt cheap. The Apple Watch starts at near double the price just for the Sport model and there's low interest in fitness.

    Say they sell about 8 million (1 in 25 iPhone owners) this financial year at an ASP of $500, that's $4b revenue. That's double their iPod revenue and margins are probably higher too.

    I doubt more people want a smartwatch than an iPad because it's even less useful. People who already have a phone can do everything the watch does. The iPad is different in that it makes browsing, gaming, reading much better and the prices start at $249. The watch only makes notifications and payments more convenient and those only save a few seconds and the non-Sport watch starts at $649.

    If developers come up with really compelling apps, that can improve interest levels but they are working to this ~10 second maximum input time. The whole design of the watch is about not interacting with it. The watch designers said they wanted to get people to stop being so immersed in their phones, there wouldn't be much point in just immersing them in their watch, that would be even worse.
  • Reply 52 of 66
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wurm5150 View Post



    Teens are probably not the target demographic for the Apple Watch.. I doubt their parents would be spending that much on an accessory..Those kids need to finish school and get decent paying jobs first..



    When I was a teen, my parents bought me one of those early red LED watches. It cost about 200 bucks. Probably nearly a grand in 2015 dollars.

  • Reply 53 of 66
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ronstark View Post



    I believe that everyone would like to have an Apple Watch. But...wait! We all had watches and tossed them off our wrists when the iPhone came along. The buckles bit in to our wrist when typing, we sweated through leather bands, the bezel of the watch, if we wore it to work, began to look, like the glasses most of us wear, nicked and dinged. Jewelry store are now full of fantastically working Rolex used watches. Watches that work for decades and can be passed on to progeny.



    Now all that is forgotten with the Apple Watch? But wait! The Apple Watch only performs 3 of the 10 functions its supposed to deliver. Coming soon? And that is....when?!?



    And you need TWO bands for AW....if you're gonna exercise in it....as they say you should. All the reviewers got two bands not one. And the CNET reviewer says it has enough power to "almost last a day". A business day? A morning to night day? 24 hours, 18 hours, 12, hours? How long is that "day".



    The AW is an accessory to the iPhone. No mention of lastability. Is the investment on a watch now only one year?



    There are too many unknowns to even think of investing in the Apple Watch. It looks like fun but so did the iPhone. It's a hitching post, guys, and ties one to the Iphone experience perhaps in such an intense way that you're never way from social media, emails, and so forth. And all along we say we crave privacy?



    This is not fashion its fad. This is not tech its dreck.



    The AW is NOT being marketed on the basis of need. NO ONE needs it. Yes, I beieve everyone would like to have one. Wants are not needs and that's what the polls are telling us about AW.



    This reminds me about the Apple earpiece. It was nice. No one needed it.

    So you are on the fence about getting one?

     

    You do have a couple of points in your long-winded rant.  It does remain to be seen how the device holds up to everyday use (as is the case for any watch, jewelry, wearable, etc).  And clearly it isn't something that, at this point, anybody needs.  If you look around at all though, you might just see people buying things everyday that they don't "need".  

     

    For the rest - my recommendation is to wait and see how the watch performs in the hands of real users.  Perhaps the battery life will, on average, disappoint - or not.  Once Apple and devs get real-world feedback, usefulness will increase I would expect.

     

    Everyone has their opinion, but I do find it amusing to read these over-the-top rants against a device which is not yet in the public hands, that the person hasn't had any experience with, and firmly believe that it will not improve even though the user experience is mostly delivered via software.  But then again, that is the modern age - everyone has a strong opinion with little, if any, knowledge on the subject at hand.

  • Reply 54 of 66
    I'm a high school teacher, and a number of us have been talking about how easily this could be used to cheat on tests, and how vigilant we'll have to be once these get in the hands of our kids. Thus, we think it's imperative the district by all of us an Apple Watch...you know...for research purposes.
  • Reply 55 of 66
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Marvin wrote: »

    I doubt more people want a smartwatch than an iPad because it's even less useful. People who already have a phone can do everything the watch does. The iPad is different in that it makes browsing, gaming, reading much better and the prices start at $249. The watch only makes notifications and payments more convenient and those only save a few seconds and the non-Sport watch starts at $649.
    I agree that Apple did the right thing tying the watch to the iPhone initially for the product launch. However, there's no apparent reason to me why it cannot also be used with an iPad (or eventually a Mac for that matter). In as much as these teens might have a Samsung phone, they most likely have an iPad if they have a tablet at all. Likewise with many adults. And the missing element from making the ?Watch a stand-alone device are the radios for network access. The iPad provides that in wifi and optional cellular radios. And it opens the door to far more people who are already one foot in the Apple ecosystem, but aren't iPhone users. Imagine being able to use ?Pay while out and about on your relatively stylish watch that you would otherwise only wear to tell time. And it tracks your fitness which would upload to the iPad when you get home. And you could listen to music on it without the need to carry your phone around. To say nothing is it also happens to unlock and start your car. For someone with disposable income without an iPhone, Apple has shut them out of the ecosystem for now. I see that changing.

    As for the kids, I go back to the FireChat example ... The watches have at least a Bluetooth radio, is there no reason they can't form a local network where other ?Watches are around them? If so, all of those great communication features with other ?Watch users would be available at least locally even if you don't have an Apple device to offload the data. Kids would be all over that, especially in schools where they have to leave their phones in the locker. And don't most schools seem to allow iPad use, at least LAUSD does for the kids lucky enough to get them before that program went down in flames.
  • Reply 56 of 66
    mrboba1mrboba1 Posts: 276member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post





    I doubt more people want a smartwatch than an iPad because it's even less useful. People who already have a phone can do everything the watch does. The iPad is different in that it makes browsing, gaming, reading much better and the prices start at $249. The watch only makes notifications and payments more convenient and those only save a few seconds and the non-Sport watch starts at $649.

     

     

    I completely disagree. I have only Apple products, including a phone, an iPad and a computer. I will also be getting a watch.

    The iPad doesn't make all those things much better, especially over the 6+, at best it is slightly better.

     

    Of the 3 I currently have, the iPad comes in a distant 3rd in usage. The iPad is a morph of a full computer and a phone without a true dedicated purpose, that I am finding less and less useful over time. The watch will pull usage away from the phone, and keeps one from messing with the "micro-transactions" on the phone and towards a more accessible device. I'll be able to wander around work without needing it out (or even on me), I can work in the yard without a big block in my pocket if I'm waiting for an important call/email/whatever.

     

    It will go like this:

    Quick 2 second interactions: watch

    10 second-3 minutes: phone

    any longer: iPad/Mac as per your personal druthers.

     

    I would much rather have the Watch than an iPad.

  • Reply 57 of 66
    I already ordered on for my gym daughters graduation gift.
    This is the perfect gift for teens.
    And my wife wants one for our Aniversary.
    Not everyone is poor or cheap we can buy these watches for our teens and not even wink %uD83D%uDE09
  • Reply 58 of 66
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    Quote:



    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post





    I agree that Apple did the right thing tying the watch to the iPhone initially for the product launch. However, there's no apparent reason to me why it cannot also be used with an iPad (or eventually a Mac for that matter). In as much as these teens might have a Samsung phone, they most likely have an iPad if they have a tablet at all. Likewise with many adults. And the missing element from making the ?Watch a stand-alone device are the radios for network access. The iPad provides that in wifi and optional cellular radios. And it opens the door to far more people who are already one foot in the Apple ecosystem, but aren't iPhone users. Imagine being able to use ?Pay while out and about on your relatively stylish watch that you would otherwise only wear to tell time. And it tracks your fitness which would upload to the iPad when you get home. And you could listen to music on it without the need to carry your phone around. To say nothing is it also happens to unlock and start your car. For someone with disposable income without an iPhone, Apple has shut them out of the ecosystem for now. I see that changing.



    As for the kids, I go back to the FireChat example ... The watches have at least a Bluetooth radio, is there no reason they can't form a local network where other ?Watches are around them? If so, all of those great communication features with other ?Watch users would be available at least locally even if you don't have an Apple device to offload the data. Kids would be all over that, especially in schools where they have to leave their phones in the locker. And don't most schools seem to allow iPad use, at least LAUSD does for the kids lucky enough to get them before that program went down in flames.

    I agree. I would not be surprised if such plans are on Sir Jony's drawing board as we speak. AAPL is dripping with cash, and it seems like maybe being a cell carrier might be a good line of business, but there's never been any evidence they are interested at all. Could be they want to make the Next Big Thing.

  • Reply 59 of 66
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mrboba1 View Post

     

    I completely disagree. ... Of the 3 I currently have, the iPad comes in a distant 3rd in usage. The iPad is a morph of a full computer and a phone without a true dedicated purpose, that I am finding less and less useful over time.

     

    The watch will pull usage away from the phone, and keeps one from messing with the "micro-transactions" on the phone and towards a more accessible device. ...

    It will go like this:

    Quick 2 second interactions: watch

    10 second-3 minutes: phone

    any longer: iPad/Mac as per your personal druthers.


    To each his own, I find I increasingly use my iPad over my Mac as time goes on. 

     

    However, I agree with you that the watch will be used primarily for quick <2 second interactions. This is also Jony Ives' last reported position on the watch as well. This is why I say it doesn't matter what shape the watch is, because anybody who needs to read more text than can be displayed in a circular display in a quick 2 second glance will move to the iPhone, so ultimately style will be more important to many than its ability to display text most efficiently. Indeed my guess is people who spend more than 2 seconds on the watch, at least in public, are going to have some etiquette issues to face -- I found this article on Bloomberg most interesting and an amusing read: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-13/how-not-to-be-a-jerk-while-wearing-the-apple-watch

     

    I've also thought about how I would want to use the ?Watch, and rethought some of the places I thought I might prefer it over my phone. I thought, and still do to a lesser extent, that I would prefer not to carry around my phone when I'm at the gym, but instead keep track of my workout on the watch, which also doubles as my iPod -- and how great will it be when I can just wave my ?Watch at a scanner instead of keeping track of that bar code fob that never seems to read on their scanners. But the other night, I realize that I conduct a substantial amount of texting in between sets at the gym, and find myself reading articles on the internet, and very little of that is going to be conducive on the watch. I've thought for a while now that kids and those who text a great deal aren't really going to be primary candidates for the watch either, because they rarely put their phones down. The fact one has to dictate to Siri means that a huge amount of texting would be inappropriate on a watch, since these texts are mostly private conversations. So it ill be interesting to see how real users exploit the watch over the first year.

  • Reply 60 of 66
    goofy1958goofy1958 Posts: 165member

    As far ahead as Apple thinks, I'm willing to bet the gen 2, gen 3, and maybe some initial plans for gen 4 are already there.  Some ideas have to wait for technology to catch up for them, so it may be awhile certain features to show up, like a completely autonomous watch that has cellular, wi-fi, and bluetooth.  Current technology just doesn't go small enough to fit in the watch, and still provide excellent battery life as well.  At least, not for Apple's taste.

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