Apple Watch iPhone Companion App Reveals New Details About Upcoming Wearable

[MrXiro]

Having bought both the iPhone 1 and the iPad 1, I can say that they were both great to use and own. I sold my iPhone 1 for basically what I paid for it when the iPhone 3g came out. My iPad 1 continued on until the end of 2013, when I traded it in at target for $200. The iPad 1 was going strong as an iMame and all around tablet until it was replaced.

So really, there's no financial risk associated with first-generation apple devices. Rent them, then sell them on eBay. There will be hundreds of thousands of people who will be willing to buy it at a used price, just to see what the fuss is about.

I would say "once upon a time" to that in this day and age Apple products resale value has plummeted lower than ever. I probably could only sell my used iPhone 6 64gb for about 350-400 at this point and it's only around 4 months old.

I agree with Poppy that 1st Gen Apple products have a much shorter life than the 2nd gen follow up, in the iPhone's case 3rd gen as the 3GS was around for a much longer time than the OG and the 3G. It's almost a miracle that the 2nd Gen iPad is still supported in 2015.

 

[usarioclave]

Why would u wanna play Flappy Birds on a watch anyway ? regardless of screen size.

your arm will get tired before u do.

That's the next secondary market: game controller, a la Wii. It'll be the newest gesture controller, perfect for, well, gestures. Maybe they can have a "gesture like an Italian" app?

 

[ksuyen]

Please don't destroy my hopes for a $349 Apple Watch (stainless steel)!

Yes! That one is my target too. I like the lighter Sport, but I much prefer the elegant Steel. And no to gold, I am not that old. Oh, it's rhyme.

 

[newagemac]

I've been working as a developer on Apple Watch for the last few weeks for a major retailer. Frankly it's a piece of crap. Don't expect much from third party apps at launch.

Right now, with the available APIs, it's comically limited with what you can do. Layout of UI elements, despite the tiny screen, is like writing web pages in the mid-90s when browser technology sucked. While Android wearables are running full apps and even games like Flappy Bird, Apple Watch is basically just a tiny screen and nothing else. Nothing actually runs on the watch itself - it's just a small screen to display apps that have barely any more functionality than the stuff you find on the Today notifications screen on your phone.

I think it's a great thing Apple isn't letting developers run wild with the Apple Watch. Any "apps" on the watch should be super simple and with a pretty much standardized layout for ease of use and recognition. As tiny as a watch is (which makes navigation extremely difficult), standardizing layouts is far more important than a designer's needs to show off their design skills. The user comes first.

 

[name99]

You're not picky... most of the time. In this instance, I have to say I agree with this:

Originally Posted by inscrewtable
Jonny Ive made a big deal about researching and respecting the tradition of the watch so it's a bit rich to rip off the word 'complications' and apply it in such a trite way to something that is in reality just an image of a complication. 'Complication', always referred to the ridiculously complicated extra mechanisms that only the greatest of the master watchmakers could build. Often they were frivolous in practice but impossibly beautiful in execution.

Now it's just a few lines of code that gets the epithet.

Any one with horological sensibilities may take offense to the use of complications to present an image of temperature or a stock quote. Complications in the classic sense are an expression of the watchmakers talent. Horological complications are considered an artform and, imo, Apple's use is a debasement. Just my opinion. Others may differ.

Examples of horological complications.

Oh for crying out loud. You want COMPLICATED --- look at an A8X CPU. THAT'S what complicated looks like in the 21st century, not gears and springs that would have been familiar to Isaac Newton.

When Switzerland is shipping something more complex than a modern CPU, then maybe they can complain about someone using the word "complication"...
To read these complaints, you'd think that what Apple was shipping was a piece of Fisher Price junk that could have been designed and manufactured by three drunk cavemen using wood, bones and stone; rather than the culmination of god knows, 10,000(?), man-years of work by the best engineers of our time pushing the bounds of everything from materials science to SoC design to manufacturing to RF engineering to a variety of software disciplines.

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I would say "once upon a time" to that in this day and age Apple products resale value has plummeted lower than ever. I probably could only sell my used iPhone 6 64gb for about 350-400 at this point and it's only around 4 months old.

I agree with Poppy that 1st Gen Apple products have a much shorter life than the 2nd gen follow up, in the iPhone's case 3rd gen as the 3GS was around for a much longer time than the OG and the 3G. It's almost a miracle that the 2nd Gen iPad is still supported in 2015.

eBay SUBSTANTIALLY disagrees with your price claims...
iPhone 6, 64GB is selling for around $650 depending on condition, etc --- lowest price I saw was $610.

 

[ksuyen]

give it a week after launch before people talk about complications of a watch as though they have always known what they mean and are even practically experts on how they should and shouldn't look and work.

Nah, a day, and suddenly everyone is Horology experts.

 

[newagemac]

Hmm...the WSJ has a complete opposite view.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-apple-watch-could-spawn-the-next-billion-dollar-startups-1421022204

I guess that big retail store mentioned earlier in this thread picked the wrong developer.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

I'm not even gonna lie. I'm buying this day one just because I can.

If you're north of Seattle, say "Hi"!

I'll be the one in line with the service dog named Cooper.

 

[Shasterball]

It is still used today. Should Apple change the word? Should Apple change the word watch? What about changing band? Those have been around a long time. Maybe Apple should change their name since Apple has been used for a long time. Do you want all words changed because they have been used before?

should we call spoons something else? how about 'watches' themselves?? that's an old term that predates this nasty awful 'complication'! let's call em WRISTIES!

does anyone think the term 'complications' will be a turnoff to anyone looking to buy an apple watch? wtf is wrong with you guys lol

Yawn, really? "Complications" has a negative connotation to the primary market. Nothing you suggest "changing" has the same issue.

Do people today go out and buy "moneybags" and "packsacks" or do they buy "backpacks?" Ridiculous...

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

When Switzerland is shipping something more complex than a modern CPU, then maybe they can complain about someone using the word "complication"...
To read these complaints, you'd think that what Apple was shipping was a piece of Fisher Price junk that could have been designed and manufactured by three drunk cavemen using wood, bones and stone; rather than the culmination of god knows, 10,000(?), man-years of work by the best engineers of our time pushing the bounds of everything from materials science to SoC design to manufacturing to RF engineering to a variety of software disciplines.

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Plus, they're already spec-ing out the 2nd generation, and doing studies on the 3rd generation as we type.

For the first generation, they're solidifying the manufacturing process at the moment, to make sure they can crank out a boatload of these.

(for the record, I worked in the semiconductor industry for 20 years, and this is the way things are done. It's an 18 month cycle, and if you're not working 2 generations down the road, you're lost.)

 

[Adam Henry]

i think they should change it to innuendos but regardless thats a whole lot of fail right there.

 

[Cayden]

I want this on my wrist today!

 

[skinned66]

Interesting feature taster. Too bad they don't make the watch any less ugly

 

[MrXiro]

Oh for crying out loud. You want COMPLICATED --- look at an A8X CPU. THAT'S what complicated looks like in the 21st century, not gears and springs that would have been familiar to Isaac Newton.

When Switzerland is shipping something more complex than a modern CPU, then maybe they can complain about someone using the word "complication"...
To read these complaints, you'd think that what Apple was shipping was a piece of Fisher Price junk that could have been designed and manufactured by three drunk cavemen using wood, bones and stone; rather than the culmination of god knows, 10,000(?), man-years of work by the best engineers of our time pushing the bounds of everything from materials science to SoC design to manufacturing to RF engineering to a variety of software disciplines.

----------



eBay SUBSTANTIALLY disagrees with your price claims...
iPhone 6, 64GB is selling for around $650 depending on condition, etc --- lowest price I saw was $610.

I may have exaggerated slightly but you don't make $650 from ebay which is why I don't like selling there unless it's a last resort
You'll lose about $100 bucks of it to Ebay/Paypal and shipping with insurance. So $650 nets you about $550 which is a severe loss considering you paid around $800 after tax (I actually paid more in Los Angeles) for the 64gb iPhone 6 4 months ago.

 

[69Mustang]

Oh for crying out loud. You want COMPLICATED --- look at an A8X CPU. THAT'S what complicated looks like in the 21st century, not gears and springs that would have been familiar to Isaac Newton.

When Switzerland is shipping something more complex than a modern CPU, then maybe they can complain about someone using the word "complication"...

You're a little confused. Complicated and "a complication" aren't the same thing. The A8X CPU being complicated has absolutely nothing to do with a horological complication. Those to words are not synonymous.

I think one of the two of us doesn't know what a complication is. Otherwise, we wouldn't be making unrelated CPU comparisons.

 

[MeFromHere]

To an intended target audience who is likely to not understand the heritage.

Are you assuming the target market for the Apple Watch is geeky technology lovers?

Perhaps Apple has a much broader market in mind, and it includes people who don't mind spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a good watch.

"Crown" and "complication" both seem like very deliberate attempts to attract the curiosity of watch people.

 

[troop231]

Are you assuming the target market for the Apple Watch is geeky technology lovers?.

Definitely not. The younger generation(s) is what Apple is trying (and doing quite well) to capture.

 

[Iconoclysm]

To an intended target audience who is likely to not understand the heritage.

And so they will learn...no sense dumbing down vocabulary for idiots.

 

[FatMax]

I'm really interested in playing around with the Watch but have zero interest in wearing a watch in general, sadly.

Sadly then, that there will be no point in playing around with this.

It's a timekeeping device, with the added benefit of glanceable notifications and reminders throughout the day. It also keeps tracks of your activities.

How can this be played around with without wearing it for a while, paired to your iPhone?

 

[Tanegashima]

I think they should find a different word to use than 'Complications'

So it appeals more to dumb people?

Not Apple's target demography.

 

[Small White Car]

no. i was remarking on how i didn't want useless extra settings in my phone. which is relevant to apple's recent forced bloatware expansion. nothing to do with the complication of said watch. you misread that entirely.

I am 78% sure I know which version of this word you meant.

 

[inscrewtable]

so now 'a fewlines of code' - in a smart watch more powerful than the computers they used to land on the moon - are NOT complicated?

Er the average pocket calculator is more powerful than the computers they used to land on the moon. That is not the point. Your argument means that any and every watch, including the cruddy Samsung crap, are fully entitled to use and degrade the very specific use of the word 'complication', with regard specifically to watches. It's not the complication as such but the impossibly intricate skill of the master watchmaker that was on display. I'm just saying that Jonny Ive is being a monumental hypocrite by stating his respect for the tradition of watchmaking when he is blatantly ripping off the language of watchmaking in order to bask in the reflected glory that the grande complication watchmakers have built up over the centuries.

 

[OllyW]

Or the way most tech sites use the word polycarbonate when referring to a plastic cased phone.

The phone companies are just as bad...

“iPhone 5c is everything iPhone 5 was and more, in an all-new design packed with great features,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5c is designed with a beautiful polycarbonate enclosure that looks and feels so solid in your hand.”

 

[usarioclave]

I would say "once upon a time" to that in this day and age Apple products resale value has plummeted lower than ever. I probably could only sell my used iPhone 6 64gb for about 350-400 at this point and it's only around 4 months old.

Unlocked iPhone 6 phones are running around 550-800 on eBay. Even sprint phones are around 5-600. I'll buy your Iphone 6 for $400 and flip it. Of course, eBay + Paypal fees will eat a chunk of that, but it's a lot more than the 350-400 that you think.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I'm disappointed that MacRumors is assuming that the $349 is the Sport model. Apple has *not* confirmed that. It could be any of 'em, although I also believe it is likely that the $349 Watch will indeed be the Sport.

It really couldn't be any of them. A gold watch for $349. No. A stainless steel watch with sapphire glass prices less than an aluminum one with a plastic band. The logic of the process of elimination makes the sport watch the only one that could be $349 unless Apple has an all plastic version they haven't shown yet -- and which would be very deceptive given they gave us a $349 price while previewing the the 3 metal varieties.