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Apple Watch sightings in the wild (not counting anyone you know)
- Thread starter zmunkz
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I've seen four in Barcelona so far. Two at the Apple store where I purchased my watch. One was a sport watch with white band and the other was a SS watch with green sport band. That combination looked great. I love the brightness of the green band. A couple of days later I went to another Apple store to buy a band and the sales assistant was wearing a sport watch with a coral sport band. The same day, I went to KFC and saw a sport watch with a black sport band.
I saw another one today- A man with a SS with classic buckle. On the platform whilst waiting for a train. I seem to be seeing them more frequently these days (last one yesterday) but they are always on the tube.
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I've been seeing one at least daily these days. Before they used to be a rare sight.
Canton, Ohio here and I've only seen mine. Furthermore, in three months only two people asked me about it! 
Outside of the Apple Store, I have not seen one single person wear one. And only three people in 2 weeks have commented on my watch.
The Killers'/ Brandon Flowers' tour photographer had a Sport on while photographing Flowers' show at The National in Richmond, VA last week. First time I'd seen one in the wild.
It was insane how many people were looking at, trying on and buying at the Mall of America this weekend.
I bought one on preorder day. Two more guys at my office bought one within a month after that. Today at breakfast in a local somewhat upscale restaurant, I noticed three college aged people at the next table. The girl was wearing an aluminum sport with a pinkish band. One of the guys was wearing a space grey with a black band. I've seen them lots of other places as well though I didn't think to make note of it until I saw this thread and remembered seeing two of them today.
Two-for-three so far on Korean TV shows that I've watched today. Star King's cohost (young guy, working alongside Kang Hodong this week) had a SS on a white sport band, and Infinite Challenge's Jun Ha had a SGS.
[edit] Add another for one of the panelists on Masked Singer.
[edit] Add another for one of the panelists on Masked Singer.
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I was in Southern Jersey a few weeks ago and saw two Apple Watches within fifteen minutes in one shopping plaza. First time I'd seen them outside a store or the internet.
I was at my GI doctor today in Oakhurst which is by the shore. One of the nurses has a white sport. She liked my third party leather loop and will be looking into getting one herself.
Oh, and I used Apple Pay on my Watch at Rite-Aid today. VICTORY!!
I've seen another two. A SS with white sports band yesterday and a Space black with space black link bracelet today.
I'm seeing more Watches than any Android Wear watches (did spot my first Moto360 a few days ago; it's huge like a Diesel watch). I'm still seeing more Fitbit/Jawbone/Garmin tracker bands, though, mostly Fitbits.
Most watches I see are either Timex, Casio, Citizen, or a brand from Fossil Group, with luxury brands popping up occasionally.
It's the low-end and fitness band wearers that I'm most curious about. The Watch does the job of many of those watches and bands, and I think potential buyers just need to see it in action.
Most watches I see are either Timex, Casio, Citizen, or a brand from Fossil Group, with luxury brands popping up occasionally.
It's the low-end and fitness band wearers that I'm most curious about. The Watch does the job of many of those watches and bands, and I think potential buyers just need to see it in action.
Seems like the snowball effect is taking place here. A lot of people are jumping on the bandwagon after seeing how early adopters are doing with their's.
I think it's following the exact same arc as the original iPod.
Many think it's wayyyy overpriced and has no business coming from a company with zero track record in that product sector (MP3 players vs watches)
Until they gradually realize how, in terms of usabilility, capability and thoughtfulness, it's generations ahead of competing products. Despite my initial and quite vocal cynicism, I've found it to be an extremely useful and well designed product.
Personally, I only use about 10% of what it offers, but it does it all exceedingly well. In retrospect, my $350 was well spent, but I wasn't sure of that going in.
Getting the word out is apple's real challenge here. It took several years for the iPod to catch on, but when it did....
Flip that around and the bands do most of what the watch can do but at significantly less cost, so the case for Fitbit, Garmin wearers is less compelling, especially when the fitness app is way behind Fitbit, jawbone, etc.
I've spent this week on holiday with just my Garmin (vivoactive) and not really missed my watch. That said I'm in another country with only patchy campsite wifi so the watch would have been pointless.
That's completely true when you look at a high-level, bullet-point list of marketing features. The story changes completely when you dig into the details of how the watch delivers each feature.
For example, take one feature: remote control of music.
Weeks before I got my watch, I bought a Garmin vivosmart band. It provided remote control of iPhone music via four buttons: Play, Pause, Next, Previous. Basically the same four "dumb" buttons you get on Bluetooth headphones. That was it. It was adequate. It was certainly more than I had before.
My watch provides those controls too, but I can also effortlessly browse my entire iPhone music library by artist, album, song, playlist, etc. I can select anything I want to play and see the title, artist and even cover art. It's exactly like having a 128GB iPod nano on my wrist. Mind-blowingly better for just twice the price. What's more, I can switch apps and take control of any of the Macs, Apple TV's or AirPlay speakers at home.
Similar story with notifications, email, etc. etc.
Finally, yes!
I was on a business trip to Pasadena, CA and saw at least three or four walking around town with them. I actually went into the Telsa Retail Store in Old Pasadena and the gentleman who rang me up (I wish I could say I bought a car, but it was just a hat) was wearing the same exact watch as me - a Space Gray Sport. We got into talking about it for a couple of minutes, and it was a good time.
I was on a business trip to Pasadena, CA and saw at least three or four walking around town with them. I actually went into the Telsa Retail Store in Old Pasadena and the gentleman who rang me up (I wish I could say I bought a car, but it was just a hat
) was wearing the same exact watch as me - a Space Gray Sport. We got into talking about it for a couple of minutes, and it was a good time.
I still haven't seen a single one in the UK. When I pay with Apple Pay with my watch I'm always the first person they've had use it.
In fairness to Apple, the AW is not a watch that stands out since about the only "at a glance" difference between it and a regular conventional "tank watch" design is Apple's offset crown. That's something only an Apple watch enthusiast would likely notice.
While I didn't expect Apple to create something with a case that's dramatically different, I certainly didn't expect a watch as plain looking as this one. J Ive must have been too busy doing something else, because the watch certainly doesn't look like a designer was involved. That's not a criticism, quite frankly I prefer clean plain shapes, but for all the Hype Apple loves to lavish on every single product they make, the watch is easily overlooked when out and about.
Which brings us to the question, I've been watching intently, I live in a major metro area of CA where money is no object and I've not seen one AW. That's quite revealing. When in my local very busy Apple Store, a place I frequent a few times per month, the wide, long glass display case with about 20 of them on display, is sitting there collecting dust. It's quite shocking that no one, absolutely NO ONE is looking at watches.
I do think they did a good job, it's just a niche product that Apple chose to build at a time in history where wrist watches aren't something that's popular anymore. Not only do I not see AW, I hardly see anyone under 35 wearing a watch period.