Jony Ive on the 'Intertwining of Fashion and Technology' and 2016 Met Gala

[PJL500]

yeah... corporate thinking... fashion and technology.... . Innovative thinking would be: style and creativity.

 

[RichTF]

Spin it however you want, I haven't seen these on anyone's wrist. And I see a lot of hipsters in a given day

There are several in my office, and a fair few amongst my mates. Both numbers are steadily increasing too.

But then, these are all regular people, not hipsters. Maybe you're looking in the wrong places?

 

[xDKP]

Ive is everything that is wrong with Apple right now.

 

[xDKP]

There are several in my office, and a fair few amongst my mates. Both numbers are steadily increasing too.

But then, these are all regular people, not hipsters. Maybe you're looking in the wrong places?

Who said it was for hipsters at all I really thought it was the opposite

 

[MH01]

Apple has been quietly investing heavily in wearable tech for awhile now. And not just smart watches. They've been researching things like advanced fabrics.

Imagine your sleeve lighting up as the display or being able to use gestures on your lap to change channels/volume. For health, the combination of your socks, shirt, pants, etc. will track biometrics far better than one wrist worn device.

When you wear something, fashion automatically comes into play which is why you're seeing Apple hiring fashion execs and becoming more fashion conscious... They're positioning themselves to dominate what could be the next wave in tech.

It's a natural progression of tech becoming ever more personal and interwoven into the fabric of our daily lives.

I get that. I'm just an old git, who gets many tickets from fashion police, and hipsters are my sworn enemy

It's a new Apple , and higher profits in fashion than a computer. Also less returns.

 

[decafjava]

You've summed it up very nicely.

Apple has an opportunity at this juncture to put J. Ive back to work...

OR

Hire a young enthusiastic designer that _is eager to work_.

The plain rectangular shape of Apple Watch is so devoid of style it's sad.

The rectangular slabs known as iPhones are equally basic overused shapes.

Apple has the time, money and ability to hire the talent to do so much better.

But will they?

Surely my post will be followed by many of the Apple apologists , excuse makers, and those whom Apple has influenced to never challenge anything that's done in Cupertino. Apple knows best!

Fresh talent and a new direction today are always good but honestly what more can be done with an iPhone or any smartphone they all look pretty similar for a reason.

 

[MysteriousStain]

All well and good but iTunes is still a festering pile of garbage. Keep that man away from the software!

 

[Keane16]

The only watch that would tempt me is a hybrid mechanical watch with a digital overlay when needed. As it stands, the Apple Watch is rather like the Microsoft Surface: a jack of all trades and master of none.

You've clearly never lived with one. It's a theme on MacRumors unfortunately (and tech forums in general), people guessing at what products are like when they've clearly never used them.

As I said to someone else just the other day, for me it's the "master" of many tasks now:

- The best device I've ever used for tracking my morning runs.
- The best device I've ever used for directions whilst cycling and walking.
- The best device I've ever used for geofence reminders.
- The best MP3 player I've ever used in the gym, whilst jogging and whilst cycling.
- It's an excellent watch, and the customisable complications means it is the most useful watch face I've ever owned.

Etc. etc. As with everything it's all about personal use case.

Before the Apple Watch I wore 2 analogue watches. One for daily wear which is slightly more expensive than the Apple Watch Sport. The other a lot more expensive and only for special occasions.

I wanted to hold out until Gen 2 of the Apple Watch. But the strap broke on the daily wear watch - it would cost ~£100 to replace it. So I thought I'd give the Apple Watch a try instead. So glad I did it, I won't be repairing my broken analogue watch any time soon.

The whole analogue watch with digital overlay idea - no thanks. As I realised quickly at a formal dinner the other weekend, analogue watches are actually poor in dimly lit rooms (It's like 4 digit pass codes - you don't realise that it's a small inconvenience until something better comes along: Touch ID). The all digital Apple Watch works as well as or better than my analogue in all the situations I've been in so far. Why complicate a device just for the sake of it?

 

[RichTF]

Who said it was for hipsters at all I really thought it was the opposite

Yep, we agree — my post was in the context of stevemiller's hipster comment.

I have an Apple Watch and love mine. Definitely not a hipster, I don't even have a moustache.

 

[HowEver]

How does the double leather strap allow the back of the watch and its sensors to stay flush with your wrist? Looks like it doesn't.

 

[2457282]

It's ironic that the Apple Watch is universally shown in promotion pictures with an analogue watch face, the antithesis of everything Ive has striven for in iOS.

I think this is one of the many flaws in the thinking behind it. It comes across as simply inferior to a handsome mechanical watch face. It's the ultimate expression of skeumorphism, in a company that has eschewed the very thing.

The only watch that would tempt me is a hybrid mechanical watch with a digital overlay when needed. As it stands, the Apple Watch is rather like the Microsoft Surface: a jack of all trades and master of none. Just as the Surface is poor at being a laptop due to the flimsy keyboard, and poor at being a tablet due to the wrong shape and lack of software optimisation, so the Apple Watch is worse than a traditional watch at telling the time due to the screen being off, and poor at being a mini-computer due to the lack of power.

I wear mine everyday and get plenty of functionality from it. I really have no issues with it. You can complain about it, but I suspect you also do not own or wear one. The issue is the same as with the iPhone. everyone says that there is another phone that has more power, more pixels, more features, more whatever. And yet, the iPhone is the most profitable and most sold smartphone. My suggestion is that you actually buy and wear one for a month and then comment on the merits. On paper is very different than on wrist.

 

[huntlane]

It's ironic that the Apple Watch is universally shown in promotion pictures with an analogue watch face, the antithesis of everything Ive has striven for in iOS.

I had a similar thought, but changed my mind after using the apple watch. The analog clock face is a form of data visualization. Time is displayed as the perimeter of the circle, and different lengths represent different amounts of time. Some people might not find value in this, but being a visual thinker I am very glad to have the option of an analog clock face.

 

[fermat-au]

It's "Sir Ive"...

In fact it should be Sir Jonathan or Sir Jony not Sir Ive

 

[Mac 128]

The whole analogue watch with digital overlay idea - no thanks.

Why on earth would you be against this if done well!? As technology reduces the size of the electronics that can fit inside the watch, I would welcome a hybrid that gave me all the beauty and heritage of a traditional timepiece as jewelry, with a digital overlay that gave me all the practical functionality of a smartwatch, yet still looked beautiful when the smartwatch was not in use. As for being difficult to see in a dark room, well that's when you'd use the smartwatch!

There's always going to be people who hold onto watches for sentimental reasons. I know people who wear their grandparents watch. And about all those watches can do is tell time, and just getting them to do that can be a pain in the ass. I think an area this may go is the smart-band for mechanical watches. Remember the early conceptual renderings of possible Apple watches? One was a sleek band, or cuff that wrapped around the wrist. I could easily see one of those attached to traditional watch, with the display on the bottom of the wrist, such that when not in use, it would be indistinguishable from a regular watch band, but when the wrist is rotated upside down, the display pops on revealing the smartwatch display. As technology makes the smartwatch smaller, this could easily be an option for those who enjoy fine timepieces, who do treat them as jewelry, or have other sentimental attachments to them. Newer ones can of course be built with additional technology built into them to work with the smart-bands. Perhaps even transparent digital overlays for granddad's watch, that communicates wirelessly with the smartwatch in the band.

Why would anyone be against that?

I had a similar thought, but changed my mind after using the apple watch. The analog clock face is a form of data visualization. Time is displayed as the perimeter of the circle, and different lengths represent different amounts of time. Some people might not find value in this, but being a visual thinker I am very glad to have the option of an analog clock face.

Nobody needs data visualization to manage time effectively. In fact, they don't even teach kids how to read an analogue clock anymore -- there are probably more kids that can't read one, that can. In fact anyone who argues that a smartwatch should not be round because it doesn't present text most effectively, has no business using an analogue clock face. It is one of the most ineffective uses of space to convey a single piece of information ever devised. But unlike others on this forum, I will defend your right to chose it, to the end.