I think if Apple can get the AW2 to do more without needing a phone near by more people will buy it. As it is now AW needs the phone right next to it pretty much. No point in buying a smart watch if you're always going to need your phone right next to you. People will just keep using the phone.
I would agree with that. I kind of think Apple screwed up and let the pendulum swing too far back the other way. I recall the exact moment I stopped wearing my watch. It was shortly after I bought the iPhone 4, and a colleague mentioned to me that the kids didn't wear watches anymore, that they used their phones. I realized right then that I could not recall the last time I looked at my watch for the time. And that was the last day I wore it regularly.
Where Apple dropped the ball, is that right around the time I made that revelation, the square iPod nano was just starting to be turned into a watch by the very same kids that were ditching their watches for their phones. And the next year Apple released 17 new watch faces for it, and a thriving market of iPod nano wristbands sprung up, and made wearing the iPod as a watch cool.
So what did Apple do? A year after Steve Jobs died, they replaced the iPod nano with something that couldn't really be used as a watch anymore. Then for 3 years, Apple ignored the entire smartwatch concept choosing instead to play coy about their efforts in the field. As a result, the watch continued its slow decline as more and more people ditched them for their phones.
When Apple finally re-introduced the wearable, the fad was dead, the Watch was considerably more expensive than the iPod nano, and could only be used with the iPhone. From my perspective, the only people it immediately appeals to are those currently wearing watches. And to that extent Apple addressed some aspects of what watch people expect from a watch but not all. I think The Android smartwatches actually did a better job capturing the spirit of the watch for many previous watch owners considering a smart watch jump in that they offered a similar looking device. Apple kind of took the fun out of it, that they'd offered with the iPod nano, in part by charging so much for it, and by offering only glossy, black-faced displays. It became almost exclusively a work tool, the primary selling point of which was being able to leave your phone in your pocket or bag, and always being in touch. Yet some people don't always want to be in touch.
So, I do think that Apple, and all smart watch makers have an uphill climb trying to convince people that the wearable is the future, after doing such a thoroughly convincing job of telling most of us that the wristwatch is redundant to the cell phone. As a result, the wristwatch became less of a necessity for those who still wear them, and more of a status symbol or fashion accessory, and Apple, despite its efforts still has a long way to go to been seen primarily as either.
