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Jony Ive On iWatch: Switzerland is in Trouble

iwayne said:
If Johnny Ive thinks that people buy high end watches aka
"Switzerland" are going to stop buying Rolexes, Breitlings or even Tag-Heuer for a iWatch then he's in trouble. People don't buy those watches for function. I think Apple may be clueless on this one. How many women wear smart-watches?
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Gheez, obviously he's being sarcastic... if he said that to begin with.

Ivy is probably richer than all of us, combined. I'm sure he knows a thing or two about luxurious swiss watches.
 
Arran said:
Not if Apple introduces a modular watch concept where a wide assortment of upmarket bracelets (produced by established fashion/jewelry houses in partnership with Apple) accept a replaceable Apple electronics module.

As technology proceeds, the user just swaps out the electronics module. At a cost of $300-400 every few years, it's comparable to having your old-fashioned mechanical watch fully serviced every year.

In this business model, the beautiful, expensive (Cartier, Tiffany, Chanel, YSL, etc.) bracelet becomes the "heirloom" that gets handed down.

Something like this:
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Only problem, you don't fully service mechanical watches every year. Most manufactures recommended every 5-7 years and most users go much longer than that.
 
Hands Free Device

antonis said:
I couldn't agree more. With such products, they create a solution first, and then they create a problem to match it. Although I hate predictions without having anything to based on first, I also feel very secure to say that this is not going to be something useful and that I'd be really surprised if this proves to be something great.
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I think there is a problem. There is one function, which hasn't been redesigned since the beginning of the phone/mobile. The way we phone. A phone in your hand straight next to your brain/ear. That's not ergonomic at all. On top it's probably not that healthy. Has anyone seen the movie HER?

OK, there are headsets out there, but ahm...they aren't perfect.
The product hast to replace the communicate function of the iPhone.
I believe "the product" has to be an autark product. Not an iPhone accessoire.
A product that isn't designed for media consumption, gaming, mailing, surfing... Just for communication. Hands free.
Probably well crafted in ears with BT LE, a kind of watch-like designed piece of jewelry with a beautiful display. A cool piece of communication magic. Name and phone numbers are stored automatically on first BT connection with an other Apple Device. It needs 3G, BT and WLAN. iGem or something. I think a watch is the kind of gem for men. Clips, necklace .. for women.
Hermes has a nice clip with this kind of concepts for common watches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql0RHumZvqM
Add a future design note to this, advertise it the same way as the iPod in the past. Revolutionize the way we communicate via voice. Raise your Voice! And Hands!
 
The amount of speculation on this "news" ridiculous.

Soooo someone reports that Jony Ive said something about a product that we haven't heard of nor seen leaks of and probably won't launch now in September.

I think the iWatch won't happen like the Apple Television didn't happen...
 
This guy could sell his **** stink as perfume.

I imagine the reporter next to a farting Ive in an elevator reporting that the new iphone will be available in brown
 
Mildredop said:
These are all things my phone can do. So if I got a smartwatch, it would simply be replicating my phone, but in a smaller package.

When the smartphone was released, I got very excited at the idea of suddenly being able to browse the net, check emails, have my calendar etc. with me all the time, without the need to lug my (then very heavy) laptop around all the time.

But I don't have that same feeling about the watch. I'll always have my phone on me. Even if the watch does everything my phone can do, it's tiny screen will make it less pleasant to use than my phone, so the phone would still win.

Apple will need to come out with some epic, incredible, unbelieveable features that literally no-one has yet thought of to make it such a massive success.

It's like Google Glass. Interesting idea, but I can't see it honestly being anything more than a very niche, rather geeky product.
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You're speaking this in hindsight about the phone - but would any of us have been able to guess how huge the iPhone would become, or change/shape the industry of how smart phones are designed prior to the iPhone coming out?

I'm *pretty* sure the iWatch has a lot of potentials, many of which may include abilities that we haven't really thought of. Hopefully it is a complementary set, and not just another device with a lot of overlapping features with the phone. I'm excited to see what the team comes up with though. Hopefully they'll be able to introduce more features or life tweaks that we didn't realize we needed in our daily lives yet.
 
testcard said:
Coming next - the iCuckoo Clock.
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Cuckoo clocks are a German tradition.

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The Man said:
Well, Hamilton, Certina, Tissot, etc. are more mid-segment and also produce watches in lower segment. Point is, for the new generation up to current thirty-somethings, a traditional watch is no necessity. Will smart watches make a dent? In the long run, if the Swiss don't innovate, yes they will feel it. As for high end watches, demand will always be there. Will Swiss companies survive? Sure. Leica too survived, but they hardly make any profit.
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For no generation up to the thirty-somethings at any time have luxury watches been a necessity (or affordable, for that matter). Luxury watches are and will always be bought by people who can afford them - and that's the 35+ generations
 
ec51 said:
Only problem, you don't fully service mechanical watches every year.
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True, but I thought it was only me who did that - because I'm an uber cheapskate! :D

Last time they quoted several hundred for a simple cleaning and seal replacement. No thanks. So what if it loses a minute or two every month: I just manually adjust. No biggie.
 
I think his point is he thinks the iWatch is going to redefine the sector, in the same way the iPhone has effectively made previous phone designs (e.g. Blackberry) obsolete, and the iPad kick-started tablets transforming the personal computing market.

If the iWatch becomes as ubiquitous as the iPhone-style smartphone, then a lot of people who would have bought Tag-Heuer or whatever are going to buy one because it's seen as an essential piece of personal tech, and who wears two watches?

Not saying this will actually happen, but I wouldn't put it past Apple. A lot of people expected the iPad to be a Newton-style white elephant.
 
kappaknight said:
You're speaking this in hindsight about the phone
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No, I'm talking about how I felt when the iPhone was first announced. I could see how useful a smartphone would be - and that's before stuff like Spotify, 4G, Whatsapp etc. etc. I'm talking about phone, internet, emails and calendar.

The only reason I didn't get the iPhone at the beginning was the hideous cost - I decided that I could do without an 18 month contract with O2 at £60 per month and something like a £600 initial outlay.

kappaknight said:
but would any of us have been able to guess how huge the iPhone would become
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Not wanting to sound like a smartarse, but yes, I did think smartphones would be huge. I thought that before the iPhone when I was reading all about the Nuvifone (I think it was called).
 
Is there true to these comments made by Ive?

First the question... is there truth to back this quote?

If part image leaks and hard data regarding the capabilities are hard to come by, and further to that Apple NEVER exposes their plans...

Doesn't it seem unbelievable that Jony would make any such comment? No other Apple spokesperson has ever revealed upcoming products. Especially so blatantly.

To me it sounds like the article is fake. MacRumors is a great source for information, but this story just doesn't seem to have merit. I am sceptical of its legitimacy.
 
philipk said:
People under 30 don't wear watches as they use their phones.
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I'm under 30 and I wear a watch. Why fish my phone out when I can just glance at my arm? Not to mention there are plenty of times where it is socially unacceptable to be looking at your phone, even if you're just checking the time.

I don't see myself buying an iWatch. It would need to have quite the killer app to push me over.
 
brendu said:
7 years ago that's exactly what people said about nokia, HTC, and Palm.
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See but they were making pieces of tech that were just as disposable as the iPhone, the iPhone just looked nicer and was built better and had way more functionality. They were on the same playing field. The iWatch will not be on the same playing field as luxury watches. That is not apples-to-apples. More like apples-to-apple dipped in gold as an accessory.
 
From the NY Times piece:

While we don’t have much of an idea what the coveted iWatch will look like, I was able to glean one small detail from people at Apple who work on the company’s wearables.
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So did Nick Bilton cold call Apple employees rumored to be working on the wearables project and ask them for a quote off the record?
 
Karma*Police said:
No, that's my point.... there actually isn't room for all manufacturers. Most markets eventually revolve around a few core brands, and it's especially true in tech and more so when ecosystems are involved. Just look at OS vendors and even the relatively new smartphone space.

If smart watches become indispensable (a real possibility), then I can't imagine even the super rich spending $10,000 on a "dumb" watch. Case in point, those Verdu phones... are they even around anymore? The rich can always find other ways to stand out from the crowd, like buying an Aston Martin DB9 like my neighbor, or buying $400 Chuck Taylor's from LV.

Furthermore, watch manufacturers don't have the technological know-how nor the capital to keep pace with the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Samsung. So yes, it's a very real possibility that they will soon make the endangered species list and eventually become extinct.
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Thanks for the chuckle :)
 
Must be talking about the price..It cannot be about quality..Anybody remember iPhone 4, Macbook screen problems etc.,
 
mozumder said:
People that buy $10,000-$50,000 watches aren't going to not buy them because of Apple.

There was an interview with one of the luxury watch vendors CEO back when the first digital watches came out in the 70's. The interviewer asked about the threatening competition from digital watches, and the CEO gave back the answer "We're not in the watch business. We're in the Jewelry business."

The Swiss watchmakers have nothing to worry about.
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You just hit the nail on the head. People who purchase expensive watches are doing it as a fashion statement.
 
TheIntruder said:
The Roger Moore-era Bonds wore Seikos.

The Pierce Brosnan-era Bonds drove BMWs.

Wasn't Q using prominently-branded Lenovos in the last film?

I wouldn't be surprised if Bond has worn something other than Savile Row suits.

If a brand like Apple wanted to pay the Broccolis for product placement in the films, I don't think they'd object.

Bond films are no different than any others in that respect. :)


Got a chuckle out of those who think the Rolex club is "exclusive."

For a luxury brand, they're practically mass-produced in terms of volume. Fine watches, but they're an almost too obvious part of the uniform.
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It was Vaio, there's a lot of Sony placement in the Craig era.

Also, he's been wearing Tom Ford since 2008 (Since 1995 it was Brioni)

But I totally agree with you. I meant I don't see Bond searching a laser or a grappling app on his iWatch or arriving to the casino wearing one haha.
 
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