So how are Apple watches doing now?

In My Humble Opinion
1

The big announcements about the new iphones and ipads and other Apple things made me curious about Apple’s last big new product, the Apple watch. It seems like I haven’t heard much about them, either good or bad, since they were released. Are people still buying them? Do people who have bought them still like them? Are smart watches poised to be something that everyone will start wearing?

I was skeptical at first when I heard about them, but I read an article in Wired about them and other wearables that made a good case for the usefulness and how they might be more used in the future. But didn’t convince me enough to go get an Apple watch or other smart watch immediately.

2

This short Atlantic piece from yesterday basically covers what we know. Reports from suppliers suggest that sales are not meeting expectations, but Apple claims customer satisfaction remains high. This trends with other wearables. Apple themselves will not break out sales figures for the watch alone, so it’s lumped in with iPod and headphone sales.

Samsung has been getting a lot of positive buzz for it’s upcoming Gear 2 watch, but overall the experiment has not gone well for them.

3

IMHO, the screen size rather limits utility. It would be one thing if smart watches could replace other mobile devices, but as things stand they’re basically just an extra screen. Old people can’t see them and young people don’t wear watches.

I’m 33, which puts me in the last generation of watch wearers - the ones who grew up when digital watches made it cheap enough for kids to own them. So I’m a potential customer, or would be if I was an Apple user. There’s a problem: I love my actual wristwatch. It was a ridiculously expensive present from my father many years ago, and it has immense sentimental value. You’d have to offer me some serious incentives to take it off, much less to pay for something to replace it. I own lots of others - I used to run a watch shop - but never wear any of them.

I’m sure there are lots of people my age who do wear watches and aren’t attached to the one they have, but ultimately the market just isn’t as big as everyone assumes. I mean, really, how many early adopters are there going to be among people aged 30-45?

4

Interesting article. It does sound like Apple was expecting the Apple watch to be a bigger hit right off the bat, and that’s not the case.

It seems that a lot of people, especially young people, don’t wear watches, so it would take something major for them to start doing so, and the Apple watch so far isn’t that. I agree, that if there was a watch that could replace other mobile devices, then it could get more buyers, but it sounds like technology and design isn’t there yet. It seems like it will get there eventually, but I don’t know how soon that will be.

5

I was guessing anyone that used them much would be suffering from Apple Elbow by now. Because, to look at a regular watch you hold your arm in that position for two seconds but to look at the Apple thing it’s at least two minutes.

6

This is telling. The fact that they won’t provide sales figures is a huge red flag that the numbers probably suck.

Which really shouldn’t be a surprise. The screen is too small to read easily, and it doesn’t replace your phone. It’s a geek accessory (like Google Glasses [remember those?] ), and history has shown that geek accesories tend to be a fairly small niche market.

7

I keep trying to talk myself into buying one, and I just can’t.

I think that’s a bad thing, as I should be the ultimate customer for an Apple watch:

  • Currently have iPhone, no plans to change
  • Total Tech geek. Programmer. Love new shiny toys.
  • It has a killer app for me that would make my life much easier*

Still, even with all that, I can’t bring myself to bite the bullet. It’s too expensive, too clunky, and I gotta think they’ll come out with a newer, better one in a year or two. Which, incidentally, makes me wonder what the folks who shelled out for the really expensive ($1K+) versions think. Are they seriously going to upgrade that $5K watch every couple years?

*I am a Type 1 diabetic, currently using a continuous glucose monitor which integrates with the Apple watch. It would let me see my blood sugar by glancing at my watch whenever I want, as opposed to pulling out a separate device. This would be really, really handy while exercising or otherwise doing things that involve both my hands.

8

This to me has always been the problem with the Apple watch concept, people like watches as pieces of jewelry (me to) , and they are not going to take it off to replace it with something that looks the same as the other guy or girls apple watch.

For sport I change my watch out to a heart rate/gps watch, but I don’t think the apple watch has the durability for surviving some seriously damp mountain biking or the batteries would die when dealing with super cold skiing days.

9

It’s not for everyone.

Remember how the first iPhone didn’t even have apps, but it did some things in a way that knocked our socks off, and then came the App Store…
…Let’s see what happens next week when WatchOS 2.0 is released.

I love it, and it fits my lifestyle to a “T”

I am a serious runner, but I don’t really care about Nike Fuel or any other long-term measurements, just “Did I get my miles in this week” and “How far did I go today”
The watch does that in spades.

I like that when I am listening to my audiobook on a run, I can control the volume and skip back/forward from my wrist.
I like to see my texts and emails coming in as I run, easily viewed and dismissed without digging out my phone or breaking my stride.

Folks say they don’t like the requirement to have the phone with you, but that doesn’t mean anything to me since my cell phone is my lifeline should I get injured on a run.

I work in my basement, which means that I never get a signal with my phone, and I really don’t want to carry it with me around the house. I leave it upstairs, and the watch receives phone calls and texts via wifi from the phone, so no matter where I am, I can answer the phone.

Apple Pay is the cat’s pajamas. It works now at Shop-Rite, so double-win. Now that the competing CurrentC product is coming to the end of its exclusivity contract with many stores, expect to see many of the big players supporting Apple Pay. Best Buy already announced their jumping ship, and the others will soon follow.

Seeing my reminders (e.g. “take out the trash”) at the bottom of the watch face is much more effective than having them on the phone.

To “get” the Apple Watch, you need to know that the intent is for any app to be used only for a few seconds at a time–given that design criterion, it becomes clear that nobody really is expected to play Angry Birds on it or watch a TV show.

In short, it does not have one single killer app (yet); it is the combined set of functions that makes it work for me.

I like mine so much that I have three Swiss watches cooling their heels in a watch winder case, waiting for the next trip to church or the occasional face-to-face meeting at work. The Apple Watch does not have the classic look I want to wear at work, especially since the face is black all of the time–I wear Swiss stainless steel when dressed nicely.

10

I think it’s a duh that any product under the Apple umbrella is expected (by them, by Apple aficionados and by a too-large segment of the tech and lifestyle press) to be an enormous success that changes millions of lives and the very orbit of our planet.

While Apple doesn’t fail very often, they do have a few turds in their museum. I think “wearables” as a whole are at best as premature as, say, the Newton. Very very - if I may reference the other thread - “There’s an app for that!”

11

I have an Apple watch.

I think it’s a neat toy, but it hasn’t changed my life. It’s basically an extension to an iPhone, so that limits it’s usefulness. There are a few neat capabilities, but nothing that screams “must have!”

I think a lot could change as the OS matures, and more apps designed for the watch appear.

12

I pretty much agree with all this.

I have it - wear it more often than I wear a regular watch (I like the tracking info), and I really wish it had some better sleep tracking apps.

Anyway - I like it, but am disappointed in new apps and stuff coming out.

It seems that people are split on it - I get more people asking about it than ever asked about my Omega - which was much more $$$ - and a decent amount saying they’d like one but it’s too expensive and how could I spend that much on a watch? Being that the four watches I really like start at around $35k - I look at this as saving me $34,000 :slight_smile:

I’m really hoping they don’t give up on the concept. I don’t think they will - and they can afford to keep going.

The thing is that even among watch snobs - they really admire the design of the bracelet. It might not look like much - but the design for resizing it - and the changing of the bands - is simply brilliant.

I also believe I saw a report on CNBC (I wasn’t really paying attention), but I think it was LVMH - and someone was claiming - I think - that by analyzing the numbers - it looked like the only category that had gone down was watches - so they were thinking that the iPhone was having an effect.

It’s good publicity to keep the new products coming. Lots of people seemed to know about it even if they weren’t getting one.

Sorry - I don’t think the comparison to Google Glasses is anywhere near fair. I love google, but you couldn’t pay me to wear those is public (sure I would have loved to play with it at home.

13

One of the tech columnists for the Mercury News dumped his. His complaints were lack of useful apps, low battery life, and that by default it doesn’t tell you the time.

14

I can see where he’s coming from. I know what a watch already does, so a high tech watch should do all that and more. At the very least, it should tell the time constantly, and it should not need to be recharged every day.

15

What do you plan on doing with the watch in the future? Just see how long it works and hope everything keeps running well? Or replace it every few years like most people do with smart phones? Were you thinking about the longevity when you bought it? It seems to me that the lifetime of a smartwatch would be shorter than a regular watch, even if you’re not using it for a bunch of apps or things that would slow down over time.

And just in case my tone comes across wrong, I’m asking this purely in curiosity, not in criticism of your spending. I have nothing against the Apple watch, or people who have bought them, I was just curious about how many people had bought them and why and if they were happy with them. And if in 10 years we’ll all have smart watches or if they’ll be a forgotten thing.

16

I’ve had one for a little over a month now. I agree it’s not tremendously useful (yet?) but I still like it. I got the cheapest version then bought a third-party replacement band because the Apple bands are ridiculously expensive.

I don’t agree with the battery life or not showing the time complaints. By default it does show the time. You just have to lift up your wrist for the screen to come on. If my wrist wasn’t raised, I wouldn’t be able to see the time even if the screen was on all the time.

I charge the watch overnight and usually have around half the battery life left at the end of the day.

17

I note that the new Apple installment plan for the new iPhones would also work well for the watches. The way it works is that you pay $40 a month or so for an iPhone 6, with the idea that the payments will take two years and then you own it. After the iphone 7s come out, you can swap your 6 for 7 and keep on with the payments. It ends up being an equipment rental of sorts. AppleCare is included with the payments. Apple gets the monthly fees, encourages people to move along with their new product, (saving them back-compat problems), and gets a phone back in good shape that they can sell as a refurb.

If this plan takes off, I think we’ll see it expand to the iPad and watches.

18

I think your first statement says more about the market for smartwatches than the second statement.

Both phones and tablets have a strong market niche because they are sizes suited to specific uses and people know what those uses are. In fact, we see that the so-called phablets (phones hitting the 6-7" screen size) are not quite as popular as a slightly smaller phone or a slightly larger tablet. These are just sizes that lend themselves to the uses we have for them.

A watch is too small for any mass market use, at least until we stop using screens for the interface. A watch might work in a fully realized voice-based OS, or by using VR glasses and hand gestures… but then why put it on your wrist? Arm bands, necklaces, pocket-based devices all make at least as much as sense as a wrist watch.

As I see it, the only thing driving the smartwatch market is fiction. (That is, fictional characters like Dick Tracy and the Jetsons who made it look cool.) Smart watches were like flying cars, meal pills and robots - they’re what people who wore watches thought the future would look like.

19

I only know of one person who has an Apple Watch. I haven’t asked what they think of it.

For me, a watch is something more than a gadget, and something more than jewelry. I have a mechanical watch by Mühle-Glashütte that I wear everyday. It gives me the time with a brief glance. It also feels good on my arm. There’s just no way that I’m going to replace it with something that everyone else can have.

As such, I just don’t see myself ever getting an Apple Watch, nor any other smart watch.

20

I agree with the comments regarding Apple Watch as a watch per se.

I have been wearing mine since May, and I still don’t feel that it is suitable for anything more than casual wear. In public, I would rather be wearing my Sub or Speedmaster Pro, IMHO the most beautiful men’s watch made.

Besides not looking classy, the Apple Watch fails as a subtle timepiece: in a boring meeting I want to casually glance at the time out of the corner of my eye, without moving my wrist or tapping the face to wake my watch up.

It’s all of the other uses (especially for running) that make it work for me.