Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay Drop Apple Watch Support [Updated x3]

[Rob_2811]

Disagree strongly.
The SDK is an example of what Apple does best.
WatchOS is stripped down to the bare essentials keeping every App within a uniform UI.
If you want to port Donkey Kong to your watch then buy another smart watch that lets you do the geek stuff.
Personally I don't want a more "engaging app" on my wrist.
I want an App that I can quickly glance at to get quick information.
It's not game console or smart watch. Too many people are treating it as such and missing the entire point of it.
It's in an entirely new class of it's own which the majority of smart phone users haven't realised yet.

Which completely limits the platform, it will never be much more than it is now while the current guidelines are in place.

If the dev guidelines were as strict with iOS the App Store would've bombed. You say this is an example of what Apple does best but they've had success with it with iOS but thats about all. When the iPhone was announced in 2007 the OS was miles ahead of anything seen elsewhere on mobile devices so when the App Store launched everyone wanted to be a part of it, people could deal with the restrictive control apple imposed on it.

Apple has tried to use the same methods elsewhere and it just hasn't worked. I posted over on the 'Siri speaker' thread they've done a similar thing with HomeKit, there are so many hoops for hardware developers to jump through to implement HomeKit compatibility it just isn't worth it. Similar story with the Mac App Store.

 

[576316]

I've said it in a few threads I posted in last year, but just to reiterate here: Apple knows precisely what they're doing with the Watch. Believe it or not, the stuff the Watch can currently do is nothing more than candy to get people to buy Watches so they have a heavy base ready to go when things are ready. They are waiting for the rest of their ecosystem to catch up to the intended purpose.

I'm not going to reveal it here, or anywhere else for that matter, and believe me I want to shout this one out. The idea is right in front of everyones' noses, including Google and Amazon, but hopefully they don't think of it. I've written a book using the idea, but I withheld publishing because I don't want this idea screwed up by me trying to further my writing career. I have enough going on with other projects anyway.

This use has been in development since long before Steve left us, and it was actually part of his "I cracked it, I finally cracked it" thing he mentioned to Walter Isaacson, regarding his TV project.

Trust me, when this hits, it will take everyone by surprise, like we used to experience back in the day during (certain) keynotes. Only Apple can drop this ball now, and despite all their missteps so far, I really don't think they will. Lots of effort is going in to this, including distracting people with side projects, ala "Columbus".

And, as I've said before: the operative word is "Magic". I can't say anything more. Sorry if I sound like Apple Recon, but thats the way it is.

Intriguing. I demand you tell me everything you know. From where I'm sitting, it looks like the smart wearable market is dying because nobody ever really worked out what these devices are for. I can't think of any "magic" antidote that you might be speaking of.

 

[6836838]

Makes sense. The Apple Watch doesn't appeal to me or many of my friends. Not worth the effort supporting apps.

 

[eroslws]

The Fitbit Blaze is a better Apple Watch than the Apple Watch. The 5-7 day battery life and validated activity tracking algorithms ultimately trump everything Apple has apart from the built in GPS and waterproofing. A smartwatch is a notification device first, activity tracker second. There is no third.

 

[springsup]

That's interesting. What kind of limitiations do you find yourself running up against?

For one thing, you cannot place a graphical element at an arbitrary location. Everything must be part of a list, so really custom graphical elements are impossible. You can't get interaction events from the digital crown, so you couldn't interact with that custom element even if you wanted to.

Apple tries to pull the same crap with tvOS, and it's suffering the same reaction from developers. A near-perfect stifling of creativity, in stark contrast to iOS.

What applications would you build....?

Oh I've got concepts for so many good-looking watch apps, from custom dashboards to control your whatsits to e-reader companions which show you the scrolling text in case you missed a word.

Basically all of them get shot down by the SDK limitations. Even if some of them remain technically feasible in some form, after you whittle away all the really cool stuff that Apple won't let you build, the result is too uninspiring to bother with.

 

[KAZphoto]

That's odd, I guess the amazon and eBay notifications on my watch are from the iOS-side app?

I would assume so in that case. I can see why they dropped the Apple Watch app support. iOS pushes the notifications to the watch anyway which is he best thing I love about the watch. I just need to know what's worth it to get my phone out for.

 

[gugy]

There iOS just few apps I use on my AW. Workout, timer, messages, calendar and play music. All the other ones I never really use. If I need some of them I'll take my iPhone out. Honestly the AW apps are just too limited and not very good to use on the watch.

 

[A MacBook lover]

Trolls? What trolls? Look back through the comments. Most of the people commenting actually own AW's. Criticism of a product doesn't mean someone's trolling. Heck, even you just gave it a backhanded compliment. Does that mean you're trolling too?
@gnasher729 said it well. People with multiple products really only need the AW for a bare minimum. It's a companion device and every other device has a much more suitable screen for interaction.

I like how this post triggered you. Are you suggesting then that there are ZERO trolls in this forum?

Since that isn't true, and they do exist, my post was referring to them - not to genuine AW owners who express negative feedback, including myself. I'll tell you all the things wrong with my AW, but i still stand behind it despite its flaws.

Forgive me for addressing the one-liner "this product is a fail/dud" posters.

 

[a.gomez]

Not worth the investment (not on any fashion magazine as an accessory either) The watch is a fail, just stop making strange Nike deals and design something that does not look like a geek box on a wrist.

When you see your co-worker take it off before heading to a client's gala - you have a problem if you in the $350 time piece range.

 

[wjw0111]

Makes sense to me. I absolutely love my Apple Watch and couldn't imagine not wearing it, but I really don't care about Apps for it. I think people thought that apps would take to the Watch ecosystem like they did to phones and tablets.

It's just a different tool and the app-economy doesn't make as much sense on your wrist. What I love about the Apple Watch:

- Extremely accurate time that I never need to set.
- Checking the current weather and the weather for the next few hours (through Time Travel, which I was surprised to see was turned off by default in the latest watchOS, it's one of my favourite things).
- Seeing what time sunrise and sunset is.
- Tracking my fitness, including the workout app.
- Once in awhile if I'm driving somewhere unusual getting haptic feedback for turn-by-turn.
- Knowing how long it will take to get home without having to do anything since the context awareness and learning knows when I'm leaving work to go home.
- Quickly reading text messages.
- Getting notifications when MLB games are going to start and when they end.
- Getting haptic notifications of appointments in my calendar.

For all that it's worth it to me. There are probably other smart watches that can do all that too... but I like the design of Apple's product, especially the ease of use with the complications and time travel through my day with the Digital Crown.

 

[KAZphoto]

I do find it funny how many people complain about the Apple Watch in general. "All" it does is send notifications, Apple Pay, Siri, etc, etc. Yet before smart watches all watches did was just tell time. Anything extra is a bonus for me. I guess it comes down to the same people being of the glass half empty variety.

 

[EightyTwenty]

I really don't see the point of a redundant watch app for something like Amazon.

I really don't see the point of a redundant product like the Apple Watch.

There is no rhyme or reason for the thing to exist.

 

[BlueParadox]

Pity about eBay removing their support for Apple Watch. Have found their wrist notifications and alerts on the AW very helpful. Hopefully it will return...

 

[Mtmspa]

Meh, never cared about these apps. My AW is almost two years old and I still love it. Work out apps, MLB, Apple maps, timers, messages, work calendar, Siri are all used a regular basis. Love being able to use Siri to do math calculations when I am working on a construction project.

Now that I got my AirPods, I workout without my phone and no wires. Thank you Apple!

 

[EightyTwenty]

Saying that, I think it's a shame if people are dismissive of the Watch being useful for anything but fitness tracking and telling the time. On my Watch I enjoy getting football score updates, text messages, having access to short notes, a calculator... all without needing to get my phone out. Everyone's uses will vary, of course.

The inconvenience of a) buying the Apple Watch, b) wearing the Apple Watch, c) constantly re-charging the Apple Watch far outweighs simply taking your phone out of your pocket for goodness sake.

That's like walking 12 miles to your uncle's house because you were too lazy to walk upstairs to get the car keys. Makes no sense.

I wish people would just be honest about the Apple Watch - it's a neat little gadget, but serves ZERO useful purpose (fitness tracking in itself is of no value unless you are a pro athlete and even then there are devices that do it much better and much cheaper than the Apple Watch).

People feel the need to justify the purchase - "Hey look, I can get sports scores on my wrist!". The truth is if you don't care enough about a sports score to glance at your phone, you really don't care at all about the game.

 

[tourbus1]

I just think they're not selling well. It's been 2 years out, and I personally only know 2 people who've bought an Apple Watch. Just a gimmick.

 

[usarioclave]

There is no rhyme or reason for the thing to exist.

I think the same thing about adwords, but hundreds of billions of dollars have proved me wrong.

 

[Seoras]

Which completely limits the platform, it will never be much more than it is now while the current guidelines are in place.

What more do you want from it? It's a Watch.
That's the problem I see with the Watch, there's nothing wrong with the product, the consumer's perception is the issue.
One wonders what Jobs would have done, on stage at launch, to set it better had he lived.

If the dev guidelines were as strict with iOS the App Store would've bombed. You say this is an example of what Apple does best but they've had success with it with iOS but thats about all. When the iPhone was announced in 2007 the OS was miles ahead of anything seen elsewhere on mobile devices so when the App Store launched everyone wanted to be a part of it, people could deal with the restrictive control apple imposed on it.

You are comparing Apples to Oranges. That's a Phone, a communication device that finally got it right after years of the leading mobile phone manufacturers getting it horribly wrong. It was a breath of fresh air, new, exciting, revolutionary.
The watch isn't.
That doesn't mean that it's not worth having, I think it is.
It's not a replacement for the phone, not yet anyway, it can't take photo's and it's screen size limits it to particular functionality.
No amount of SDK tweaks and lifting of restrictions is going to change that.
In fact the limited screen size is all the more reason to keep it tightly constrained and hobble the geek squad who want to get creative with it. They'll just make it ugly, confusing and techno-elitist.

Apple has tried to use the same methods elsewhere and it just hasn't worked. I posted over on the 'Siri speaker' thread they've done a similar thing with HomeKit, there are so many hoops for hardware developers to jump through to implement HomeKit compatibility it just isn't worth it. Similar story with the Mac App Store.

Again comparing Apples to Oranges. I don't disagree with your summary of HomeKit. There needs to be a standards body to do something with Home Automation like the IETF did with the internet. Maybe there already is, I'm just not following that tech right now. If there was Apple would be forced to get inline with the open standards and compatibility wouldn't be an issue.
That's got nothing to do with the Watch. The Watch is a closed eco-system. Standards don't apply.

 

[AJL1]

I'm not sure if the watch is going to hang around. It still feels like it could go either way

 

[A MacBook lover]

The inconvenience of a) buying the Apple Watch, b) wearing the Apple Watch, c) constantly re-charging the Apple Watch far outweighs simply taking your phone out of your pocket for goodness sake.

That's like walking 12 miles to your uncle's house because you were too lazy to walk upstairs to get the car keys. Makes no sense.

I wish people would just be honest about the Apple Watch - it's a neat little gadget, but serves ZERO useful purpose (fitness tracking in itself is of no value unless you are a pro athlete and even then there are devices that do it much better and much cheaper than the Apple Watch).

People feel the need to justify the purchase - "Hey look, I can get sports scores on my wrist!". The truth is if you don't care enough about a sports score to glance at your phone, you really don't care at all about the game.

Not sure if this is sharing your opinion, or if you're trying to convince others not to buy. As you said, people feel the need to justify for buying AND not buying, as you're doing in your post.

I see your point, though. Which is why I returned my first generation SS AW. I didn't feel there was a point in the device, and it was more hassle than the convience it provided.

After owning the S1, two day battery life, blazing processor, the scales are starting to tip in favor of the AW. It's now worthy enough to be on my wrist and stay there.

You shouldn't write off a product line forever, eventually they become better.
[doublepost=1493683981][/doublepost]

I just think they're not selling well. It's been 2 years out, and I personally only know 2 people who've bought an Apple Watch. Just a gimmick.

I see them everywhere I go, NYC, DC, they're everywhere here in the US

 

[1rottenapple]

Over the course of the last few months, several major companies have quietly removed support for the Apple Watch from their apps. As first noted by AppleInsider, Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay have pulled their Apple Watch apps from the App Store.

Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay were all early supporters of the Apple Watch, releasing apps within a few months of the device's April 2015 debut.

Checking today, none of the three companies offer Apple Watch apps, having quietly removed Apple Watch functionality through App Store updates. It's not entirely clear when each app was updated to remove Apple Watch support, with the feature elimination appearing to have largely gone under the radar.

That three major apps were able to remove Apple Watch support without much fanfare seems to explain the reasoning behind the decision to cease offering an Apple Watch app, as it suggests there weren't many people using the apps in question. Whether the removal of the apps is permanent is unknown.

Google Maps was perhaps the only app that was useful on the wrist, with quick directions to places like home and work. Amazon's Apple Watch app simply allowed for voice-based searches and one-tap purchases, something that's easier to do on a phone or computer, while eBay's offered notifications for auctions being tracked on the site, which also required the concurrent use of an iPhone or Mac to track content in the first place.

Target has also recently removed Apple Watch support from its Target app, but Apple Watch functionality remains available via the separate Cartwheel by Target app.

With the Apple Watch having celebrated its second birthday on April 24, the kinds of apps that work on the wrist-worn device are becoming more clear, allowing companies to stop using resources on content that's not suitable for a wearable device.

Article Link: Google Maps, Amazon, and eBay Drop Apple Watch Support

Is the end near for the Apple Watch? It be great cause I wanna buy it for running and gym

 

[scottish]

Aww, it was a simple thing, but I liked getting eBay bid notifications. I don't mind that this thing is largely a notification machine, especially when my phone is in DND mode.

Pity about eBay removing their support for Apple Watch. Have found their wrist notifications and alerts on the AW very helpful. Hopefully it will return...

I also find the notifications really useful and was gutted when I saw this article but then I saw this comment...

I would assume so in that case. I can see why they dropped the Apple Watch app support. iOS pushes the notifications to the watch anyway which is he best thing I love about the watch. I just need to know what's worth it to get my phone out for.

So hopefully all will be OK. I think I only used the actual app about twice.

 

[twa440]

The Apple Watch is an amazing companion device despite what the trolls on here say.

Right now it just does too much, we need a thinner Apple Watch that does notifications, time, and basic interactions. Like the 'Macbook' of Apple Watches.

This thing is like wearing a 2011 MacBook Pro

Is that you Jony?

 

[Vanilla35]

I think the main reason why developers are dropping support for the Apple Watch is the same behavior Apple showed us when they introduced the 2016 Macbook Pros: they were designing the Watch for themselves and they expected the developers to love them just like they love it. I mean just look how Tim Cook was glowing when he told the audience that you can make phone calls with the watch! Ive was happy that he finally could design something made of gold and they presented the Digital Crown like it was the same breakthrough as the touchscreen or the mouse. They even dedicated one button to communication with other watch owners, unthinkable with the iPhone. They made it and it seems like they meant "here's a revolutionary device only we can build. That was our part, now you have to make apps as great as this product!"
They did that with the Watch, the Apple TV, the TouchBar and they'll do it with the Siri speaker. Introduce it with a killer feature: Watch = crown, Apple TV = App Store & Siri, Touchbar = well, Touchbar, Siri speaker = ???, and then give it minimal attention once they're released.

I mean they still don't know what the main purpose of the watch is. Fitness is more and more emerging as the main purpose, but that is quite new...

Wow spot on observation!

 

[Tech198]

I like their style

Under the raider and causes no issues.. expect from MR who will report it

I agree, why is a feature there if they see hardly no one uses it ? Why did they add it in the first place is a bigger question.