Interestingly enough, I pulled up an article that I was reading where Johnny Ive stated in A press release that a round watch "Doesn't make sense." I will post it for reference whoever wants to read it. Basically, he stated that when designing the Apple Watch, he designed it around the Digital Crown.
Also, Marc Newson (Fashion designer) assisted in the design of the Apple Watch, which was the Design had influences from Cartier Santos.
After reading this, I'm not entirely sure if we will see you a round variant. As long as Jony Ive is behind the design, it doesn't sound like he supports a round design.
@BarracksSi. I think you nailed your point from Post #18.
http://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/the-man-who-made-the-apple-watch
I didn't just pull my thoughts out of thin air, ya know. ;-)
From the New Yorker article, the line you mentioned with some more context:
For the watch, it was a year before Ive settled on straps that clicked into slots. Ive later tested watchbands by wearing them outside the studio with other watches. The shape of the body, meanwhile, barely changed: a rectangle with rounded corners. “When a huge part of the function is lists”—of names, or appointments—“a circle doesn’t make any sense,” Ive said. Its final form resembles one of [Marc] Newson’s watches, and the Cartier Santos, from 1904.
Remember, a user encounters plenty of lists and scroll-able data on the AW: emails, texts, weather forecasts, news snippets, Activity summaries, Twitter feeds, scheduled appointments, to-do lists, contact info, ... and I'm sure there's more. Presenting a worthwhile amount of information on a round display would either require a much smaller font size or a bigger watch body -- neither of which, I believe, are what enough buyers really want.
Marc Newson also brought his genius Sport strap design from his Ikepod watches, although the best part -- the slide-into-place attachment -- was, as far as I've been able to learn, brand-new in the watch world. There have been other attempts to make easy-change strap connections, but either they've been much more proprietary (see IWC), require straps with specially modified springbars, go cheap with NATO-style nylon straps (Timex Weekender), or just amount to the manufacturer including a tool in the box (like my Garmin did).
No other manufacturer has come up with an easy, secure, tool-free mechanism. Yeah, third-party straps need an adapter, but they usually come to the user already installed on the strap and ready to click into the Watch (and, if not, it's a one-time procedure to add the adapters).
There's no
functional need for the AW's design to radically change. The strap connection is the best in the business, the case size is neither too big nor too small, and the display shape works properly with smartwatch content. It would need to become demonstrably
better if it changes -- not simply
different for the sake of vanity.
