Jony Ive on Apple Watch: 'Everything We Did Was in the Pursuit of What We Thought Was the Best Solution'

[sos47]

many of my friends are wearing this gadget. most time the screen is black. how ugly. a watch should be a watch, representing the time, in any situiation. and btw: time is endless, and the symbol for endless is a circle ... not a rectangle. aw is a small iphone not a watch. battery life is stupid, ui is stupid, sports relative features are so stupid basic. everything is wrong with aw. maybe if you are an apple freak this tool make sense. otherwise not - i hope

 

[robbyx]

"According to Ive, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had no particular interest in watches"

I can see why. No offense to anyone who bought one, I'm sure they have their use cases but they are just meh to me and I still have no interest in them or the product category in general. I don't see the Watch as the game-changing product like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Total meh. My dad gave me his. He used it for a few weeks and couldn’t find any reason to wear it. I only use it for the gym. I like being able to load up a workout routine in Strong and have the watch step me through it, record my progress, time my pauses between sets, etc. Beyond that, I find it pretty useless. I’m not a highly scheduled person, but I can appreciate it’s usefulness in that area. Otherwise, I don’t get it.

 

[kemal]

The battery life seems fine to me. But I still don't like the nozzle.

 

[kdarling]

"Everything we did was in the pursuit of what we thought was the best solution." Ive used the digital crown as an example, which he said "took a modicum of courage" to implement with Apple's typical disposition towards "direct manipulation."

If the hard-to-use-at-times crown wasn't a homage to regular watches, then why not do something far more friendly and usable like Samsung did with their rotating bezel ?

I know people hate the "Jobs wouldn't have done this" meme, but I don't think Jobs would've approved of a device which had at least 3 or 4 different ways of interacting... button, touch, rotating crown, crown button... originally requiring all of them just to find and use a contact.

I don’t Think you’re following the Apple Watch very closely, because it’s on the verge of becoming a product that _will_ be a game changer in the health oriented side of things. If the Apple Watch incorporates glucose monitoring, that alone will be a breakthrough and would be a major asset to monitor somebody’s health.

This myth again.

All that stuff about glucose monitoring was about simply displaying info from a third party sensor embedded in your body.

 

[Wanted797]

I don't see the Watch as the game-changing product like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Just because you don’t see the MASSIVE potential the watch has for health tracking. Doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Lots of people thought the iPhone wouldn’t change anything without 3G, video camera or MMS.

 

[Neepman]

iFailure.

 

[Wanted797]

No thanks. iOS will never get any better, he's the one who initially ruined it in the first place with the redesign that we're still feeling the effects of 5 years later. I don't think he has it anymore in regards to hardware either. Things like the notch, protruding camera lens, ugly antenna lines and the keyboards on MacBooks getting stuck and generally being inferior.

I think all that is because of Steve. If you read his biography, he was the driving force behind Jonny’s designs. He refused to give in to the engineers and said they had to make it work in the design Jonny has made. And they’d come up with some truely innovative things.

Without Steve I think Apple is giving in to the engineers who say ‘can’t we just have the camera poke out, that would be eaiser’. Jonny isn’t like Steve and will fight back for his design.

 

[sarc]

Does anyone know what watch face JI is using in the photo within the article on Hodinkee? Can't seem to find the same layout with the watch app.

Don't worry I found it out.

 

[LordVic]

Just because you don’t see the MASSIVE potential the watch has for health tracking. Doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Lots of people thought the iPhone wouldn’t change anything without 3G, video camera or MMS.

you're forgetting history. The iPhone did NOT become the biggest selling smartphone until these features were added in the 3G model. Up until 2010, Blackberry was still outselling Apple iPhones by the millions.

The watch could very well be a big game changer. But in it's current revision, it's not truly breaking through any barriers or exploding any real untapped markets.

People looking for a fitness tracker first, will get a fitness tracker first. People who want Jewelry on their wrist to tell time, will buy a standard watch first.

The market for the Apple Watch currently is pretty "trapped". So much so that Apple still includes the sales of the Apple watch in their "Other" category alongside all other accessories (which makes it damn hard to tell how much revenue it even brings in)

The actually smartwatch market doesn't seem to be nearly as big as we thought it was 2-3 years ago. Smart Watches just don't seem to be moving large volumes.

Could Apple change that and give reason for more people to change habits and go all in? Absolutely. The Watch just needs it's "3Gs" moment. Something that is truly remarkable that sets it apart.

 

[Vjosullivan]

... a watch should be a watch, representing the time, in any situiation ...

Close but no prize. A screen on your wrist should be a screen on your wrist.

If you want to configure it to display the time, great. If you want a fitness tracker to be the main screen, also great. The main screen could also be a location app, or a share tracker, or a one-hour rain forecast, or a to-do list, or a shopping list, or anything. Restricting it to be an imitation watch with the dull to ugly faces provided by Apple (and hiding everything else behind an awkward interface) when it could be so much more than that is crazy and short sighted.

Given the restrictions, I decide I wanted a simple analogue watch face that included the hour, minute and second hands, showed the day and date and digits 1 to 12 around the clock. Basic watch stuff, especially for a computer screen. I'll leave you to determine how many myriad styles this can be done in. But if you find more than one, let me know.

 

[ErikGrim]

What a lovely, thoughtful interview.
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I only want to know one thing: Why isn’t there a round face version?

 

[ColdShadow]

"According to Ive, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had no particular interest in watches"

I can see why. No offense to anyone who bought one, I'm sure they have their use cases but they are just meh to me and I still have no interest in them or the product category in general. I don't see the Watch as the game-changing product like the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

This.
I've had 4 Apple watches so far and no matter how much I "tried" to like them and "tried" to find a use for them, after few months of use I got rid of each of them as I found no real benefit.
and as an accessory they look ugly and require daily charging which is a hassle.

I've had the original 38 mm, series 2 38 mm, series 2 42mm,and series 3 42 mm
beside time keeping and fitness tracking there is absolutely;no benefit to them.for many tasks like checking messages etc they even make things more complicated with the iPhone instead of making things easier.

it's cool as a geeky gadget if someone likes it but frankly it's an unnecessary product line.
and for fitness tracking, there are far better, dedicated options.

 

[jimmy_uk]

Do people forget Jony is a designer so wants to play with materials and concepts. Of course he's going to work with gold and ceramic etc to realise his vision and create objects of beauty. Apple let this happen to generate interest and press.

It's the business and margins that force an initial concept and design into a thing that makes money so there's obvious limitations and the drip feed release to make us keep buying and upgrading. Why this gets so much criticism is beyond me. Apple is a business not a religion, cult or tribe.

I spend my days as a graphic designer who strives to make great looking artworks but these ideas get crushed down and forced into shape to fit a price point and business requirement. So many people I deal with all have their input which waters down my vision but it pays them bills.

I say let Jony and Apple play and people will pay.


Still rocking my series 0 SS with steel band and use its various features everyday.

 

[QuarterSwede]

The Apple Watch is one of Apple’s best products to date, I love my Series 0 and this is coming from someone who never use to wear a watch before, the health and fitness related aspect is brilliant I can track my run, calories burned and so on but it also enables me to see notifications without needing to take my phone out of my pocket all the time. Quickly replying to txt is simple and easy the watch faces can be changed and the overall design is just brilliant.

It’s a very nice looking fashion accessory and I think people probably don’t appreciate how great it is that the bands can be swapped out so easily and changed, I can change from a sport band when going for a run to a leather band when going out to a restaurant or a more formal occasion.

My wishlist for future Apple Watch would be, more battery life, more health features and expand the case materials maybe add more colours to the Ceramic model as well.

And how. I was never a watch wearer either but the Apple Watch (series 3 here) is my favorite Apple device bar none. It’s just brilliant.

 

[jimmy_uk]

What a lovely, thoughtful interview.
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Them bezels?

 

[thewap]

Being a classic watch guy, the Apple watch always looked cheap to me in build and design (glued on back..really?).
I'll stick to my 50's JLC MK11, 60's Hamilton GS, and my '65 Benrus UD compressor.

What bothers me more these days is that when Ives talks, lately I feel like I am being strapped to the Clockwork Orange chair with my eyelids pried open...

 

[ErikGrim]

This is interesting:

"If you think of shoes, for example, consider how many different sizes are made of a particular style to be a serious contender. But with a varying degree of success, we’ve been able to make one item that fits everyone – consider the AirPods."​

Has there ever been a study on how well the Air/EarPods fit people's ears? I've created an unscientific poll here, please vote:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/airpods-do-they-fit-your-ears.2118254/

 

[MRrainer]

I bought a Garmin Forerunner 35, used, for about half the retail price.

I mainly do biking and for that it's very good. Of course, now all my data is stored in the US, which is a shame but I like the multi-day battery life. The software isn't too bad. It still runs on my ancient 4S, which cannot be said about the AW software.
I should just get more in the habit of getting up when it says to do so.

AW was way too expensive for what I'm doing with it.

 

[johnnygee]

Yep, that's pretty much it. Most of the rest of the functionality is lost if you don't also have your iPhone in your pocket. However, by far the biggest problem is that Apple prevent third party developers from fully accessing the watch face.

The complications on the (rather dull) selection of given watch faces are more or less useless for anything useful. It does not yet appear to have occurred to Apple that the main display on an Apple Watch does not need to be an imitation watch face. It's a screen that attaches conveniently to your wrist. That's where comparisons to a watch should end.

Developers should be allowed to produce apps of any kind that users can choose to use as their main watch face. Until then, the potential of the device remains crippled.

So, heart rate, current temperature/weather conditions/ forecast, or clicking the calendar to get the day or the month isn't useful?
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Unfortunate because the watch ended up being a dud. Oh well.

Hain't nobody buyin' none o' them Apple watches...

 

[pgwalsh]

Forget about the silly Mac Pro, we will focus all of our attention on a watch.

 

[bluecoast]

Being a classic watch guy, the Apple watch always looked cheap to me in build and design (glued on back..really?).
I'll stick to my 50's JLC MK11, 60's Hamilton GS, and my '65 Benrus UD compressor.

What bothers me more these days is that when Ives talks, lately I feel like I am being strapped to the Clockwork Orange chair with my eyelids pried open...

On reading around, I think that the traditional players see the (relatively big) middle market of quality Swiss quartz watches at $200-600 under threat because of the Watch.

I don’t think that they’re worried about the luxury/high quality mechanical movement watch market, as people who buy these watches are doing so for reasons of status, ‘romance’ of owning brands and models with decades of heritage, appreciation of automatic movements, materials etc - and as you say, looks and build quality.

Of course, there’s just something about a physical watch face done well and the sweep of a mechanical movement second hand, that the Apple watch can’t compete with.

I think that people are always going to buy automatic movement watches because of the above reasons - it’s just that the overall watch industry could shrink.

One side effect is that hopefully we’ll see some great hybrid watches come out to replace the quartz market, for those that want a traditional looking watch with exercise tracking and notifications functionality.

However, I think that the future health tech in the Apple Watch is going to be stunning and make it a ‘must have’ for many people and it’ll be hard for the traditional watch industry to compete on that.

 

[BSben]

It just shows that Steve Jobs would have messed this one up. I am glad that Jony and Tim made it possible. The Tim and Jony team seems to be doing pretty well so far. Apple Watch has changed the wearable market dramatically. Does anybody remember when Motorola tried to enter that market? Only Apple Watch currently is a serious player in this field.

 

[jonblatho]

You know the watch actually got a hair thicker in iterations right?

The iPhone’s been getting thicker too!
iPhone 6: 6.9 mm
iPhone 6s: 7.1 mm
iPhone 8: 7.3 mm

iPhone 6 Plus: 7.1 mm
iPhone 6s Plus: 7.3 mm
iPhone 8 Plus: 7.5 mm

iPhone X: 7.7 mm

 

[ActionableMango]

My main gripe was the rectangular display.

Same here. It's literally the only thing preventing me from buying one.

I understand why rectangle is better for a smart watch display, but I just think that all rectangular watches look awful.

 

[jonblatho]

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Excellently succinct; couldn’t have said it better myself.