I was in the market this week. I bought one. I'm very happy that I did!
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get now or wait for Apple Watch 2?
- Thread starter btothekal
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I was in the market this week. I bought one. I'm very happy that I did!
I was pretty conflicted on this having purchased the day after the keynote for the new styles. I was very torn between just waiting for the other device or to just bite it and buy the watch. After having the watch for about a month now it seems like the functions have just gotten much deeper the longer that I have it, as more developers are realizing its potential. Most of the apps do have a bit of lag to them but nothing that cannot be ignored by putting your wrist down and then raising after a few seconds of load time.
After a month of use I would say that I am 100% satisfied with my purchase and continue to be so each day that it just gets better and better. Plus, my watch has helped me get back into exercise so that is always a good thing too!
After a month of use I would say that I am 100% satisfied with my purchase and continue to be so each day that it just gets better and better. Plus, my watch has helped me get back into exercise so that is always a good thing too!
There will never be any worthwhile 3rd party apps until there is hardware good enough to run them. And the watch will never really succeed without good 3rd party apps. Because off this I think there will be a hardware refresh sooner rather than later.
With the new colour cases and the Hermès version just released and the watch not available everywhere yet (maybe; I haven't really been paying attention to that) I can't see there being a new version in six months time. It's anyone's guess but my best guess is that we're looking at an 18 month to two year cycle. If you want the watch, why wait?
You never say exactly what it is about the watch that has had you wanting one since it came out.
Is it because it's an Apple product?
Is it because it's a beautifully crafted smartwatch?
Is it because it will allow you to leave your iPhone in your pocket most of the time?
Is it because of one or more of the many features?
For me, money was not an issue. But I wasn't really that impressed with what I could do with the watch given the trade off of having to wear a watch again. Then I started getting reports of the watch being substantially more water proof than it's rated, and I saw a use case that encouraged me to go ahead and buy it. Ultimately, for me, it's worth every penny to have a watch I can wear when I go into the water when I don't want to carry my iPhone, or wallet, which allows me to use Pay. I'm shopping for compatible locks now for my house so I don't even have to bring my keys. Now I'm taking a risk using my Watch in the water now, and have fully resigned myself to the fact that the watch could be damaged. However, I feel like I've already gotten my money's worth in the few months I've used it. I've preordered a waterproof Catalyst case which doesn't ship until Novemeber. So hopefully it will last until then, thus preserving my investment. Otherwise, I find the watch so useful that I'd just buy another one to use with the case.
My point is, depending on your needs, buying and using the watch now, may more than pay for itself even if Apple releases a 2nd gen watch in March (I also expect them to continue selling the original watch for a reduced price). If the watch does what you want it to now, then why not buy it? Even you wait for the second gen watch, you may not get anything more than a faster processor, and different design. Or maybe it will come with GPS, but then would you even want that?
I don't use notifications, except if I'm at the beach and need to be on call, then I welcome the updates I get when I go into the coffee house. But I don't wear the watch anywhere except when I plan to go into the water, and yet it's still worth every penny. The only thing I would want in this model that the next might have is a camera to take a quick photo when I'm out. But that's not enough to give me regrets over not having waited.
I realize money is probably the key issue here, so buying one and risking it in water is not for you. If you needed waterproofing, you'd want to wait until a case were available or the next gen watch offered it. If you value some key features that may be introduced in the next model like GPS, or a camera, which you won't be able to buy if you get one now; then maybe you will want to wait, in which case you may or may not be rewarded. But if there's some key feature about the watch you really want to use now, then I don't see the point in waiting.
The watch is available in Target, Best Buy, B&H Photo, Sprint, T-Mobile, ever expanding luxury Jewelers and fashion boutiques, department stores, and many international markets. Where else do you want it to be?
The Hermes watch and the new case and band colors are mid-season offerings. Just like the fashion industry is not still selling the same colors and designs as they introduced in the Spring. When the next watch comes out, Hermes will just put their bands on it instead -- Apple basically makes them on demand. So this is all the evidence I need to know that Apple intends to treat the Watch as a fashion item, and as such, they can't possibly afford to let the same design drag out well into another fashion season. There most likely will be a new watch in the Spring. Along with watch OS 3, and likely the ability to pair more than one watch with an iPhone so customers will have two Watches to chose between, just like many watch owners have a different watch to coordinate with every outfit.
But unless the OP wants to be on the cutting edge of fashion tech, that's no reason to wait even 6 months if there's something the watch does which would make a difference to his life now.
Your best bet right now is to get the watch on eBay or Craigslist. If you look carefully you'll find people selling the Stainless Steel model (which is the best one IMO) for the price of the sports model ($400 or so). This is the best compromise between buying new and waiting for the next one.
I think he was meaning, Worldwide. I am even unsure if there are any big countries that still don't have the Watch available.
Although the Watch does have a fashionable element to it, it's not the same as a $2 to make garment compared to a $100 to make Watch.
We may very well see v2.0 in the Spring of 2016, but I seriously doubt it, or if they do, it will be better battery and better processor in the same form factor so that they can keep the metal shell for another cycle. Even if that's not the case, I expect the band fitting to be identical.
no one can say for sure, but the earliest I would think we see a new apple watch is a year from now.
And yet the iPhone 6S is thicker than the iPhone 6. Changing the case designs is not a major consideration anymore, not that Apple is simply milling them out of a solid block of metal, all controlled by automated equipment.
And we're not talking about a $2 garment. Fashion houses pump out new leather goods and other accessories every season with new buckles, and details, and stitching. Hardly $2 items to make, especially if there's any quality to them. Apple is trying to compete with other fashion watches and accessories, as evidenced by the Hermes watch. Such companies turn out new designs every year, because the fashion industry demands it to keep their customers buying. For instance, Hermes introduced a watch range called Fauborg following fashion trends. The watch is still around this season, but only in one configuration instead of the multiple models it launched with. This season, Hermes introduced the Slim D'Hermes range. So if Apple truly intends to compete in this arena, as they seem poised to, they're going to have to do more than turn out two sizes of one basic design in different colors and bands from year to year.
As of October 22, the watch is available in at least 34 countries, that's pretty much everywhere anybody has the disposable income to buy one. The bigger issues to the watch expansion is going to be Siri compatibility in the local language. As it stands in all these other countries, they're going to be ready to buy a new watch in 6 months if offered a compelling reason to do so.
- April 24: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, U.K., U.S.
- June 26: Italy, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan
- July 17: The Netherlands, Sweden, and Thailand
- July 31: New Zealand, Russia, and Turkey
- September 25: Austria, Denmark, and Ireland
- October 9: Belgium, Finland, Norway, Luxembourg, and Poland
- October 16: Brazil and Colombia
- October 22: Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates
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Not necessarily. They could meet new fashion trends by new band designs/colors plus new watch faces (software). The Apple Watch hardware is basically just a black square screen. How are you going to change that each year to meet fashion trends?
Thinner, larger, smaller, round, flush crystal, detailing, mixed metals, bevels, grooves, crown position, button location, etc...
Thinner, I like. Larger won't fit my wrist, smaller means less screen space. Round also means less screen space in terms of displaying text, unless they make it larger. Mixed metals, button and crown position, ok, I can see those. Bevels and grooves, again, I'm not sure if you can incorporate that without affecting overall device size.
But also, Apple's approach to design in their other product lines have been to gradually evolve the design instead of changing it radically every generation. Only exception to that is perhaps when they kept changing the shape of the iPod nano -- from slim to fat back to slim again. I'm not seeing a pressing need for Apple to do a radical redesign of watch hardware when they could change things up with just new bands and watch faces.
Why do you think watchmakers don't just make one design and update the face and bands every year or two? Why are there dozens of different watch styles at every luxury fashion house, and jewelry store in the world, with new models coming out every year?
Just because you don't see a need to do something (I mean really, who cares if you have a small wrist?) doesn't mean that others don't, for reasons that have nothing to do with practicality. The fashion business often places form over function. In fact Apple's already done it with the 38mm watch by sacrificing display area and battery life. And Apple is not going into the watch band business, a business many other companies are better suited to participate in than Apple, like Hermes. Apple is into the big dollar business of selling the actual watch, and giving customers a reason to upgrade every year. Merely offering a new color may work for the iPhone, but people are going to want more choice for a fashion accessory. Apple is already changing bands just 6 months in, how fresh and compelling an approach is that going to be in another 6 months when little else changes, but the speed of the processor inside last years watch case? So I say there's more of a chance adapting to gain the favor of the fashion world, making seemingly arbitrary changes for you, that are the norm in the fashion business, than taking the tech company route of offering a static device for several years without changing.
Apple is already in the watch band business! I've lost track of how many watch bands they are selling, what with all the new colors, especially for the Sports bands.
And watch makers make new designs, because that's the only way they can change up the look of their watches. Apple Watch being a digital watch, they can make new looks by making new watch faces through software. I do concede you have a point about different metals / case colors, and maybe different button designs / placements, but Apple also doesn't have to change up the basic hardware design quite as frequently as traditional watch makers, because the watch is digital, and "design changes" can also be effected through software.
Are they making watch bands for other maker's watches? They make the bands because it's more economical to achieve their design aims and complete an entire product for sale than buying them off-the-shelf from a band making company. But the point of the watch is not the bands. If it were, why would they set up a third party band program to compete with themselves, Hermes and any other exclusive partners they end up doing business with?
Really, the only way a watchmaker can change up the look of their watches is by designing brand new cases? Why not just design new faces for the same old case, the way you are proposing Apple to do? Why not just put new colored bands onto the same old watch case design? Why not just change the case material and color? Because watch customers want something more than the same shape in a different color than everybody else on the street.
The thing about the watch face that doesn't ring true for the Watch, is that nobody else sees that face but the customer. So in terms of outward design and appeal, software is doing nothing for the fashion of the watch. The only changes that will set the watch apart from the same one worn by everybody else who buys one is the band, and case material/color. And I contend that will only go so far to promote sales among the fashion conscious, whereas a newly styled watch might get some upgrades from people who are otherwise satisfied with the processor speed of the current model, and don't need whatever other features Apple plans to add to the next one.
Actually, now that you mention it, I do think many watch makers do vary one basic design with different variations, such as does deferent materials, colors, band options, font choices, etc.
As for how new software watch faces don't count because they are visible only to the wearer, I mean, would someone who cared about that buy the Apple Watch in the first place? Even the most expensive Editions are by no means unique. You buy an Apple Watch knowing other people will have the exact same watch as you.
What I'm thinking is that, this year, there's Edition and Hermes. Next year, there will be something else that is the "exclusive" watch for that year, marked by distinctive material and/or band. The basic watch shape will remain a black square. Size and button placements could vary a bit, but I doubt there will be enough differentiation from this year's hardware to make it really distinctive fashion-wise.
I mean, look at all the smartphones and tablets put out by all the different manufacturers. They are all flat rectangles. Sure, you can try to vary the back material, size of bezels, etc, but how many ways can you make a rectangle? Same with digital watches, really. It's a square screen on your wrist. Period.
If you think this, then you haven't ever been into a jewelry store to look at watches before.
If Apple produces the same metal square with black glass screen year after year then they will ultimately have a very limited market. Wearables are not smartphones and tablets.
First and foremost, the Apple Watch isn't a fashion accessory. It's 2nd function is more than likely a fashion accessory, but primarily, it need to have functionality.
There is no comparison with the iPhone industry seeing as Apple are guaranteed super sales every year with each new iPhone release. The Apple Watch / AppleTV / iPad / iMac / MacBook market is much smaller and that is why we are starting to see less annual releases for models. Look at the iPad Mini and iPad Air.
You will probably find that "Fashion-houses" make the garments for $'s rather than hundreds of $'s. They also make limited quantities so as to not have a ridiculous amount of stock. They are and have to be in a pattern of 3-6 months for seasonal fashion. The Apple Watch doesn't need to do that.
Now, thanks for the list. I was curious to see what the release schedule was for the Watch and am surprised to see quite a large number of European countries not get it locally until October, which makes it nearly 5 months after initial launch.
If you take a step back and look at the Apple Watch similar to what Apple has been doing for years, even with the iPhones. They have a full point release and then an "S" release. So effectively, every 2 years we see a form change of some sort. Why shouldn't we expect the same with the Apple Watch? Add in the fact that it's taken 5 months to roll out to most of the World, and they've just announced 3 new models (Gold / Rose Gold / Hermes). Also don't forget that accessories for the Watch, in the form of bands, are essential to the function and wearability of the device. And people are spending excessive money to have numerous bands for each Watch they own. So I assume Apple will keep the same form factor for band fitting for a few years anyway.
I certainly didn't mean to say there isn't a thousand watch styles out there. But explaining what I did want to say is going to take too long, and now that I think of it, isn't that pertinent to this discussion, so I'll just leave that aside.
Yes, wearables need to be fashionable, which is why Apple Watch already comes in more colors and with more band styles than iPhones have colors and cases. But in the end, the reason for wearables to exist is the tech. If the only reason we want something on our wrist is to be fashionable, we can just go and buy one of those diverse watches from the jewelry store, or even go buy some bracelets. And since wearables need to accommodate the tech, their form factor is limited by the tech that they incorporate. Apple Watch can't take any form you please -- for instance, I'd love it to be smaller, but doing that would make the screen too small to use.
So yes, I feel that the Apple Watch will remain the same metal square with black glass year after year, with minimal variation. The variation that we do see will be about the same as what we saw from iPhone 3G to 4 to 5 to 6. If a consumers chooses not to upgrade the Apple Watch because it looks too much like last year's model, then they weren't the target demographic for the watch. And I don't think Apple needs to worry too much about losing that segment of the market. Some people want a new look every year. But there are also people who wear the same watch day after day, year after year, for decades. The second type of customer would upgrade to a new Apple Watch just for new functionality, even if it looked exactly the same on the outside as the last model. And I think there are enough people in this second group to keep the Apple Watch a thriving business, so that Apple doesn't have to keep making yearly design changes just to stay "in fashion."
OK, whatever you guys say. We'll just see what happens when Karl Lagerfeld proclaims the Watch "so 2015" and stops wearing his solid gold link band Edition ... or not. Suggesting Apple is just going to keep stamping out the same old design in different colors year after year; and all this laser focus on luxury fashion is secondary to the device -- that Apple will treat this just like any old product they have ever made; is a bit short sighted, given the evidence of how different this product has been so far from any other.