Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
69
Northeastern Ohio
Would be cool for car manufactures to include support for a smart watch. Push button ignition. I know it already exists but what if you forgot your keys etc?
 

Shrink

macrumors G3
Feb 26, 2011
8,929
1,727
New England, USA
Are you actually really impressed by what watch a person is wearing, or are you trying to be funny?

Your point is taken, but it is worth pointing out that some folks buy certain electronic devices in the hopes of impressing others.

Just saying...:D
 

dumoon

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2007
26
0
Oh, I'm in. Haven't worn a watch in years, but there is potential here.

But this thing about nobody stealing your iWatch because it deauthorizes when removed. Am I the only one imagining horrible ways that your iWatch may be stolen and still authorized?
 

GuitarDTO

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2011
687
110
I actually think this is interesting and has lots of potential. Not necessarily for a mass market though. A lot here say "I never wear a watch....that's why I have a phone". I ALWAYS wear a watch, and it's not to tell the time. It's for style and style alone. Men's watches are one of the few fashion accessories and statements we have. I never felt so in college but as I got older I've now got quite a collection of watches.

1. Stylish
2. Unlocks things, like cars and/or phones. Having apps built into your phone, car and/or anything else that would lock you out of the device until the watch were nearby is a great idea. Switch the App "off" or have it revert to regular passcode in the event you don't wear that watch for the day.

I'd buy it.
 

maknik

macrumors regular
May 17, 2006
173
53
Have the quick responders, clearly none of whom actually read the article, left yet?
 

macsrcool1234

Suspended
Oct 7, 2010
1,551
2,130
You don't know much about multifactor authentication, do you?

Amazing at the number of pubescent replies, from people who have no where to go, and no place to be, that they don't need a watch to know that their sorry asses are late.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
 

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
A lot of personal & anecdotal comments as fact in this thread...

Here are some objective truths:

1) Yes, many people don't wear watches as time pieces anymore b/c of cell phones but they do wear them for other purposes; i.e., sports, as a fashion statement, etc.

2) The pebble watch is the most successful Kickstarter venture to-date, so clearly there is demand for a smart watch.

3) The portable music category was moribund until the iPod. So lets not presume just because watches are not as universally popular now as in 1990 that Apple can't reinvent the category.

4) Consumers don't know what they want until they see it. (The iPad is just a big iPhone! How lame....Remember that sentiment here).
 

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,134
31,180
I don't get these articles. This isn't even a rumor about something Apple is supposedly working on. It's just speculation from a former Apple employee on what Apple could/might do if they decided to do watch. Not sure how that is newsworthy. Especially when the former employee admits they have no inside knowledge of anything. :confused:
 

anthony11

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2007
332
8
Seattle, WA
What about the one BIG problem...I don't (and I know many others) want to wear a watch. Ever. I don't want a watch tan, and I don't want that dorky thing strapped to my wrist.

The "problem" it's supposed to solve is that I don't want to take the phone out of my pocket? Why have the phone then? I think it sounds silly.

So, anyone who steals or finds such a watch would have immediate access to *everything*? Madness. This is why we have "something you have and something you know" strategies.
 

ctdonath

macrumors 68000
Mar 11, 2009
1,592
629
An iWatch is about 10 years too late! I don't know anyone who wears watches anymore because of the fact that they have cell phones! :confused:

Some of us have wives who think we look more professional/important wearing a watch. I gave mine up (the watch, that is) years ago in favor of an ongoing game of "find the clock" (there usually being about 3 in any room). That drove her nuts, and now I'm back to wearing a watch daily.

On a related note, I'd like to see Apple do an iPhone Nano: it's just a phone, but with :apple: sensibilities. As I drag my iPad everywhere, the iPhone is kinda redundant as a mini-tablet; I just want something between a smartphone and a dumbphone - maybe an idiot-savant-phone, VERY good at making voice calls, and not much else.
 

trunten

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2007
193
39
I want this guys watch idea!

NFC and removing need for passcode is worth it IMO.
Just need to make it look like a mechanical watch for me though.
 

iamPro

macrumors regular
May 15, 2009
226
134
I actually think this is interesting and has lots of potential. Not necessarily for a mass market though. A lot here say "I never wear a watch....that's why I have a phone". I ALWAYS wear a watch, and it's not to tell the time. It's for style and style alone. Men's watches are one of the few fashion accessories and statements we have. I never felt so in college but as I got older I've now got quite a collection of watches.

1. Stylish
2. Unlocks things, like cars and/or phones. Having apps built into your phone, car and/or anything else that would lock you out of the device until the watch were nearby is a great idea. Switch the App "off" or have it revert to regular passcode in the event you don't wear that watch for the day.

I'd buy it.

But, many will have the same watch slapped around their wrists.
Not particularly fashionable IMO.

Whether it's for your personal pleasure or to impress others, anyone who denies watches have become more of a fashion item is in denial. Yes, there are a select professions where a watch may be a necessity. However, since when did Apple only care about a select few?
 

bigpics

macrumors 6502
Jul 26, 2002
287
48
Rockland County, New York
People don't wear watches - but they wear Nike+ Fuelbands.
I have yet to see someone who ditched his or her watch because it was uncomfortable, so that's not the point. They ditch is because it's useless with a smartphone, just displaying the time or at best having a calculator or IR remote build-in. And if you complain that iOS hasn't changed since it's introduction and ditch it, chances are that you don't like a device that hasn't changed a lot in a century.

And that is where Apple fits in.
Well, you haven't "seen me" but now you've read me. Old habits develop functional autonomy, but abut two years ago it dawned on me (as my watchband was giving out) - I don't need to replace this damn thing - I'm already carrying the time around.

I did enjoy my Casio watch/calculator in the '80s though however "fashion backward" it was. [Note, which in reply to another poster, establishes I am indeed over 20 as well.]

But I love being able to button my shirt cuffs more, and as a photog, watches spoil many otherwise "timeless" looking semi-close-up photos.

As for the passcode comments, it strikes me that I'd have to find my watch when I got out of the shower to answer my phone, i.e., more down than upsides on a number of dimensions. :rolleyes:

Bringing up the fuel-bands and such though, there could be a role for a "smart watch" or other worn device as a medical monitor connected via your phone or tablet both to readouts for and you to your doc's office for a whole slew of conditions where timely monitoring can make a real, even life-saving difference. But I see third parties making a variety of these rather than Apple.

So as pictured here or re that thing every tech site did a CES story on, nawww, not for me. And certainly wouldn't sell in "new Apple product-like" volumes. No. Way.

And feel free to throw that back at me if it turns out to be "claim chowder."
 
Last edited:

Attonine

macrumors 6502a
Feb 15, 2006
744
58
Kent. UK
I'm really having difficulty understanding how the functionality of the iWatch could be compelling enough for a user to have both an iPhone and iWatch, rather than just an iPhone and regular watch.

I can see being able to look at the watch to glance incoming messages, sms, caller id's. I think having the connection between the watch and iPhone as an added level of security being neat. But what else could it really add that is so tiresome/time consuming in day to day life that people will find a need for the iWatch? Taking a phone out of your pocket is such a simple, mindless action that I am not sure enough people are willing to pay for an extra device so they don't have to do it.

I have no doubt Apple has toyed with the idea of an iWatch in their R&D labs. I am sure they have some crazy ideas that are way ahead of anything I can think of atm. At the moment though, I really can't see it being anything more than a trinket money spinner, kind of like apple starting to sell mugs or key rings.
 

iamPro

macrumors regular
May 15, 2009
226
134
I could see iWatch take over the techy/geeky watches.
But, I'm having a hard time seeing Apple successfully competing against luxury and semi-luxury watch makers or even affordable fashion-watches. I'm assuming that's the majority of watch market. Its just a different field targeted at people with different interests.
 

euvnairb

macrumors regular
Oct 13, 2010
198
149
Goleta, CA
Why all the hate? If you don't want to wear a watch, no one is forcing you to and your iDevices will function like they always have. I think the ADDED functionalities like those described in the article would be a huge benefit to those that want it.

I personally like wearing watches and find it way more convenient to wave my wrist to see the time rather than pulling my phone from my pocket (1st world problems). I would gladly pay for something like an iWatch.
 

mrtravel123

macrumors regular
Aug 9, 2007
198
2
I gave up wearing a watch years and years ago when I first started carrying a cell phone around. Back before Motorola made the StarTAC.

That being said, if there was any company that could get back BACK into wearing a watch, it would be Apple.

Let's face it, portability, ease, accessibility and customization are HUGE when it comes to electronics today. If Apple can get into the home automation business, handle wireless payments, etc, I can see a GROWING market for various things like an iWatch. As someone has said, a watch is far easier to access than a phone in your pocket. Imagine arriving at home and unlocking your door with your watch. Turn on your home stereo with your watch. Place everything that is in your "bulky" iPhone into the space of a small watch. Etc, Etc. Etc.

It IS hard to believe that the watch business would be AS successful as the phone business. BUT, and this is a big but, we have to look 5 or 10 years down the road to see what people will be wanting then.

As Steve Jobs put it often, Apple has to figure out what the consumer wants and needs BEFORE the consumer even realizes it. So, a massively integrated Apple ecosystem (with a watch) COULD be part of our future. Or not.

People have to be willing to stretch their imagination and think outside the box. We can pretty-much guarantee that Jobs had already thought about the watch idea. But, what did he conclude???
 

olowott

macrumors 6502a
May 25, 2011
879
0
Dundee, UK
alot of negative comments on the iWatch:p

reminds me of the iPad:rolleyes:

Apples tells us why really need an iWatch and we go wow:eek:
 

Awakener

macrumors 6502
Mar 28, 2011
345
0
Eliminating passwords and a proximity alarm will make this popular with many Apple users.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.