NYT: Apple is Working on a Curved Glass Smart Watch

Yes please!!

An iWatch with iPhone notifications (see email, texts, Facebook, Twitter, phone calls etc), a 1-2 week battery, an always-on watch face and useful things like compass/music with Bluetooth headphones, for $200-300, and I'd be all over it.

mozumder said:

Since people don't buy watches to tell time.

They buy it as decorative jewelry.

Watches are fashion statements, not a useful product.

It might work while training for sports or something, but not for formal or even daily activity.

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This is very untrue. I am 20 years old now. I have worn a watch since I was about 10 years old. Anyone who actually is willing to wear a watch for the sake of telling time knows that it is much faster and much easier to look at your wrist than it is to take a cellphone out of your pocket and putting it back in. Me and many of my friends (around my age) and family buy watches for the main purpose of telling time. I for one think, as long as the price is not overly expensive, (less than $150 to start off) an 'iWatch' would be a huge success in all age groups of people who would carry the cellphone around with them. (If $200 or more to start, it would still not be a huge crash and burn. First iPod was $399 I do believe)

And why is everyone thinking of it as an extra device to carry around? It is like carrying around a hat or a ring or a pair of glasses or a bracelet. It's not like carrying around another music player or camera... That is why I think it would be so successful.

charlituna said:

Who says its for young people. Could be for all the old folks that are used to wearing glasses.

Meanwhile the kiddies will be all over the iGlasses. Designed with help from some of the top designers in the world, these stylish glasses are actually a heads up display for notifications, etc from your iOS devices. Exclusive tech displays the information on the inside of the lenses while obscuring it from view in the other side of the lens. Models can be made with prescription lenses for those with vision issues, color changing lenses for wearing as computer/gaming glasses or even sunglasses etc.

Six months later they will release v2 with Bluetooth stereo ear piece options. V3 six months after that will have video/still cameras built in for recording your world, in 3d even.

And of course as Apple is going green, all models will include Apple's new solar charging tech so you only need to use the battery at night.

I heard all about it from this guy who's shagging this girl whose roommate's brother's boyfriend worked at an Apple Store with a guy that claims he saw Jony and Tim wearing the prototypes around campus

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So, for the record, he's gay?
All kidding aside, your tongue-in-cheek assessment is not that far-fetched, and some of it, is within the realm of the possible.

unobtainium said:

One of the things I love about my iPhone (and smartphones in general I guess) is that it allows me to carry fewer items with me when I go out. It's an iPod, a camera, a phone, a compass, a map, a portable gaming system, an eReader, and *drumroll please* a watch, all in one.

An extra device to take with me everywhere is the exact opposite of what I want.

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All those things the iPhone is, are things that would normally go into pockets... Except the watch. It would be something you never have to take out of your pocket. It would just be there.

Chumburro2U said:

Nobody is forcing you to buy anything.

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Well, no, but at this rate most people will eventually own 5-6 gadgets that are all interconnected: smartphone, iPad, iWatch, computer, etc…, and it will be hard to live without them. Soon you'll have 20 gadgets and they'll all go obsolete at different times, at increasingly shorter intervals, and so on.

It's not about me not wanting to buy one (I'll probably want one), but it's a bit scary in a way, that every few years a new thing comes out that becomes a really big deal, making people "buy into" the product and keep buying the subsequent generations at regular intervals.

THAT'S SO COOL! Now I can look at my expensive trinket-watch instead of cell phone, when I need to see the time.

It's a stupid idea. The only good idea is if this is the proposed design for the iPod nano, and they make the nano into something more than just an iPod. It could be a gimmick to surf up sales on such a device, but ultimately it would be a mere novelty. Let's talk about function rather than form, because that's where the worth of the products resides.

It's a good idea, but man - that watch in the photo is as fugly as hell.

If that were the watch, no chance I'd be buying it.

.

Exhausted

I cannot tell you how sick I am of reading the moron responses to this concept. "People don't wear watches." People didn't walk around with tablets before either.. what is your point?! It is seriously the most narrow-minded, creatively lacking response I can imagine. Oh, and here's another one I love-- "that (smart-watches) are ugly." Yes, many of them are. And Apple's will be drool-worthy. Again, Apple will make the thing you (apparently MANY of you), didn't think you wanted, and make you realize how much you needed it. It will take something that others are fumbling at, and do it RIGHT.

It's not a "watch," it's a gps, fitness, app-running, music playing (of course there will be a headphone jack), bluetooth connected, call-taking, notification-displaying mouse/tv/gaming motion-controlled remote, NFC-wallet, siri-enabled EVERYTHING. Instead of taking out your phone every five seconds, you can just check your watch to see if it's really a call or text that's important. And hell, if it's quick, you can just put it on speakerphone and take the call right there. And here's a real mind-blower, if they wanted to, they could include cellular, and 85% of the time, you could leave the house WITHOUT your cellphone! It is the "tablet" to your "desktop."

How can you be a fan of apple and yet have SO LITTLE IMAGINATION?! It's freaking pathetic.

I guarantee you, this device is coming, and it's going to be a massive, massive hit. I'm guessing we'll see it in 2014/2015 though.

I'm sorry for the rant, but I see these dumb-ass comments over and over, and I just can't take it any longer.

And try actually READING (or better yet, thinking) before you dump on an idea. This is one article that elaborates on the iWatch concept (http://asktog.com/atc/apple-iwatch/), but it's certainly not the only one.

Didn't they just hire an OLED expert? What I mean is this:


That won't turn out as a watch. It will turn out as awesome.

Not happening

There's no existing market, or one to create, large enough for watches anymore.
just... stop this nonsense.
There's no iWatch, at least in the state it's being presented here.

Think about it:
1. A multi-touch device worn directly out of reach of the touching fingers? Ok, so it's a one hand device, but the natural position of the wrist that carries the device isn't very natural for long periods of time. You'll exercise the heck out of your left shoulder!

2. NFC, proximity tech, pedometer stuff, compass, RFID, ummm no. You could say that about any existing device. You can stuff that tech into a Keychain and it would be more useful than an iWatch.

....A multi-touch Coffee mug would make more sense than an iWatch ... coffee mugs & water bottles are toted around by the general population in larger numbers than watches.

I'll give you this, the only way this is going to happen: is if Apple finds a specific problem to be solved by introducing a wearable PC in the form of an iOS watch.

And it had better be a big problem, because I'm not buying it.

KieranDotW said:

You mean Cook/Apple might actually INNOVATE something NEW?

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You are aware that innovation behind closed doors is still innovation. Except for rumors, there is almost no public view of Apple's marketing or R&D efforts. Lack of transparency in R&D is not evidence of lack of R&D.

What you eventually see as a product may have had years of development and tens, hundreds or thousands of developmental iterations. Perhaps this is the reason that Apple has such a history of disruption; they actually care to deliver a finished product, even in their first iterations.

Solid song choice on the watch

Curved glass? WTF?

Is everybody on drugs? What is this nonsense about "curved glass"?

If you go to a department store, maybe half of the watches with rectangular dials have curved glass.

My wall clock has curved glass. Hell, my dinner plates have curved glass.

Is there actually a technological hurdle here that I'm not aware of?

Edit: also I forgot that glasses have curved glass and so do camera lenses. Any lens, really.
Edit 2: car windshields or any other kind of car glass. I'll probably think of some more things in the next 2 minutes.

boss1 said:

There's no market, or one to create, large enough for watches anymore.
....A multi-touch Coffee mug would make more sense than an iWatch ... coffee mugs & water bottles are toted around by the general population in larger numbers than watches.

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So in other words, because tablets hadn't yet made a dent in the market, Apple should never have made one. Because we all know that CREATING a market where there isn't one, well, come on now, where's the money in that? There's no market for watches anymore because nobody needs a watch. This is not a "watch."

And absolutely, you're right, it makes sense to walk around with something like a coffee mug or keychain rather than something you wear, have on you all of the time securely, and forget about when you're not using it.

Like I said, exhausted.

I don't like the idea of this - at all!

First, I would have to actually leave the darned phone on - no more "sorry, I was unavailable" excuses.

Second, the black helicopters (soon to be drones) will be able to find me!

Third, the wife will probably be able to track me - when I'm supposed to be working late.

Must think of the unintended consequences.

I wouldn't buy anything to put around my wrist.

dkersten said:

I can't wait til people who say they would never use an Apple Smartwatch buy one and realize how useful it is, like with every Apple product released

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...lol I don't think so.

ThisIsMike said:

So in other words, because tablets hadn't yet made a dent in the market, Apple should never have made one. Because we all know that CREATING a market where there isn't one, well, come on now, where's the money in that? There's no market for watches anymore because nobody needs a watch. This is not a "watch."

And absolutely, you're right, it makes sense to walk around with something like a coffee mug or keychain rather than something you wear, have on you all of the time securely, and forget about when you're not using it.

Like I said, exhausted.

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Believe Mike I'm on your side when it comes to the unimaginative , that lack the vision to see something come to fruition as a product they once thought they never had a need for.

This shared mentality in me, goes back for decades. When I first heard that apple was working on a tablet/phone back in the early to mid 2000's I immediately new Palm was @#$% .

I was ranting about how MP3 players (this is like way back when MP3 players were just winamp & macamp on PC only) would eventually take the form of being able to played in car audio systems via mp3 decoders and eventually portable digital devices. I'll go back a decade to the macnn thread and dig that one up from the archives!

That said, iWatch? NO. sorry .

weing said:

Call me crazy ,but I think getting young people to wear a watch-like item on their wrist other than as a short-lived fad is about as likely as getting them wanting to wear a bowler hat.

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I don't think so.

Watches have a distinct advantage over phones in that you don't have to pull them out of your pocket to use them. They have been around for a long time. While their popularity rises and falls, you could hardly call them a fad.

Watches fell to wayside as their function became redundant with phones. To me it seems fairly obvious that, as technology advances makes it feasible, the opposite will happen.

baryon said:

Well, no, but at this rate most people will eventually own 5-6 gadgets that are all interconnected: smartphone, iPad, iWatch, computer, etc…,

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Ya... if only my iPod integrated with my iPad and not iCloud or my computer as the middle man. Let me know the day that Apple actually decides to let iOS devices interconnect with each other directly.

I stopped wearing a watch ten years ago when I got me an iPod. Now its my phone that tells me what time it is. I'm only willing to carry one device and for now the iPhone/smartphone is it. I imagine most people feel this way.

mozumder said:

Since people don't buy watches to tell time.

They buy it as decorative jewelry.

Watches are fashion statements, not a useful product.

It might work while training for sports or something, but not for formal or even daily activity.

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You are correct except the part about the concept being a dead end. IF Apple came out with a "watch" do you really think the central function would be as a time piece? If so you are not thinking creatively, only retroactively. Pebble has already given us a sneak peak at the potential of a 21st century "smart watch".

This will be the remote for the real Apple TV.

dakwar said:

I stopped wearing a watch ten years ago when I got me an iPod. Now its my phone that tells me what time it is. I'm only willing to carry one device and for now the iPhone/smartphone is it. I imagine most people feel this way.

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I'd hardly call a watch a burdensome thing to "carry" around. It's not on par w/ something that takes up pocket space or has noticeable weight.

I dont understand this nobody wears a watch anymore line. I work with about 10 men and 8 of them wear a watch including myself. Many of them have more than one. The ages of the men are 20-60. All of them are heavy apple product users. They prefer to look at their wrist in stead of pulling out a phone. That might be a limited sample still its more than nobody.

What I like about a watch is the quick glaceable information. I see the same quick glaceable information being the key advantage in a smart watch. Text message in a movie, score update at a 4th cousins wedding that the only reason you are invited is because you were on the gift registry or any other place were notifications would be rude but you would like the option of discreetly getting them.

Would I buy one? Probably not I like the simplicity of my automatic watch. I like the facts that it never needs a battery as long as I wear it few hours a day. It is nice to have at least one mobile device that gives me updated information that does not need a battery.