If there was truely no benefit to having it on your wrist then we wouldn't have wrist watches in the first place. The pocket watch far predates them.
You don't interact with a watch though. You LOOK at it, that's the big difference. You also don't need much screen realestate to display the time, but in say a video or with a touch screen interface you want something bigger than a 1 inch screen.
I couldn't disagree more.
1. Exactly--aren't all Apple products fashion accessories to some extent? Yes, they have amazing hardware and are legitimately great products, but you can't convince me that a good percentage of people don't only have Apple products due to them being a status symbol. Especially among the younger age groups.
The point was that Apple products do not work as clothing. While as a peice of technology they work,, and they may be beautiful as that they have no fashion quality whatsoever. Wearable Apple products would just look like a dorky bluetooth ear peice. If Apple made a dorky bluetooth ear peice it would still be a dorky bluetooth ear peice. Clothing and technology design are completely seperate entities that do not overlap, and when you mix them they clash for the most part.
Apple products are not status symbols, because they don't indicate any real status. A gold plated Apple product is a status symbol. A regular one no.
They are just highly desriable products due to their reputation for design and quality. People who think they impart any status even to younger age groups are kidding themselves. The only thing owning an Apple product says about the owner is that they have great taste, or for younger kids that they have parents that won't buy them junk.
2. They already had tablets before the iPad. They already had MP3 players before the iPod. They already had cell phones before the iPhone. Apple was the first to do it right. This will happen with the iWatch too.
I've changed my mind a little on this, but only because I thought of a new way of doing it that would be a departure from all the terrible iWatch concepts floating around.
The product would have to be small and have a very unobtrusive design to not look completely lame like Google Glass (aka Segway 2).
If it's small the touch interface will be very limited like the last gen ipod nano, except it will probably be longer and have a single row of say 3 icons with some padding on the side. With a curved display so it fits better on your wrist. Black anodized or ceramic with a black rubber strap or silver with a white rubber strap.
It would also have to be water proof and have saphire glass like all high quality watches or you'd have a lot of issues.
Ok so you have an awesome product so far, that doesn't work to do anything except check messages and play music, take movies/photos, etc which are great features. It would be a great product like this. It could work stand alone as a music player, camera, watch, siri wifi device, or with a phone.
The biggest problem though is, pairing with with your phone. If it can't work 150 feet away then people won't rely on it for text or phone notifications and they will still have to keep their phone in their pocket. Which means they could just as easily use their phone, which will significantly decrease it's usefullness. So the innovation here is that the watch would have it's own cellular antenna, meaning it would transfer data to and from your phone even if you leave your phone at home. Wireless charging overnight would also help
It would have no keyboard, and only use voice recognition but work fully as a phone both in speakerphone and with a set of earbuds.
Now that's a product that would sell. However if they do it any other way it would easily be ruined, which is probably what will happen, if they release anything at all.
3. It's not intended to replace a phone. I can see it having "watchlet" apps which simply extend the functionality of any given iPhone app. The watch would pair with your iPhone and provide specific functionality that app developers could include via their actuall App Store package. I can even envision a little label on the App Store that says "includes a watchlet" or something like that.
I think wearable technology is the next huge industry.
No it's not, because every manufacturer will try to pack all these ridiculous features into some oversized peice of junk. Nobody will buy these products until they do it right, and Apple doesn't release half baked products, which means you need a small form factor with a very long and thin edge to edge curved screen , you need it to be durable with saphire glass and waterproof, and you need it to have a cellular antenna so it doesn't have to be paired through bluetooth to improve it's usability, and it needs wireless charging.
This is a very hard product to develop correctly and a very easy product to screw up completely. I predict a ton of companies releasing failed or niche products.