Jony Ive On iWatch: Switzerland is in Trouble

[NewbieCanada]

ALL of them will do fine, Swatch owns them all more or less. I would challenge Jony to make an automatic movement that runs on fluid, like the Swiss have. Or hands in liquid that move by magnets, like the Swiss have, and those are the small makers.

I can remember when TVs and stereos came in fine wooden cabinets. And later in not-so-fine wooden cabinets. And by the 1970s, plastic or metal cabinets with fake woodgrain on them. And then that stopped. People wanted them to look like the electronics they are. And they wanted them as small an unobtrusive as possible. A TV may have an 80 inch screen, but no one wants a bezel you can see without a microscope.

Watches originated to tell time. And then they started making them more and more attractive according to the tastes of the day. And then their chief function - telling time - was taken over by phones so that the only people wearing them are those wearing them as jewelry.

And eventually, just as people realized if they want an attractive piece of furniture in the living room they should just buy one, people who want to wear expensive jewelry should stop pretending they care about it telling time.

Watches are going to pretty much die out, with or without Apple's help. And the iWatch will exist only as long as it takes to duplicate its functions even more unobtrusively.

the iMplant. All the function of an iPhone and iWatch in a simple implantable chip.

 

[Erasmus]

If it's only useful for people who own an iPhone, I cannot see how I am going to be blown away.

I don't want to buy an iPhone. But if this iWatch is awesome, I could do with another nice watch.

 

[samcraig]

I expect the man in charge of such a product to say nothing less.

However - I don't believe the watch industry is in any grave danger. While many love their gadgets, there are still many who don't want all that tech on their wrist. And that doesn't even count those that don't want to have to charge their devices every 1/3/5/7 days based on battery.

The watch industry will be just fine for quite some time, Jony.

 

[Edd.Dantes]

The world's first Swiss watch made in China.

Revolutionary.

Priceless!

 

[PowerBook-G5]

Forgive me, but is this a confirmation of the iWatch's existence?

 

[Treq]

As long as he doesn't design the interface, it'll be a hit.

 

[rGiskard]

"This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the first World War. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up till then people just carried pocket watches."

The way your Daddy looked at it, that watch was your birthright...So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide somethin': his arse. Five long years, he wore this watch up his arse.

 

[Nicky G]

If Apple makes a bracelet-type device, I will consider it -- possibly it will be worthy of my other wrist.

If Apple makes a watch, there is no way it's going to replace one of my four Swiss-made mechanicals.

I will add that I am about as "core" an Apple customer that exists. I've bought every iPhone the first day, think I've bought several of almost every model of iPad that's been released, and have been using Macs since the 1980s. I've also sold, hmmm, millions of dollars worth of Apple's computers over the last decade, and used to work for one of the AppleCare call centers. I am pretty into Apple.

But an iWatch is not going to replace one of my mechanicals. I love them BECAUSE they are not pieces of information technology. I love them because they remind me that there is a beauty in mechanical intricacy, and something to be gained from non-perfect precision and not-connectedness.

And let's be blunt -- I can pretty much guarantee that almost all of Apple's key executives own watches that individually cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Might iWatch or whatever find a large segment of users/wearers among people who do not currently own or wear watches, or wear digital watches? Sure. But they are not going to part watch aficionados from their mechanicals, no way no how.

 

[SusanK]

Surely though there are two types of watch buyers? The practical ones who will love the iWatch but then theres the "showey" types who use a watch like wearing a necklace. Apple may make a high class iWatch but then people who buy these "showey" watches surely don't want a watch everyone else has?

Not certain the term is "showey". Some of us love beautiful pieces. I have a few very nice watches and I don't care if anyone sees them or not. I enjoy them for me.

 

[CrAkD]

Is it April 1st? What a wild story haha

 

[I like bananas]

September 9th can't come soon enough.

 

[SusanK]

Their stock has been going up.

Lost 22B market cap today. Closed 98.94

 

[joneill55]

Hell will freeze over before I abandon one of my Rollies for any "smart watch much less the iWatch!

Just saying!

 

[Azzin]

No Swiss watch can beat an Apple iDevice for accurate time, as long as it has internet access. It also automatically switches time zones and between daylight savings time and standard.

If the iWatch syncs to one's iDevice, then it will also have such accuracy and be back on one's wrist for convenient access.

I think the Swiss watch industry is truly in for a rude awakening in the not-too-distant future.

My £100 G-Shock syncs with the (6?) atomic clocks in the world, so is also always accurate!

 

[mozumder]

You sound like Ballmer's reaction to the iPhone and iPad. Arrogance. Look what happened to him and to Microsoft.

Arrogance is what made Apple rich.

 

[Aeolius]

I haven't worn a watch since the 80s. I'm more of a function over form kinda guy who sees no need to follow fads or fashion (my last watch transformed into a robot and car). That being said, if Apple does this right, I'll give it a go!

 

[ILikeAllOS]

The Swiss watchmakers have nothing to worry about.

You mean like when Switzerland suffered from the Quartz Crisis?

 

[ChazSch]

Wow, I didn't know he could talk smack.

Thats his "That's right, I said it" look…

He's a Bro….

 

[SusanK]

Jony Ive: "Steve, I managed to finish the last project I was working on before you died. I never had the chance to show you. I present to you, the iWatch"
Steve Jobs ghost: "That's a dopey idea"
Jony Ive: "What? No it's isn't"
Steve Jobs ghost: "Yes, it's dopey"
Jony Ive: "No it isn't!"
Steve Jobs ghost: "You're right, it's isn't"
Jony Ive: "See I told you!"
Steve Jobs ghost: "It's really dopey"
Jony Ive: "Well I'm going to tell everyone that before you died that you said that with the iWatch, the Swiss are F*#&"
Steve Jobs ghost: "At this point I don't even care since all you've released are me-too products for the last 3+ years with a sick obsession with 1GB of memory for every new iDevice. I mean seriously...wtf Jony. I should have fired you back when I asked you to put the speakers inside the iMac and you initially refused...y'know...kind of like that programmer who developed a word processor without fonts and then said it wasn't a pressing issue."
Jony Ive: "Well I take back everything I said at your eulogy"
Steve Jobs ghost: "I wouldn't know because I wasn't there"

Best post on this thread!

 

[Liquorpuki]

Can't wait til the reveal.

Either Ive is smarter than everyone else or he's lost it

 

[cfountain72]

Can't believe it...

Sorry, but I am not buying it (the rumor). First, it's not even verified that Jony even said it. It's an unnamed 'Apple designer', of which I've read Ive has a relatively small hardware design team that he works directly with. If the leak could be tracked back to any of the cadre of folks who would've heard him say this, they would be on the street the next day.
Second, as has been said before, it is hard to imagine someone who truly respects good design lobbing grenades at some of the great watchmakers and designers of our time. Watch 'How Things Are Made' to see how high-end watchmaking is truly a time-honored craft.
If Ive actually did say this, we are looking at something in the $1,000+ price range....

 

[ChazSch]

The way your Daddy looked at it, that watch was your birthright...So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide somethin': his arse. Five long years, he wore this watch up his arse.

PROPS on the Pulp Fiction / Christopher Walken quote!!!!

 

[Enabledobject]

Meh

 

[nando87]

I haven't worn a watch since the 80s. I'm more of a function over form kinda guy who sees no need to follow fads or fashion (my last watch transformed into a robot and car). That being said, if Apple does this right, I'll give it a go!

Wow you sound like a cool/stylish man.

No.

 

[wigby]

Surely though there are two types of watch buyers? The practical ones who will love the iWatch but then theres the "showey" types who use a watch like wearing a necklace. Apple may make a high class iWatch but then people who buy these "showey" watches surely don't want a watch everyone else has?

I think High end watch companies are safe, its the middle range ones who are "in trouble".

People buy Rolexes that everyone else who have Rolexes already have. It's like being in a club but the iWatch club wouldn't be as exclusive as the Rolex club. Rolex has 100,000 members or customers a year. I don't see why this couldn't scale to 100 million members or customers a year for Apple considering the price difference.