Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Lol. If this was true, no Republican would ever be elected in America at any level, ever again. Ignore the media. Use your own, independent judgement and trust that. Anyone that thinks the media is truly "independent" and offers anything like an accurate judgement is just deluded.

The media - at any level and on any subject - are among the most biased purveyors of information around. Sorry, most media have an agenda and its up to you to know that prior to consuming any of their product.

Your response to my post was unfair because you singled out the first line of my post without including the rest of my post which is relevant. My point was if people aren't taking about your product (positive or negative) it won't be very successful. I never said the media's actual opinion matters.
 
I know it was like this with the 1st gen iPad and iPhone launches too, but the media is really killing my Apple Watch buzz, and I think they're being more brutal about it for this product than they ever have before.

After the first night of getting my watch configured, I was loving all the things it can do. I've had a really great weekend of NOT staring at my phone constantly, and it's all because of the Apple Watch.

Upon checking the news and some different sites this evening, it seems that the media has already declared this device a failure. And while it's common for the media to pick on Apple, and not my job to worry about it, I AM worried that this product has already been too panned to succeed. That would be a shame, because I'm loving it and I want there to be future iterations.

It seems like people try it for 10 minutes, write a pissy review, and then give up on it forever. Should Apple be getting out in front of this?

You answered your own question in your first paragraph.
 
News sites get more clicks when they emphasize the negatives of anything Apple does, instead of the positives. Only after it becomes well established that a new Apple offering is truly good do most of them come around.

Give it time.
 
I was a little confused by all of the Reviews, too.. but now that I have it I have to admit that I love the watch. Battery life is far better than I expected and everything is running smooth (minor exceptions). I actually liked it faster than my other Apple Products!

I think the iPhone and iPod are my least favorite Apple products at launch tbqh and still are. The watch and the iPad are of interest to me thought I will say the 6+ may have lowered my interest in carrying around the iPad....but I hate carrying a ton of stuff in my pockets. I want to just have my passport and state issued ids and cards (bank, health ins etc), train pass, house keys on my phone/watch. The state and federal governments are so technologically inept except for when they are trying to mine your personal information for "national security" reasons.
 
No, I don't care what people think per se--I just care because I want this product to continue to exist. If the media dumps on it enough and people don't buy it, there are no future Apple Watches. THAT would be a shame.

I don't think you have to worry at all. This is Apple we are talking about. They are stubborn, they are very sure of themselves, and they have enough cash to do whatever they want for as long as it takes. They absolutely believe in this product. I guarantee the watch is here to stay.
 
This won't be another iPad or iPhone situation. I wish people would stop bringing them up. The Apple Watch is a $350+ companion device. Apple will continue making them, but don't expect them to be a massive hit.

Smart watches have very little mainstream appeal. Everyone needs a phone, so seeing the iPhone succeed wasn't that shocking. The iPad is also a device that everyone could use. Since everyone basically needs Internet. For people who just surf the web and read emails, an iPad can replace a laptop.

The Apple Watch can't replace anything besides a fitness tracker or another smart watch.

That shouldn't stop you from enjoying it, though. Some of my favorite products of all time flopped. Who cares? Do you buy stuff to fit in or for your own enjoyment?

It's a geeky/niche product. Embrace it :)
Im going to disagree with this and say the watch can replace a phone if it had a cellular chip. Its what the 6+ is to the iPad. If youre a person who barely makes phone calls at all then the watch is a glimpse into a future without carrying lots of stuff in your pocket.
 
I know it was like this with the 1st gen iPad and iPhone launches too, but the media is really killing my Apple Watch buzz, and I think they're being more brutal about it for this product than they ever have before.

....

It seems like people try it for 10 minutes, write a pissy review, and then give up on it forever. Should Apple be getting out in front of this?

I agree dude. You are 100% right. Just disregard them and stay off the reviews. Especially forum boards that have lots of negativity (like this one). 90% of the time a conversation on the internet would be completely different in person. And if someone came at me with some hateful comments in person, I would for sure dissuade some of that and prove ignorance. Because that's all it is, people are ignorant and hugely negative online. It's disgusting but I guess that's our human nature.

I'm starting to move away from many forums I visit and especially tech sites like Verge and even TWiT. Some people are SO jaded. Why can't anyone just be absolutely amazed that a group of HUMANS created this device, a device that really feels like we jumped into the future? I wish everyone had to go thru a tech engineering course we all understand how HARD it is to create such a thing.

Ugh, rant over. But ignore the ignorance, it does nothing but kill your buzz. The watch is by far the coolest item i've ever owned and ties with the 1st gen iPhone. I absolutely adore it.
 
The media will naturally always target companies and products that they see as having too much "influence." Every media company wants to be the first to say "I told you so..." on the off chance something that's expected to succeed, fails.

Enjoy your watch and ignore the crap that gets aired.
 
One thing to remember is that most of those review sites are going to say whatever it takes to get more clicks and make more money. Controversy always seems to generate more traffic than positive reviews.

I find user feedback much more useful. I look for the reactions of people that have similar expectations than I do. I have a friend that that can't see how a smart watch could be useful at all. One of the reason this is so is because he uses his phone differently than I do. His phone might as well be attached to him.

I've wanted a smart watch ever since I could get notifications on my wrist and didn't have to have my phone on me 100% of the time. I was a kickstarter supporter for the Pebble.

My watch hasn't arrived yet but there are a few features that made the Apple Watch a slam dunk for what I was looking for in a smart watch that no other vendor has been able to deliver yet.

I alternate between wearing a fitbit and a pebble. Now I have a device that cover both bases without my phone having to be on my person.

Some of the features I'm personally looking forward to are as follows.

The ability to answer my calls from my wrist....frigging awesome! I work in IT in the medical industry so I am on call A LOT! I want to see who's calling and have the possibility to answer it without running across the house whenever someone calls.

Having Siri on my wrist will be incredibly useful. Just simple things like setting a timer when cooling. "Hey Siri set timer for 5 minutes" I don't have to stop what I am doing to track down my phone to set the timer.

These things could be completely not useful to people that have their phones in their hands at all times. I want to see things at a glance without having to get my phone out of it's holster.

One last thing is it is hard to believe that the Apple watch is a flop when orders are already backed up till July...People are still ordering every day even with the bad press.
 
Apple doesn't model their business by what the media think. If the watches sell and the demand is there....the watches aren't going anywhere.
 
The reviewers who took time, like a week, to really test the watch have basically sounded like the first iPhone reviewers. It's a great product with some obvious first generation flaws or wants for the future. I think it's semi-fair to say it's at least one of the best smart watches available, maybe the best. Hard to compare since most others require an Android phone, at least others in the higher prices. Pebble seems to be its own thing in a different market.

But then you have the dumb, lazy, clickbait reviews. Hell, the tattoo thing is almost ridiculous. I mean it's like saying you can't wear the watch over a skin-tight shirt and have it register your pulse.

I'm anxious to see the health tracking and pill tracker through WebMD. I found about that from an article about the watch and think it's OK on my phone. It's definitely better than the other app I used. I'm hoping the watch app is even better.
 
The first iPad underwent relentless mocking both from speculative media sites and from users on this very forum. Remember when the name was announced?

So yeah,we know how the iPad story went.
 
I don't know, I seem to see a lot more good press than bad about the Apple Watch, especially when compared to the other smart watches. At least it's getting a lot of attention. The Android Wear watches don't typically make the front page of mainstream news, while the Apple Watch is. Oh and it's Apple..when has Apple discontinued a product after 1st gen in the post-iPhone era?
 
Why do you care what the media say if the device is useful to you? Use it if it helps you. Simple as that.
 
Almost every YouTube review about the Apple watch that I watched was negative about this product, they keep saying stuff like "the UI is difficult to learn" or "wait for next gen", and the amount of android haters in the comments is unreal, not sure why everyone is being negative about it since the product literally just came out and there is barely any apps developed for it yet, how are you going to "review" a product after 2 days of owning it.
 
Why do you care what the media say if the device is useful to you? Use it if it helps you. Simple as that.

I will reiterate once again, I do not personally care what people think about something I use if I find it useful. What I care about is the general future of the Apple Watch BECAUSE I find it so useful. The media seems determined to bury this product. I am really fearful that it's going to work this time.
 
I will reiterate once again, I do not personally care what people think about something I use if I find it useful. What I care about is the general future of the Apple Watch BECAUSE I find it so useful. The media seems determined to bury this product. I am really fearful that it's going to work this time.

Quit watching the news.

Quit reading negative blogs.

This product will live or die based on the general public, not the tech "elite" and not those of us here on MR.

Just like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, etc. The general public will either adopt it or not. And most of them will via word of mouth so get on outside and start selling people on your watch. :D
 
I know it was like this with the 1st gen iPad and iPhone launches too, but the media is really killing my Apple Watch buzz, and I think they're being more brutal about it for this product than they ever have before.

After the first night of getting my watch configured, I was loving all the things it can do. I've had a really great weekend of NOT staring at my phone constantly, and it's all because of the Apple Watch.

Upon checking the news and some different sites this evening, it seems that the media has already declared this device a failure. And while it's common for the media to pick on Apple, and not my job to worry about it, I AM worried that this product has already been too panned to succeed. That would be a shame, because I'm loving it and I want there to be future iterations.

It seems like people try it for 10 minutes, write a pissy review, and then give up on it forever. Should Apple be getting out in front of this?


First of all: do you own or even have stock in Apple? if not it is not something you should concern yourself with.
Apple is a billion dollar company, and can handle its own problems.
relax and enjoy your watch, and don't worry about Apple, they are not worried about you ;)
 
1. Standard watches. If you look through this forum, you will find many people with conventional watches ordering the :apple:W and being worried the AW will be so awesome they will stop wearing their Rolex. With some even saying that they haven't even touched there $1K+ dumb watches since receiving their AWSport.
Not everyone that has a dumb watch will replace it with an AW, but lots of people are.

2. Nothing. Again look through the forum, you will find many people that have never worn a watch (or worn one for awhile) that have ordered a AW. Because now they find a point for a Watch.

I am firmly in camp number 2. I haven't worn a watch since the late '90s, and a couple years ago, I decided I wanted a watch again, after starting to get annoyed at not knowing what time it was without pulling out my phone.

Then I heard rumors of this watch, and I decided to not buy one until I saw what Apple had planned (because I was not going to go with a $30 Timex, like I always had before)

After 15 hours (lol) with this watch, I am glad I didn't get a different one, and waited. I now do have a purpose in wearing a watch... this watch.
 
I will reiterate once again, I do not personally care what people think about something I use if I find it useful. What I care about is the general future of the Apple Watch BECAUSE I find it so useful. The media seems determined to bury this product. I am really fearful that it's going to work this time.

Try as they might, they weren't able to do it with the iPad. I don't think the Watch is going anywhere.
 
Quit watching the news.

Quit reading negative blogs.

This product will live or die based on the general public, not the tech "elite" and not those of us here on MR.

Just like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, etc. The general public will either adopt it or not. And most of them will via word of mouth so get on outside and start selling people on your watch. :D

You middle paragraph hit the nail on the head. The public will decide if it's a good product or not. The success of the iPod, iPhone and iPad were entirely based on them becoming very popular with the general public. They weren't influenced by reviews or diehard Apple fans...they were brought in by a product they felt was worth their money.

From a business case all three were 'revolutionary' because they took a niche/immature product line and made it a mainstream 'must have' device.

The AW is probably the biggest leap Apple has ever attempted in a new product space. Digital music was the future, it just needed to be organized. Smartphones needed someone to move them from a complicated business device, to a simple consumers device with a wide range of functional uses. The tablet market was understanding how that functionality for iPhone apps could be utilized in a larger consumer platform.

The AW is tackling whole other issue. A declining watch industry. A fledgling smartwach market. The jewelry aspect of watches. And trying to find the magic of the app/iTunes experience in a smaller device with a more complicated interface.

It's a tough ask. And the reviews seem to reflect that. But I have a hard time seeing that as media bias or an agenda.

And I have a hard time that it's going to sway public opinion of the watch more than people continuing to evaluate it and decide if it provides value for their money.
 
You middle paragraph hit the nail on the head. The public will decide if it's a good product or not. The success of the iPod, iPhone and iPad were entirely based on them becoming very popular with the general public. They weren't influenced by reviews or diehard Apple fans...they were brought in by a product they felt was worth their money.

From a business case all three were 'revolutionary' because they took a niche/immature product line and made it a mainstream 'must have' device.

The AW is probably the biggest leap Apple has ever attempted in a new product space. Digital music was the future, it just needed to be organized. Smartphones needed someone to move them from a complicated business device, to a simple consumers device with a wide range of functional uses. The tablet market was understanding how that functionality for iPhone apps could be utilized in a larger consumer platform.

The AW is tackling whole other issue. A declining watch industry. A fledgling smartwach market. The jewelry aspect of watches. And trying to find the magic of the app/iTunes experience in a smaller device with a more complicated interface.

It's a tough ask. And the reviews seem to reflect that. But I have a hard time seeing that as media bias or an agenda.

And I have a hard time that it's going to sway public opinion of the watch more than people continuing to evaluate it and decide if it provides value for their money.

I agree--except for your last couple of paragraphs. There IS media bias, and it may not necessarily be that a certain outlet or writer or reviewer hates Apple. Oftentimes it's because SAYING you hate Apple or their products generates TONS of clicks, which translates into $$.

There are a lot of reviewer criticisms out there that I find 100% legitimate and constructive. But there are way more that I can totally tell didn't even wear the watch much past an hour and then gave up on it being worthwhile at all. Almost as if they knew they were going to slam it anyway because clicks.

Social media and blogging are a MUCH bigger force than they were back when the iPod or iPhone were introduced. Every little thing everyone says goes through that megaphone. I truly believe that this could finally be the product that fails not because it doesn't have promise, but because people don't tend to read past the sensationalist headlines.
 
You middle paragraph hit the nail on the head. The public will decide if it's a good product or not. The success of the iPod, iPhone and iPad were entirely based on them becoming very popular with the general public. They weren't influenced by reviews or diehard Apple fans...they were brought in by a product they felt was worth their money.

From a business case all three were 'revolutionary' because they took a niche/immature product line and made it a mainstream 'must have' device.

The AW is probably the biggest leap Apple has ever attempted in a new product space. Digital music was the future, it just needed to be organized. Smartphones needed someone to move them from a complicated business device, to a simple consumers device with a wide range of functional uses. The tablet market was understanding how that functionality for iPhone apps could be utilized in a larger consumer platform.

The AW is tackling whole other issue. A declining watch industry. A fledgling smartwach market. The jewelry aspect of watches. And trying to find the magic of the app/iTunes experience in a smaller device with a more complicated interface.

It's a tough ask. And the reviews seem to reflect that. But I have a hard time seeing that as media bias or an agenda.

And I have a hard time that it's going to sway public opinion of the watch more than people continuing to evaluate it and decide if it provides value for their money.

Yeah. When you see people buying them for Christmas gifts, you'll know Apple have a real contender.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.