.... Well, your Series 1 seems to be out anyway, right? I don’t recall any mention of Watches other than the Series 3 getting “wireless” charging capabilities. (I also have a Series 0 Space Black with Link Bracelet, I really like the weight of it for non-workout stuff). ....
Huh? Then how do you charge your Series 0?
Sorry, I should have been more clear. Yes, all Apple Watches have “wireless” charging but so far only the Series 3 has been implied to work with AirPower. It’s possible the previous generations will, too, but as far as I know that’s an unknown.
I dunno... this is just part of the bizarre shortsightedness and lack of preplanning that seems to inflict Apple at times. They made a conscious decision to change the new iPhones to wireless charging, yet had no advance thoughts about manufacturing and selling these charging pads at the same time the new products went on sale.
Reminds me of when Apple introduced the Pencil and none of the Apple protective cases for sale had any means of including the Pencil for carrying, as has been standard issue for notepads and organizers (like a dead simple pen loop) for decades.
My wife got me a Mophie inductive charger for Christmas. A coworker had told her how much he lives his with his iPhone X. I returned it for an Apple Store gift card in anticipation of this, considering I have a X, a Series 3 and AirPods it seems like the much better choice. I’m hoping the cost isn’t too crazy.
A Polish retailer had the price coming out to $199. I don't recall if that included VAT, but I can see this being at least $149.
Don't forget you also need to buy a new AirPod charging case. Honestly, how often do you charge that thing? It seems like you could many days without charging and then it charges fast.
You’re right, the AirPods don’t need charging very often. When I charge them they typically go on my iPhone charging dock so I need to do it separate from charging my phone. If I’m getting AirPower I may as well get the new AirPod case.
What appeals to to me is having one spot that can handle all three. Currently my iPhone gets charged on my nightstand and my watch gets charged on my dresser due to outlets being full near my bed. For the most part they both charge overnight so using my phone while charging isn’t something I’m concerned with.
Also, I like the thought of only needing to bring one charger when traveling.
There are so many options for that issue, from power strips to PSUs with multiple USB ports.
That item is also good for traveling over multiple PSUs, but I just bring an old iPod PSU (12W?) and swap cables since I wear my Watch to bed to track my sleep, too, so my iPhone can charge at night. But even that is rare as I almost always have my Mac with me so I'll just feed everything through it unless it's just awkward, like it can be on a plane or train, where even the AirPad probably won't work great for me and might take up too much room if I want to do other things with my setback tray.
Most likely it'll be camping and hiking where a lipstick charger will be in use. Mostly I'd just rather have the magnetic Watch charging end to have a Lightning port so I can plug it into a single Lightning cable that I bring, but I'm OK with the new, shorter cord (the Series 0 Watch cord was like a meter long, I think).
I dunno... this is just part of the bizarre shortsightedness and lack of preplanning that seems to inflict Apple at times. They made a conscious decision to change the new iPhones to wireless charging, yet had no advance thoughts about manufacturing and selling these charging pads at the same time the new products went on sale.
Reminds me of when Apple introduced the Pencil and none of the Apple protective cases for sale had any means of including the Pencil for carrying, as has been standard issue for notepads and organizers (like a dead simple pen loop) for decades.
Not exactly the same thing. For it to be similar Apple would have to have sold the Pencil and then you realized that there were options for over a half a decade to hold your Pencil in pretty much every possible way. Qi isn't controlled by Apple so anyone that wants inductive charging should already be using it.
No one needs it. No one needs wireless charging. People don't need many of the things that they buy, but they still buy them.
For those with all (or 2 out of 3 subset) of the newer products (iPhone 8/X, AirPods wireless case, Series 3 AW) they can easily charge them at one location at the same time, with one outlet. With nice visible information on the iPhone on how the other devices are charging. It is convenient. Many people pay for small conveniences. Deep thought question answered.
This will be awesome. I only need to charge while sleeping so just plop my devices on this and good to go in the morning. Nice and clean.
FWIW excellent Qi-compatible charging mats are available now for under $40, even much less than that at under $20 if you're OK with a well-reviewed Chinese branded one, and will still be usable in another spot after you buy your new Apple AirPower.
Yeah those Chinese knockoff chargers always work out great for any product. Can you say...going up in flames? No thank you!
Hey, I agree. I don't trust every Chinese-branded charger or cord either, even if many of them get 4-5 stars in reviews. So get a Belkin, still only $40.
I’ve never had a piece of Belkin kit last more than a month, so I’ll give ‘em a miss.
But if Apple really planning on selling the mat for that much then I cannot wait to see the Jony Ive video that goes with it.
“Formed from a single sheet of the polished chutzpah.”
Not complicated at all. What I have on my nightstand right now is rather hideous. I have a Qi charging stand for my iPhone X. I have my Apple Watch charger encased in a rubber holder that keeps in place. Then I have regular lightning cable dangling there for my AirPods case.
I dunno... this is just part of the bizarre shortsightedness and lack of preplanning that seems to inflict Apple at times. They made a conscious decision to change the new iPhones to wireless charging, yet had no advance thoughts about manufacturing and selling these charging pads at the same time the new products went on sale.
Your conclusions aren’t presented by the facts. I’m sure they did have advance thoughts about their upcoming charging mat and the X and 8 which can charge on it. Just because it was ready at launch doesn’t mean they were shortsighted or failed to plan.
I’m fairly certain you don’t work in product. Sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned or hoped. Especially with new product, which has a much higher spin-up challenge, and where basically everything that can go wrong does. Eventually all the parties involved get familiar with the new product and better at producing it.
Oh but Apple is magic and the humans working for it should be impervious to things that affect us all. Right.
Anyway, shortsighted is the last conclusion I’d draw about Apple, the only still standing computing titan from over 40 years ago, still doing what they do. They have shown time and time again to take a long view. The very opposite of shortsightedness.
I may end up with one. I have a Series 0 Watch, iPhone X and AirPods... so I could use it. But I do like to have my phone "sitting up" on my nightstand.
For my Watch I have a little Watch stand charger that works with all of my bands... and I only charge my AirPods like once every 2 weeks or so (depending on use). The AirPods charge so quickly it may not be worth having this mat.
Anyway - I like the idea of just plopping down all my stuff and having it charge... but I'm not sure I can justify it.
I may end up with one. I have a Series 0 Watch, iPhone X and AirPods... so I could use it.
Will it work with Series 0 since that's not the Qi standard?
Dunno - one of the things I'll wait to find out.
I see no reason why Appel couldn't make it work with all their Watches, but I also don't think it's likely Apple would bother to suppose products that don't use Qi moving forward.
I dunno... this is just part of the bizarre shortsightedness and lack of preplanning that seems to inflict Apple at times. They made a conscious decision to change the new iPhones to wireless charging, yet had no advance thoughts about manufacturing and selling these charging pads at the same time the new products went on sale.
Your conclusions aren’t presented by the facts. I’m sure they did have advance thoughts about their upcoming charging mat and the X and 8 which can charge on it. Just because it was ready at launch doesn’t mean they were shortsighted or failed to plan.
I’m fairly certain you don’t work in product. Sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned or hoped. Especially with new product, which has a much higher spin-up challenge, and where basically everything that can go wrong does. Eventually all the parties involved get familiar with the new product and better at producing it.
Oh but Apple is magic and the humans working for it should be impervious to things that affect us all. Right.
Anyway, shortsighted is the last conclusion I’d draw about Apple, the only still standing computing titan from over 40 years ago, still doing what they do. They have shown time and time again to take a long view. The very opposite of shortsightedness.
Don’t quit your day job.
They failed to introduce both the product and the accessories at the same time. That’s just bad planning. I’ve worked in product development, so spare the pointless personal attacks and just address the issue.
I dunno... this is just part of the bizarre shortsightedness and lack of preplanning that seems to inflict Apple at times. They made a conscious decision to change the new iPhones to wireless charging, yet had no advance thoughts about manufacturing and selling these charging pads at the same time the new products went on sale.
Your conclusions aren’t presented by the facts. I’m sure they did have advance thoughts about their upcoming charging mat and the X and 8 which can charge on it. Just because it was ready at launch doesn’t mean they were shortsighted or failed to plan.
I’m fairly certain you don’t work in product. Sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned or hoped. Especially with new product, which has a much higher spin-up challenge, and where basically everything that can go wrong does. Eventually all the parties involved get familiar with the new product and better at producing it.
Oh but Apple is magic and the humans working for it should be impervious to things that affect us all. Right.
Anyway, shortsighted is the last conclusion I’d draw about Apple, the only still standing computing titan from over 40 years ago, still doing what they do. They have shown time and time again to take a long view. The very opposite of shortsightedness.
Don’t quit your day job.
They failed to introduce both the product and the accessories at the same time. That’s just bad planning. I’ve worked in product development, so spare the pointless personal attacks and just address the issue.
I agree that the timing of the charging mat availability here is something that Apple dislikes a great deal. However, I also agree that sometimes even superbly envisioned plans do not work out as expected, even when multiple contingencies are anticipated and called into play, and you just have to fall back and be content with making lemonade. One of the advantages that a "system" supplier like Apple has is capitalizing on "pull-through" between products in their portfolio. Many companies track pull-through very closely and try to attain a higher percentage of branded accessories, add-ons, peripherals, services, subscriptions, etc., being in the pull-through system sale/BOM. It's just plain good for business and enhances the value of the system selling model on both sides of the sale. When a company launches a product with a new system capability that has clear pull-through potential but then fails to have the announced pull-through items available for sale it absolutely makes the system owners and the business grimace at having a newly minted black eye. Since they pre-announced the mat's delay - maybe it's just a gray eye. On these occasions they just have to take it like a man and be happy that the bigger ticket system anchors, in this case the new iPhones with wireless charging capability, are available for sale and are pulling in revenue.
If I was going to ding Apple in failing to get the release timing right on a pull-through product the charging mat would be very low on my list. It's small potatoes. I'm much more disappointed that they've failed to deliver a proper replacement for the Thunderbolt display to meet the demand established when they released the trash can MacPro and later iMacs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Minis that can support higher resolution displays than what the geriatric Thunderbolt display can support. Sure, they did reference third party 4K/5K options, but it seems like they are leaving money on the table that could be captured with a branded option that's considered a system component. Just my opinion.
Comments
Reminds me of when Apple introduced the Pencil and none of the Apple protective cases for sale had any means of including the Pencil for carrying, as has been standard issue for notepads and organizers (like a dead simple pen loop) for decades.
That item is also good for traveling over multiple PSUs, but I just bring an old iPod PSU (12W?) and swap cables since I wear my Watch to bed to track my sleep, too, so my iPhone can charge at night. But even that is rare as I almost always have my Mac with me so I'll just feed everything through it unless it's just awkward, like it can be on a plane or train, where even the AirPad probably won't work great for me and might take up too much room if I want to do other things with my setback tray.
Most likely it'll be camping and hiking where a lipstick charger will be in use. Mostly I'd just rather have the magnetic Watch charging end to have a Lightning port so I can plug it into a single Lightning cable that I bring, but I'm OK with the new, shorter cord (the Series 0 Watch cord was like a meter long, I think).
For those with all (or 2 out of 3 subset) of the newer products (iPhone 8/X, AirPods wireless case, Series 3 AW) they can easily charge them at one location at the same time, with one outlet. With nice visible information on the iPhone on how the other devices are charging. It is convenient. Many people pay for small conveniences. Deep thought question answered.
But if Apple really planning on selling the mat for that much then I cannot wait to see the Jony Ive video that goes with it.
“Formed from a single sheet of the polished chutzpah.”
It's a fugly mess. Easily remedied with AirPower.
I’m fairly certain you don’t work in product. Sometimes things don’t go the way you’ve planned or hoped. Especially with new product, which has a much higher spin-up challenge, and where basically everything that can go wrong does. Eventually all the parties involved get familiar with the new product and better at producing it.
Oh but Apple is magic and the humans working for it should be impervious to things that affect us all. Right.
Anyway, shortsighted is the last conclusion I’d draw about Apple, the only still standing computing titan from over 40 years ago, still doing what they do. They have shown time and time again to take a long view. The very opposite of shortsightedness.
Don’t quit your day job.
For that I have a decent plug-based phone dock on my nightstand and at work I grabbed a Qi Wireless Dock (this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0IL0QX/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). I actually really love that dock so I'm thinking about getting another for home usage.
For my Watch I have a little Watch stand charger that works with all of my bands... and I only charge my AirPods like once every 2 weeks or so (depending on use). The AirPods charge so quickly it may not be worth having this mat.
Anyway - I like the idea of just plopping down all my stuff and having it charge... but I'm not sure I can justify it.
Dunno - one of the things I'll wait to find out.
They failed to introduce both the product and the accessories at the same time. That’s just bad planning. I’ve worked in product development, so spare the pointless personal attacks and just address the issue.
If I was going to ding Apple in failing to get the release timing right on a pull-through product the charging mat would be very low on my list. It's small potatoes. I'm much more disappointed that they've failed to deliver a proper replacement for the Thunderbolt display to meet the demand established when they released the trash can MacPro and later iMacs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Minis that can support higher resolution displays than what the geriatric Thunderbolt display can support. Sure, they did reference third party 4K/5K options, but it seems like they are leaving money on the table that could be captured with a branded option that's considered a system component. Just my opinion.