Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Survey Shows Pre-Launch Demand for Apple's iWatch on Par With iPad
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think this is one of the biggest challenges for wearable technology in general right now. Battery life. Heck, technology in general.
Well that and no screen technologies that are good in a big enough range of lighting conditions.
I'd be interested but doubt I'd buy for these two reasons.
Will I be retiring my TAG Heuer and wearing a cheap piece of tat? Err, no chance. Ever.
Maybe youths will like it.
Maybe youths will like it.
Don't delude yourself into thinking TAGs are elite. They are quality low-end luxury watches, nothing more or less. TAGs price level STOPs where true luxury watches start. No one that knows about watches thinks you are special b/c you have a TAG. It's the Lexus IS 250 of watches... the IS 350 if you have the very top of the line. I say this as I have a Baume Mercier, which is at the the same price/quality level as TAG. Nice watch, nothing special.
Also, the Apple watch isn't going after the jewelry watch market, it's going after the data utility market. Think Dick Tracy watch, not James Bond.
I look forward to donning an Apple watch if it's a more refined version of the Pebble. No, I won't wear it instead of my Baume to important meetings or dressy social events, but for daily use it should be quite handy, and my ego isn't so frail that I'll wonder if people think less of me because I'm not wearing my $2K watch.
Talk about missing the point. I'll simplify.
Who will want to stop wearing a nice or even a semi-decent watch for an iWatch?
Presumably you will have to charge the thing every night or two and then have to update it with patches and stuff to fix things. A watch should just work until you service it every 3 or 4 years. With all the added functionality the iWatch is rumoured to have, it just seems a daft concept. Plus I presume due to power requirements it will have to run a simplified version of iOS as the battery in a watch can only have so much capacity.
And yes, those who own a TAG, Omega, Breitling or whatever certainly won't be in a rush to replace them with an iWatch. So who is the target market? Certainly not professional people. What is a 'data utility market'?
Yes I would agree but Sony are not what they used to be. I would expect Apple to come up with something a lot more stylish and refined. But you get the idea of what features and benefits a smart watch would bring to the market and why people would buy one.
You're so missing the point on this topic.
1. Who would buy one - iPhone users who probably no longer wear a watch.
2. Why - because they can link it to their iPhone and get a whole lot of benefits like vibrating alarm when an email or iMessage arrives, or when an important call arrives but you have your iPhone on silent, etc, etc.
3. Yes you'd probably have to charge it nightly but maybe Apple have some clever new charging tech coming down the track like inductive charging so you just place it down on your iMat and it starts charging, no wires.
4. You are totally confusing a watch with a smart watch. They are absolutely not the same thing. Nobody will buy an iWatch just to tell the time in the same way nobody buys an iPhone just coz they want a mobile phone. The key is in the world "smart". The added functionality is why you buy it.
5. The people who wear Omega or Breitling watches tend to own several watches and wear each according to the occasion. That means they are just as likely as anyone else to wear buy an iWatch to add to their collection.
"Pre-launch demand for the iWatch" may be completely irrelevant depending on how things go tomorrow.
Tomorrow's the big day.
If Cook is successful in keeping the investors, analysts, and finanacial community at bay while Apple catches up, they will be ok. Otherwise he may lose his job.
There's been more and more talk about ousting Cook due to the massive decline in the market.
Apple could have a new CEO before you know it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/genemarcial/2013/04/21/is-apple-looking-for-a-replacement-for-ceo-cook/
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/...five-things-wall-street-wants-from-apple-now/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/apple-stock-worries-suppliers-investors_n_3127912.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...e-tim-cook-iphone-ipad-china-samsung/2097255/
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/22/apple-analysts-revisions/
Tomorrow's the big day.
If Cook is successful in keeping the investors, analysts, and finanacial community at bay while Apple catches up, they will be ok. Otherwise he may lose his job.
There's been more and more talk about ousting Cook due to the massive decline in the market.
Apple could have a new CEO before you know it.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/genemarcial/2013/04/21/is-apple-looking-for-a-replacement-for-ceo-cook/
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/...five-things-wall-street-wants-from-apple-now/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/apple-stock-worries-suppliers-investors_n_3127912.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/...e-tim-cook-iphone-ipad-china-samsung/2097255/
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/22/apple-analysts-revisions/
No, I think you skipped over the part where I mentioned I have a Baume Mercier and highly anticipate wearing an iWatch. In fact most days I wear a Nike Fuelband, not my $2K Baume Mercier. The B-M is perfect for high level client meetings and socials functions, but most days I'd rather have more data on my wrist than just the time.
BTW people (including myself) charge other devices daily like our phones, tablets, laptop. One more device isn't going to make anyone snap if they are inclined to use the device. Again, take a look at the Pebble's success just by word of mouth. 80K sold a year before they even shipped. People paid $110 then and are now getting $200-250 for them on eBay. Some flop of an idea, right?
P.S. don't put TAG and Breitling in the same category. It's like saying a Lexus is equal to a Rolls Royce.
Whatever happens tomorrow, good or bad, Apple isn't going to announce its filing for bankruptcy. So not sure how pre-launch demand for an iWatch figures in as you suggest. In fact, bad #s make it more imperative Apple launches something great and soon. The entire problem with Cook's tenure to-date is that Apple hasn't really pushed out any new product. Here we are nearly 4 months in to 2013 and not one new major Apple product, even an update, has been announced.
I think it is more bizarre to blindly believe this type of product will be a hit. This is especially so since there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate it even exists.
Michael
I didn't even mention Apple filing for bankruptcy, I have no idea where you got that idea. Apple's going to be around for many years.
It's apparent you simply misunderstood my post.
I have a different opinion
Why?
Here are my 5 reasons:
1. Steve Jobs did not wear watches in the last couple of years (yeaah, it's not a dealbreaker, but somebody could ask if this watch is really important if CEO doesn't need to wear watches)
2. With the arrival of cell phones people stopped wearing watches
3. Nobody wants to charge their watch
4. There are a lot of smart watches already (However, I partially agree that Apple could make the functionality and design more cool than other companies)
5. Business people will never wear $500 watches (This is something that would be a biggest problem for Apple, because I don't think business people would change their Rolex or other watches for iWatch)
Why?
Here are my 5 reasons:
1. Steve Jobs did not wear watches in the last couple of years (yeaah, it's not a dealbreaker, but somebody could ask if this watch is really important if CEO doesn't need to wear watches)
2. With the arrival of cell phones people stopped wearing watches
3. Nobody wants to charge their watch
4. There are a lot of smart watches already (However, I partially agree that Apple could make the functionality and design more cool than other companies)
5. Business people will never wear $500 watches (This is something that would be a biggest problem for Apple, because I don't think business people would change their Rolex or other watches for iWatch)
Last edited by a moderator:
1) No you didn't mentioned bankruptcy, I did, and I was being facetious. I didn't say you did mention it, so don't be so defensive. The wording of your post ("Pre-launch demand for the iWatch" may be completely irrelevant depending on how things go tomorrow.") implied the iWatch hinges on Apple's report today. My point, based on that, is that Apple goes on. If it has bad earnings, it's a separate issue, not the death knell for an unannounced product.
2) I understood your post as it was written. If you meant something else, then you should write more succinctly to reflect your thoughts.
Perhaps it simply didn't occur to you that anything written, or spoken for that matter, can be misinterpreted. You'll notice I am giving you the benefit of the doubt, offering thoughts, and not criticizing you.
Your assumption that I was being defensive, was just that, your assumption.
Telling me how I "should" have written it to suit you is... something I have no desire to comment on.
I'm here to participate with good intentions and in good faith, not be drawn into some irrelevant argument of sorts.
We don't know if Steve Jobs ever used iPod, AppleTV or AppleHiFi. But it didnt't stop those products from coming and for some of them to become runaway hits.The products are not made for CEO, made for consumers.
Last time I checked, there are thousand of watch brands, some very expensive, some very specialized, solar, underwater, for hiking, for sports, etc, sold everywhere and bought everywhere. Your assertion of watch market demise needs some facts to back up. There are new start ups selling smart watches and giants like google, MS and Sony and Samsung either already selling SW or researching them. And with current technology we have not reached even full potential of feature watches as well.So proof or doesn't count.
I have a solar battery watch, also a watch with 10 year battery made of titanium and some usual stuff charged when you walking. Didn't mention wireless charging as well or thermo-charging, aka power fabric charging (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...he-power-fabric-charge-phone-hold-sit-it.html), which converts body heat into electricity.
Sony and pebble I count and some nameless android stuff. Nothing really good. Reminds me of MP3 players before iPod, with awful interface.
[
(This is something that would be a biggest problem for Apple, because I don't think business people would change their Rolex or other watches for iWatch)
Well, not everyone wears Rolex. There are plenty of excellent watches below 500 dollars (Swiss and Japanese brands like Citizen, Seiko, Casio G shock, etc). In fact, wearing 500 dollar feature watch is probably an overkill if not a fashion or accessory statement like a Gucci bag. And businessment do like effective devices, and smartest of them want not statements but effectiveness. Watch that can be used for business purposes like making calls through Siri, making reservations and scheduling via voice, a watch that can remind you of appointments, a watch that can record and publish meeting minutes and send them by email, a watch that can deliver voice messages SMS or a message from company servers, a virtual secretary is a blessing for a businessman and not everyone can afford a real secretary or sometimes you can arrange things faster yourself.
Last edited:
No, I well understand that -- it's part of my job to interpret what other people meant to say but didn't really say what they meant.