1983

gatorguy said:

StrangeDays said:

mac_128 said:

blastdoor said:

I'm actually not too worried about this. 

The first gen watch was a little off target, but I think they righted the ship with version 3 of the OS and the current hardware lineup. 

If they can just keep pushing the product forward I think they'll do fine. 

The problem is -- that's a big "if". It seems difficult for Apple to continuously push multiple product lines forward at once. Only the iPhone consistently gets annual updates. 

While I agree, I do think it took too long to get a second model out. We've been looking at the exact same design since September 2014, which despite being a substantial improvement over Series 1, nevertheless lends to the perception it's an old model offering nothing new. And, I have believed since the beginning that the Apple Watch did too much, and things that most people are clearly not buying smart watches for, requiring a more complicated interface for some. Combined with a relatively high price compared to the fitness trackers most people seem to be opting for, and it becomes something of a luxury for the mass markets Apple needs to woo in order to make this thing as successful as their other product lines. But they are laying the groundwork for a big leap forward. If rumors are accurate, and the Apple Watch gains LTE and independence from the iPhone, it will likely take on a whole new life for some. A round watch, as alluded to by patent filings, will also help put the spotlight back on design as well, and keep pushing the innovation factor, over the fitness bands which seem to carry the bulk of the focus. And let's not forget Apple's health factor. The Trump presidency might well help Apple in that regulatory barriers to adding health features to the watch could be dropped, allowing them to bring truly useful features to the watch. I would generally trust Apple to thoroughly test their devices more than most vendors given the resulting lack of government regulation, and that will give Apple a leg up too in that area, since obviously Fitbit will benefit from the same deregulation.

Oh lord. More people who think design is how something looks, rather than how it works. And a rectangular display works better for information, which is why computer monitors, train/plane schedule displays, hell even just books, aren't round. Watches were round because of swinging arms, which, surprise, ain't dere no more.

People have expectations about what things should look like. I remember my mother making mashed potatoes and fresh bread for Easter, using food coloring to make the potatoes orange and the bread green. She had what she thought was a good reason too, celebrating spring and its colors. The taste probably didn't change at all but no one liked either of them. They didn't look like what they were expected to. No doubt there's a significant percentage of watch wearers that when they think of what a quality watch should look like one of the basics is that its round. A rectangular one doesn't look right to them.