I'd love to know the ASP of the Xiaomi wearables. With the way android wear devices get left behind on updates (kinda like its phone brethren) I'd never buy one. Just read recently about a bunch of LG & Sony watches not getting the newest version. Why throw your money away? I bought an Apple Watch and it's been awesome. New Watch OS has improved it greatly and I could likely wait until physical Watch version 3.0 before updating.
The Xiaomi wearables don't run or rely on android, it's a basic bluetooth step counter with heart-rate monitor on the later models. I've got a miband 1S and it cost the grand total of £9.40 delivered to the UK, I've got 7 different bands which cost less than 50p each too. It shouldn't even be considered in the same category as Apple Watch, it's not a competing product, it's not "smart" in the slightest. It's an advanced version of the step counters they used to give away in boxes of cereal etc. I'm not serious about fitness, I just like to know roughly my steps daily and check my HR from time to time. The sleep tracking is what I use it for most.
edit* I used to do these things on my iPhone but it didn't suit my daily routine. step counting - I often leave my phone on my desk during the day heart rate - Cardiio app did well but it was cumbersome having to hold my finger over the camera each time. sleep tracking - I often forget to start Sleep Cycle app at night spend a tenner on a band that lasts a month in between charges and does all I need is money well spent in my book.
There's the Apple Watch and there's all the rest. Nuff said. I own the original and am awaiting AW3 this fall, especially if it has LTE.
LTE's tricky, as it currently requires a SIM, which means putting a slot, tray, and the little eject hole somewhere in the watch. That takes space in a device that's already pretty full, and also may compromise the water resistance. I don't think Apple will put LTE (or successor technologies) in the Apple Watch until they can get the carriers to accept the virtual SIM. IE a SIM without the card (as opposed to the current Apple SIM which is a programmable SIM card). They hold the patents on that idea, or they did, but they didn't seem to be having any luck getting the carriers on board. The carriers might be more inclined if it was opening up a new market, such as the Apple Watch.
You mean like the AppleSIM technology Apple already embeds in some of their devices?
There's the Apple Watch and there's all the rest. Nuff said. I own the original and am awaiting AW3 this fall, especially if it has LTE.
LTE's tricky, as it currently requires a SIM, which means putting a slot, tray, and the little eject hole somewhere in the watch. That takes space in a device that's already pretty full, and also may compromise the water resistance. I don't think Apple will put LTE (or successor technologies) in the Apple Watch until they can get the carriers to accept the virtual SIM. IE a SIM without the card (as opposed to the current Apple SIM which is a programmable SIM card). They hold the patents on that idea, or they did, but they didn't seem to be having any luck getting the carriers on board. The carriers might be more inclined if it was opening up a new market, such as the Apple Watch.
You mean like the AppleSIM technology Apple already embeds in some of their devices?
No, I mentioned that, AppleSIM is still a SIM card. (I have two of them somewhere, that it turned out I couldn't actually use.) Apple also had a patent for replacing the card with a hard wired chip in the phone, which I don't believe they are currently selling in anything.
There's the Apple Watch and there's all the rest. Nuff said. I own the original and am awaiting AW3 this fall, especially if it has LTE.
LTE's tricky, as it currently requires a SIM, which means putting a slot, tray, and the little eject hole somewhere in the watch. That takes space in a device that's already pretty full, and also may compromise the water resistance. I don't think Apple will put LTE (or successor technologies) in the Apple Watch until they can get the carriers to accept the virtual SIM. IE a SIM without the card (as opposed to the current Apple SIM which is a programmable SIM card). They hold the patents on that idea, or they did, but they didn't seem to be having any luck getting the carriers on board. The carriers might be more inclined if it was opening up a new market, such as the Apple Watch.
You mean like the AppleSIM technology Apple already embeds in some of their devices?
No, I mentioned that, AppleSIM is still a SIM card. (I have two of them somewhere, that it turned out I couldn't actually use.) Apple also had a patent for replacing the card with a hard wired chip in the phone, which I don't believe they are currently selling in anything.
But the they have a SIM card embedded in some hardware. That's the point I'm making. It may not work with every carrier, but the point is it's there and doesn't require a sim tray.
So that problem is solved, whether it happens to work for you or not. I'd be thrilled to buy such a watch even with the limited SIM partners Apple currently has.
There's the Apple Watch and there's all the rest. Nuff said. I own the original and am awaiting AW3 this fall, especially if it has LTE.
LTE's tricky, as it currently requires a SIM, which means putting a slot, tray, and the little eject hole somewhere in the watch. That takes space in a device that's already pretty full, and also may compromise the water resistance. I don't think Apple will put LTE (or successor technologies) in the Apple Watch until they can get the carriers to accept the virtual SIM. IE a SIM without the card (as opposed to the current Apple SIM which is a programmable SIM card). They hold the patents on that idea, or they did, but they didn't seem to be having any luck getting the carriers on board. The carriers might be more inclined if it was opening up a new market, such as the Apple Watch.
You mean like the AppleSIM technology Apple already embeds in some of their devices?
No, I mentioned that, AppleSIM is still a SIM card. (I have two of them somewhere, that it turned out I couldn't actually use.) Apple also had a patent for replacing the card with a hard wired chip in the phone, which I don't believe they are currently selling in anything.
But the they have a SIM card embedded in some hardware. That's the point I'm making. It may not work with every carrier, but the point is it's there and doesn't require a sim tray.
So that problem is solved, whether it happens to work for you or not. I'd be thrilled to buy such a watch even with the limited SIM partners Apple currently has.
I wasn't aware that they had it in a shipping product. However, at the risk of sounding like a nay-sayer, I don't think they have the buy-in from carriers that they would need to sell an LTE enabled product without a SIM slot. It may be that they will be able to push carriers towards this with an updated Apple Watch.
Why are we comparing $10 piece of shit Xiaomi crap to $200 Apple Watches?
Agreed and I'd add as an investor, where is the profit column? Who in their right mind gives a shit about volume or market share?
Every company that makes mass appeal products. Apple certainly cares, as they mention it every time it looks good. There's this myth that it doesn't matter, but it does.
different industries look at it differently. The old car metaphors works here. If an expensive car used different fuel than every other car, people wouldn't buy it, because they couldn't go anywhere. Computing equipment has fuel too, and it's called software and services. If marketshare drops too much, you see less of it for your product, which causes sales to drop more, etc. It's a vicious cycle. If you're selling a premium product, and you have enough marketshare, though not a large portion, and you sell to those who buy a lot of software and services, you'll do fine. But there are cutoff points for everything.
I have got mine just last month and it's perfect, its competitors are great in designing 3d renders but in terms of quality of materials there is no battle.
Comments
I'm not serious about fitness, I just like to know roughly my steps daily and check my HR from time to time. The sleep tracking is what I use it for most.
edit* I used to do these things on my iPhone but it didn't suit my daily routine.
step counting - I often leave my phone on my desk during the day
heart rate - Cardiio app did well but it was cumbersome having to hold my finger over the camera each time.
sleep tracking - I often forget to start Sleep Cycle app at night
spend a tenner on a band that lasts a month in between charges and does all I need is money well spent in my book.
Too easy, I'll grant you.
Seems like they've already solved this problem.
https://www.apple.com/ipad/apple-sim/
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203099
http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/03/22/apple-makes-the-move-to-embedded-sim-card-with-97-ipad-pro
So that problem is solved, whether it happens to work for you or not. I'd be thrilled to buy such a watch even with the limited SIM partners Apple currently has.
You and my wife both. I may cave one day.
I wasn't aware that they had it in a shipping product. However, at the risk of sounding like a nay-sayer, I don't think they have the buy-in from carriers that they would need to sell an LTE enabled product without a SIM slot. It may be that they will be able to push carriers towards this with an updated Apple Watch.
different industries look at it differently. The old car metaphors works here. If an expensive car used different fuel than every other car, people wouldn't buy it, because they couldn't go anywhere. Computing equipment has fuel too, and it's called software and services. If marketshare drops too much, you see less of it for your product, which causes sales to drop more, etc. It's a vicious cycle. If you're selling a premium product, and you have enough marketshare, though not a large portion, and you sell to those who buy a lot of software and services, you'll do fine. But there are cutoff points for everything.