[scubaholic]

Is it cool to get your email on a watch or to call someone? Sure..but not when it has to be paired with a phone. LTE should be built into the watch and not have to be linked to the phone. It's just another gimmick/revenue stream for Apple.

The watch is only water resistant to 30m, that's pathetic for a watch in that price range. There are so many analog watches in that range that crush it's water resistance...

I won't be buying one anytime soon.

 

[pollyc]

Water resistance is academic, unless the iphone is water resistant too. I am not keen on the CONcept.

 

[IgniFerroque]

I fail to see how selling a product that you don't like qualifies as a scam.

 

[andy12r]

I doubt anybody buying an iWatch gives a thought to it's water resistance, it's simply not about that.

You're not comparing like for like, you're trying to compare an orange with a camel......

We're an apple family with 3 ipads and 4-5 iphones lying around so i quite like apple and their products....... however.........i do still fail to see the attraction of the iwatch.

Is it a scam - no it's not....is it just another revenue stream for apple ...possibly/probably....

 

[scubaholic]

I wrote why, you have to pair it with the iphone to make calls or to do anything important on it. If it had its own LTE built in, it'd be great.

 

[reklawg]

I wrote why, you have to pair it with the iphone to make calls or to do anything important on it. If it had its own LTE built in, it'd be great.

When battery technology reaches the point where that can happen let me know.....


Kind Regards

Graham

 

[DiverDown]

I wrote why, you have to pair it with the iphone to make calls or to do anything important on it. If it had its own LTE built in, it'd be great.

Adding all the features to it, would probably make it too large to be a watch any longer. It's an accessory for your phone, makes sense to me.

 

[3Pedals_6Speeds]

Don't let the 'Watch' part of the name fool you. Its usage (not utility) as a watch by customers will be about as much as the iPhone's is as a telephonic device. They're both minicomputers, one just happens to be more full featured and in your pocket, the other a de-contented version, and on your wrist.

I personally disagree with the 'scam' moniker, as a scam implies misrepresentation, and Apple's been clear as to what it does, and does not do. Anybody buying it should have done their due diligence (given the cost) and it's not like Apple has been evasive or cloudy on what it (as currently envisions, months before release) will do.

All that said, as an Apple product owner for >10 years, and a WIS, there's no way I'm buying one because a) it doesn't do enough to merit my $$, and b) there's no way it's displacing my Seiko collection.

 

[chévere]

Ben Clymer of Hodinkee wrote a great blog post on how the Apple Watch might impact the watch market.

I can't begin to understand the hostility (bordering on righteous indignation) I've seen in reactions to the Apple Watch. Nonetheless, I am fascinated by the way consumers react to new products (particularly Apple) that they have no interest in using or buying. If the Apple Watch paired with Android phones or had its own built-in LTE, I still don't see many of us who call ourselves enthusiasts selling off our beloved 6139s, 6105s, or 6309s to buy one.

Considering that we're all enthusiastically participating on a forum dedicated to analog watches (often vintage ones), we are clearly not part of Apple's target market for the watch. Even as an Apple loyalist (my first Apple product was a IIc and I've had some iteration of the Mac since the Performa line), the Apple Watch only piques my interest due to its novelty. I'm loyal to Apple because they consistently provide the quality I have come to expect -- the same can be said for why I've almost exclusively worn Seikos.

 

[NelsonE]

When the first electronic and quartz watches came out folks dismissed them and moved on. A few years later many of those people sorely regretted that decision.

Young folks increasingly don't wear watches and those people will flock to the I-Watch and most of those people will probably never buy a conventional watch. over time I think fewer and fewer will buy conventional watches.Watch manufacturers realize this and that's why prices are rising so fast. They think people will go for luxury high priced pieces for an increasingly dwindling audience.

I wouldn't be minimizing what this device and those that will follow will do to total conventional watch sales.

 

[thickman808]

I've had an apple watch for years.

If anyone asks me the time I might glance at my wrist but then HAVE to qualify that by checking my iPhone...always there in my pocket.

(It's because im always wearing broken watches...not ones I've fixed!)

 

[jeycci]

I wrote why, you have to pair it with the iphone to make calls or to do anything important on it. If it had its own LTE built in, it'd be great.

Ditto!!I

 

[bb-sf]

Im pretty much apple at home and Microsoft in my office and don't really have much loyalty or respect for either, so I am no one's apologist.

I watched the live Apple watch presentation and I do think they did a good job compared to other "smart" watches by honoring some basic watch design concepts such as having a crown, using sapphire and having a pretty clean look. I thought there was some innovation even in the strap designs which I think may be adopted by conventional watches (I guess having magnets in a strap or bracelet are not good for mechanical watches however!).

The best thing I like about my iPhone is that I can put it away and turn it off if needed. The Apple watch seems to make the phone too present in our lives all the time which is not what I thing any of us needs. I don't want that aspect for sure.

The one big draw I see is the health monitoring aspect of the device. I am in my early 50's and I have really taken charge of my health and fitness after some pretty serious neglect in my 40's. The way I saw it working, the Apple watch would have to be worn pretty much 24/7 to achieve the maximum health monitoring benefit. That MAY get me almost thinking about getting one and wearing it all the time. Rest assured I have no designs to buy one at this time...

I will say that my bet is that a similar health monitoring ankle device will be made (one is in the works on some seed capital sight) or even such sensing devices could be put into the straps and bracelets of regular watches. There is the fit bit which could be worn on the other hand or along with your watch for that matter, so there are already alternatives.

I have a bud who is a dr who delivers babies and he is always on call and he has some watch thing that pairs with his phone. It works for him. He is a bit on the older side and having anything which will help grab his attention is helpful He's a technology junkie at that and has a rolex gmt his wife gave him years ago gathering dust somewhere in some closet of his home.

It seems to work for him. To each their own.

I think there is only so much wrist space and time for most people and I think a lot of watches are purchased by non WIS (even high-end watches that we would die over) so I could see the Apple watch definitely challenging the overall watch industry in similar fashion as Japanese quartz watches challenged the Swiss watch industry in the 1970's and 1980's. Of course most of us would say that the Swiss did a good job of eventually bouncing back from that one (much through offering a lower priced Swiss quartz watch and a ton of industry consolidation). We will see what will happen. I am making no strong bets at this time.

 

[boid69]

i think the apple watch and other like it are not really in the 'watch ' market that we deal with.
also, all the current phone watches out there at the moment except one have to be 'paired'

 

[TheTigerUK]

When the first electronic and quartz watches came out folks dismissed them and moved on. A few years later many of those people sorely regretted that decision.

Young folks increasingly don't wear watches and those people will flock to the I-Watch and most of those people will probably never buy a conventional watch. over time I think fewer and fewer will buy conventional watches.Watch manufacturers realize this and that's why prices are rising so fast. They think people will go for luxury high priced pieces for an increasingly dwindling audience.

I wouldn't be minimizing what this device and those that will follow will do to total conventional watch sales.

I remember throwing my mechanical watch in a draw when i got my first Seiko digital in 78 and i wore digital solely until in the 90s.

I remember as a kid when one of our group turned up on a Honda motor bike (we all had English bikes) and we all said what a strange thing but it was fast, reliable, economical, electric start etc and only a few year later the brit bikes were gone almost.

 

[scubaholic]

Ok here's why I believe it is a scam, it's going to be outdated within a year..so basically it's a throwaway watch if you don't plan on upgrading it to the new one after lets say 2 years max. Apple may update the OS on it, maybe not. They're notorious for dropping customer support for first gen products as soon as the new one hits. The scam is that you're dropping over $300 on the watch and you're going to be lucky if you ever get more than 3 years out of it. Sure does it have some cool features? yes.

I just think they got it wrong by not being able to have a model for 3g or lte built into it. Is it so bad to want that? It's another revenue stream for them because the iphone makes up the majority of their sales and profits.

 

[TheTigerUK]

Ok here's why I believe it is a scam, it's going to be outdated within a year..so basically it's a throwaway watch if you don't plan on upgrading it to the new one after lets say 2 years max. Apple may update the OS on it, maybe not. They're notorious for dropping customer support for first gen products as soon as the new one hits. The scam is that you're dropping over $300 on the watch and you're going to be lucky if you ever get more than 3 years out of it. Sure does it have some cool features? yes.

I just think they got it wrong by not being able to have a model for 3g or lte built into it. Is it so bad to want that? It's another revenue stream for them because the iphone makes up the majority of their sales and profits.

So if your that way inclined it has cost you $2 a week over the three year period ? hopefully it will be worth it

 

[DiverDown]

Ok here's why I believe it is a scam, it's going to be outdated within a year..so basically it's a throwaway watch if you don't plan on upgrading it to the new one after lets say 2 years max. Apple may update the OS on it, maybe not. They're notorious for dropping customer support for first gen products as soon as the new one hits. The scam is that you're dropping over $300 on the watch and you're going to be lucky if you ever get more than 3 years out of it. Sure does it have some cool features? yes.

I just think they got it wrong by not being able to have a model for 3g or lte built into it. Is it so bad to want that? It's another revenue stream for them because the iphone makes up the majority of their sales and profits.

You can say that about most computer products, that certainly doesn't make it a scam.

 

[normdiaz]

Not a concern for me.

 

[squarebear]

I think the scam is.....the normal thing for apple....they don't innovate anything but make it "cool" so everyone pays a premium for old tech.
Android watches have been out for ages with similar feature set but apple does it and the frenzied fanboys are out in force talking like apple changed the world again.
Just my 2c and no offence meant to the apple people amongst us.

It is like certain "swiss" manufacturers who trade on name only but still have same ETA heart beating underneath. Why pay $1000s for a name? when same watch basically is in a much cheaper device? Its why I love Seiko, They actually DO innovate on their own and make all in-house and only hype what they have developed.

Anyway, maybe its just the cynicism coming through...