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Microsoft Shifts Smart Watch Prototype Testing to Surface Hardware Team
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I don`t think it is just coincidence that we hear rumors about these other companies one or two days after there is a rumor about Apple working on something similar.
Yea, about 5-10 years ago it was the craze. And they all failed. Now its the craze again with Apple "supposedly" working on one, and everyone rushing to beat Apple to market with something they THINK Apple might do.
To say a new product we have never even seen yet will be all about "integration" is short sighted. You're thinking in terms of how you've been conditioned to think about a "smart watch," a watch and a mini-pc combined in one. If Apple is going to enter this market, I see them completely tossing aside ALL conventional wisdom and really starting from square one to reimagine the concept entirely. Just like the iPhone wasn't just an iPod that made phone calls, or just like the iPad wasn't just a Macbook with a touch screen, they will likely zig where others zag.
What exactly is MS's ecosystem that would make a smart watch work for them? I thought MS was trying to suggest that W8 was made for work, creation, using the wide range of existing Windows software?
Watches, from any company, are simply consumption devices. Even standard watches today are worn for two basic reasons - function (telling time/date) and decoration.
This idea of a smart watch category seems like a big stretch to me. So you see a Twitter feed or FB status update on your watch, then what? Then you have to pull out your phone or tablet or laptop to respond?
Sure, it could be used as a wireless key or password alternative, but even then, I'm just not sure how any company sees it being more than just a fad.
Frankly, I think watches are today, for many people simply a form of jewelry. If we carry an iPhone (or any smart phone, tablet or laptop), the idea that we even "need" a watch is foolish at best as a functional item. We can already see the time and date on a smartphone, plus the weather, stocks, twitter feeds, email, etc. A watch has become a status symbol for many people and a cheap plastic watch with glowing screen feels like a return to the late 70's and early 80's where companies tried to make watches do things like be calculators (I had one). It was awful at both being a watch and a calculator.
If you say the watch allows you to see incoming texts or emails without getting your smartphone or tablet out is all well and fine, but if you say that it's for business settings where you don't want to be pulling out your phone or tablet - I have to say that looking at your watch in a meeting, with a spouse or significant other, at school, etc is still a bad behavior. Before smartphones, it was watches that people were distracted by.
Watches, from any company, are simply consumption devices. Even standard watches today are worn for two basic reasons - function (telling time/date) and decoration.
This idea of a smart watch category seems like a big stretch to me. So you see a Twitter feed or FB status update on your watch, then what? Then you have to pull out your phone or tablet or laptop to respond?
Sure, it could be used as a wireless key or password alternative, but even then, I'm just not sure how any company sees it being more than just a fad.
Frankly, I think watches are today, for many people simply a form of jewelry. If we carry an iPhone (or any smart phone, tablet or laptop), the idea that we even "need" a watch is foolish at best as a functional item. We can already see the time and date on a smartphone, plus the weather, stocks, twitter feeds, email, etc. A watch has become a status symbol for many people and a cheap plastic watch with glowing screen feels like a return to the late 70's and early 80's where companies tried to make watches do things like be calculators (I had one). It was awful at both being a watch and a calculator.
If you say the watch allows you to see incoming texts or emails without getting your smartphone or tablet out is all well and fine, but if you say that it's for business settings where you don't want to be pulling out your phone or tablet - I have to say that looking at your watch in a meeting, with a spouse or significant other, at school, etc is still a bad behavior. Before smartphones, it was watches that people were distracted by.
Which is exactly why Tim Cook said the category is "ripe for exploration." Many people just think of a smart watch as a mini smartphone accessory for your wrist. This is how we've been conditioned to imagine something based on collective wisdom up til now. Seeing things from your phone, simply on a smaller screen worn on your wrist easier to access. I see much more potential in this area. If you take those two core functions for a watch, decoration and easily glanceable information, you could build on top of that and end up with something entirely different than the traditional concept of a watch. I think having something with modern technology attached to your wrist at all times opens up an enormous amount of possibilites, it just takes a little imagination. A mini "smartphone accessory" is just the tip of the iceberg, there's so much more beneath the surface. Someone just needs to have thinking clear enough to discover it.
No. Your timing is off
Yay - you have an opinion. Why is yours more or less short sighted than mine. Hint. It isn't. Until any of these products become more physical and less rumor - I think it's anyone's game.
And I disagree - you're READING about it more because Apple's comments. That doesn't mean there hasn't been any more or less traction by other companies before Apple said a word. Oh - forgot where I was though - clearly Apple was first....
Honestly, if apple announced they were working on a magical iBrick these other companies would start developing one as well.
You mean how since Pebble was announced and blitzed through Kickstarter that other tech companies want a slice of this pie too?
Honestly, if apple announced they were working on a magical iBrick these other companies would start developing one as well.
You're not seriously trying to imply that Apple was the first company to ever consider a watch-like device that did more than tell time, are you?
Maybe he's suggesting Apple putting out a product that self-bricks without even jailbreaking
Good move. Lump losing products (Surface) together with profitable products (Xbox) to hide the losses. That will help to minimize Ballmer's embarrassment when he tap-dances around Microsoft's mobile results in those pesky quarterly earnings reports.
To me, unless we see photos of the actual thing, all this hype is just "tock"#.
What I think he's trying to say is there may be existing products for a certain type of technology, but it seems whenever Apple gets involved that's when the interest of the general population takes notice of that technology. Look at mp3 players. There were lots to choose from way before the iPod ever came out, but Apple brought the "cool" factor into the equation. The iPhone when it came out lacked several features existing smartphones had, but it had that cool factor and smooth touch screen. Generally people weren't that interested or even knew about smart phones. The majority of people still had flip phones, phones with antenna, or a Blackberry. You have to admit the industry pays close attention to what is going on at Cupertino. Smart watches? Many have tried, but they haven't caught on except for Pebble. If Pebble was a flop then I don't think Apple would've gone in that direction.
I don't think you want to suggest that the blackberry wasn't a smart phone. Nor that generally people weren't interested in smart phones. The treo was doing very well too. The average joe might not have needed or wanted one. But you also have to remember - initially - iPhone sales weren't anything to get excited about. It took quite awhile before it was "popular."
And I'm not sure why people think companies live in bubbles only paying attention to press or product launches. It's as if they think companies aren't developing products all the time and either haven't released them and/or have they tabled until technology comes around that makes it more affordable or can produce the results they want.
But I guess it's easier to believe that every company twiddles their thumb waiting on an Apple "rumor" to go to the chalk board
Whoever hits the market first, is success-wise irrelevant. Whoever does it best, will succeed. Sorry APPLE-haters, the expectations are high from all entrants, but all eyes are on APPLE, and they do have a distinct advantage here, with their tightly and seamlessly integrated iOS ecosystem, which will no doubt figure heavily in this new device category.
That's both good and bad for Apple.
And I'm not sure how much an ecosystem will play into this. So I'm not sure they have a DISTINCT advantage. What they have is a history of creating aesthetically pleasing products with cool interfaces.
I think a smart watch is such a mediocre idea. It'd be great if Apple was purposely leaking fake information about their plans for an "iWatch" to throw their competitors off the trail.
No. Your timing is off
Yay - you have an opinion. Why is yours more or less short sighted than mine. Hint. It isn't. Until any of these products become more physical and less rumor - I think it's anyone's game.
And I disagree - you're READING about it more because Apple's comments. That doesn't mean there hasn't been any more or less traction by other companies before Apple said a word. Oh - forgot where I was though - clearly Apple was first....
I never said there wasn't any interest or any developments in the area before Apple came tumbling in. I was suggesting that interest certainly HEIGHTENED when other companies saw this as a potential area that Apple might pursue, seeing as Apple places bets carefully and generally has a good track record. And don't give me that, smart watches have been pursued for many many years, and they've never had any traction. Interest certainly picked up again in recent years, but nowhere near the point of it being "the next battleground" in tech like its being played up today.
You know, its incredibly annoying when people like you come to fan sites, knowing full well that the site is populated by fans (or fanboys, depending on your maturity level), and playing the whole game of "look at me everyone, I'm above you because I'm unbiased and think logically and you're just a lousy fan with distorted insight." Congratulations, here's a trophie. You're the first person to ever come on Macrumors with a REAL sense of reality. Way to go.
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Honestly, if apple announced they were working on a magical iBrick these other companies would start developing one as well.
Yeah of course they would, because Apple have INVENTED the smart watch haven't they?
Think about it......
As for the watches, only ones worth getting will be the Google Nexus one or the Apple one. both have good experience with small sized gadgets.
But I still think the interest in smart watches is going to basically match that of 3D televisions, it'll be a fad that fades out fast, people will soon get tired of charging their watches every 7 day's or less and begin to think what's the point, I have a smart phone?
Nope. But I do think you missed out the word 'smart' in your comment?
Didn't you know, everything Apple produces is original and no one ever thought of it before.
That's called second mover advantage. Apple is extremely good at this. So is Samsung. Ironically when Apple does it, people say it's ok because they did it better. When Samsung does it, people complain all they do is copy
lol