Swatch Working on Apple Watch Competitor With Custom-Made OS and Better Battery Life

[lowendlinux]

SNIP

The only way I see what your saying come about is if Apple make massive market share inroads fairly quickly while that could happen it's not really Apple's M.O.

Smart watches are selling reasonably briskly because they're still new but there is going to have to be something folks can't live without to sustain the growth.

 

[Kabeyun]

You’ve never visited Berlin, have you? Land of Swatch, Guess, and probably Member’s Only.

Lol! And David Hasselhoff as their champion.

You do realize that the Swatch Group is massive and includes much more than just the Swatch brand, right?

You do realize I was sorta joking, right?

 

[satchmo]

The apple watch's strength is the deep integration with iOS. I find it hard to believe that this will find any success. Competition is important, but I don't think these will even compete.

They need to carve out a niche. Although I'm not sure what that could be. I'm not sure a watch with a long battery life is enough.
Just as Garmin has remained true to it's core audience of and focuses on fitness and running. They seem to be doing quite well even with Apple's entrance into the fitness arena.

Ironically, the AW is kind of the 'Swiss' Army knife of watches. It does a bit of everything including fitness, apps, notifications, etc.

 

[cerote]

The only way I see what your saying come about is if Apple make massive market share inroads fairly quickly while that could happen it's not really Apple's M.O.

Smart watches are selling reasonably briskly because they're still new but there is going to have to be something folks can't live without to sustain the growth.

There were smart watches before apple enter. Much like smart phones before apple not to many people cared for them.

 

[lowendlinux]

There were smart watches before apple enter. Much like smart phones before apple not to many people cared for them.

And many still don't which is why the Apple watch isn't going to put the Swiss out of business. There are also people who will own both it's not an either or situation.

 

[macs4nw]

DOA.

This I suspect will not be an inexpensive item, with limited but real appeal to a certain segment of the market.
I wish them well, even if for no other reason than the obvious benefit of increased competition in the marketplace.

 

[CarpalMac]

Delete.

 

[modemthug]

lol ok

 

[Robert.Walter]

And many still don't which is why the Apple watch isn't going to put the Swiss out of business. There are also people who will own both it's not an either or situation.

Actually,of the people I know with both lux watches and an Apple Watch, once they started wearing the AW the lux watches stayed in a drawer for about the first year and after the second year thought is given to selling the unused lux watches. (Oh and I live in Switzerland.)

The wrist is limited real estate to be populated by the thing giving the most utility (and that's not a traditional timepiece.)

Smart watches will get better and better, offering more utility, battery life, eventually constant on displays, etc. Traditional horological products won't really get better as they are at the top of their form already; all they can do is try to add smart content that does something without making their products too thick or less mechanical. This will be exceedingly hard to do (esp without an ecosystem around the product.)

The Swiss won't go out of business but I think they have already lost a significant part of the market and within 10 years might lose 40 or 50 of their customers.

 

[lowendlinux]

Actually,of the people I know with both lux watches and an Apple Watch, once they started wearing the AW the lux watches stayed in a drawer for about the first year and after the second year thought is given to selling the unused lux watches. (Oh and I live in Switzerland.)

The wrist is limited real estate to be populated by the thing giving the most utility (and that's not a traditional timepiece.)

Smart watches will get better and better, offering more utility, battery life, eventually constant on displays, etc. Traditional horological products won't really get better as they are at the top of their form already; all they can do is try to add smart content that does something without making their products too thick or less mechanical. This will be exceedingly hard to do (esp without an ecosystem around the product.)

The Swiss won't go out of business but I think they have already lost a significant part of the market and within 10 years might lose 40 or 50 of their customers.

he market will get soft on mall watches but beyond that not so much. I wear a smart watch pretty much daily, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing my real watches no will I stop buying them. The smart watch is going to fragment some more before it coalesces back to modicum of a standard.

 

[satchmo]

Actually,of the people I know with both lux watches and an Apple Watch, once they started wearing the AW the lux watches stayed in a drawer for about the first year and after the second year thought is given to selling the unused lux watches. (Oh and I live in Switzerland.)

The wrist is limited real estate to be populated by the thing giving the most utility (and that's not a traditional timepiece.)

Smart watches will get better and better, offering more utility, battery life, eventually constant on displays, etc. Traditional horological products won't really get better as they are at the top of their form already; all they can do is try to add smart content that does something without making their products too thick or less mechanical. This will be exceedingly hard to do (esp without an ecosystem around the product.)

The Swiss won't go out of business but I think they have already lost a significant part of the market and within 10 years might lose 40 or 50 of their customers.

Traditional timepieces may evolve to become strictly status items worn by the rich and fashionable.
Not unlike a vintage roadster, the automatic/mechanical watch will provide you the basic functionality and do it in fine style. There will always be those who appreciate fine craftsmanship and willing to pay for it.

But yes the demand will much smaller. And with each generation, the number of skilled watchmakers are probably dwindling as well.

 

[macs4nw]

Everything behind the scenes needs optimization.
Updates to OS shouldn't result in decreased battery life.
This needs to be fixed now before a camera is added to the watch.
One week battery life, bring it now!
Good software, good products, make up for the fact a user forgot to charge. That's the difference of a good package.

Bring sensors to detect cardiac and heart issues. Bring preemptive features that detect health conditions. Turn Apple's glorified calculator watch into an actual smart watch instead of an annoying and nagging notification service.

That's quite a list, although a good wish list. Increased miniaturization is the hold-up to realizing that goal, unless we are willing to wear obnoxiously huge gadgets on our wrists.

 

[44267547]

Better battery life is required for Apple Watch. At the very least 7 days use. So annoying having to charge it or find it depleted.

WatchOS isn't optimized.

iOS 10 on my ipad seriously depletes battery life. Was perfect on iOS 7.

The OS just isn't optimized.

A couple things to address with your post:

The Apple Watch is more than sufficient enough to last 18 hours on a current charge, how is that any different than charging your iPhone daily? Why seven days? Do you really think Apple is going to go from 18 hours to seven days? That would require a smaller Nm, which won't happen by Series 3. I'm not Seeing your argument here.

How is watchOS not optimized? Isn't that what beta tests are for? Followed by a public release. Each watchOS update has managed the efficiency of the battery consumption and overall user experience. Watch OS 3 was a drastic change for the Apple Watch.

Lastly, what does an iPad have to do with anything with an Apple Watch? That's like me comparing a MacBook Pro to an iPhone battery, there is no correlation there.

 

[jonnysods]

Sorry Swatch, I'm hooked on my watch.

4 more years I'll get series 4.

 

[MacCurry]

The Apple Watch is more than sufficient enough to last 18 hours on a current charge, how is that any different than charging your iPhone daily? Why seven days? Do you really think Apple is going to go from 18 hours to seven days? That would require a smaller Nm, which won't happen by Series 3. I'm not Seeing your argument here.

It is yet one more thing to charge and keep track of which many people don't want. This is one of many reasons why other smart watches are still selling. Some of the Garmins will last several days and there are many people who want an always on display too. For that there will be design compromises that Apple won't do, so we look elsewhere.

 

[crashoverride77]

Everything behind the scenes needs optimization.

Updates to OS shouldn't result in decreased battery life.

This needs to be fixed now before a camera is added to the watch.

One week battery life, bring it now!

Good software, good products, make up for the fact a user forgot to charge. That's the difference of a good package.

Bring sensors to detect cardiac and heart issues. Bring preemptive features that detect health conditions. Turn Apple's glorified calculator watch into an actual smart watch instead of an annoying and nagging notification service.

The first thing that needs optimisation is your quoting skills.

 

[az431]

Better battery life is required for Apple Watch. At the very least 7 days use. So annoying having to charge it or find it depleted.

Because you go seven days straight without sleeping or taking a shower?
[doublepost=1489919880][/doublepost]

It is yet one more thing to charge and keep track of which many people don't want. This is one of many reasons why other smart watches are still selling. Some of the Garmins will last several days and there are many people who want an always on display too. For that there will be design compromises that Apple won't do, so we look elsewhere.

If you find putting a watch on a magnetic base by your bed each night to be a chore, then you have much larger problems than how long the battery lasts.

 

[MacCurry]

Because you go seven days straight without sleeping or taking a shower?
[doublepost=1489919880][/doublepost]

If you find putting a watch on a magnetic base by your bed each night to be a chore, then you have much larger problems than how long the battery lasts.

1. It is false analogy to compare resting and bathing to charging a battery of device.
2. Charging yet another device along with wires is a chore. If you travel frequently, you would know this.

 

[Precision Gem]

Better battery life is required for Apple Watch. At the very least 7 days use. So annoying having to charge it or find it depleted.

WatchOS isn't optimized.

iOS 10 on my ipad seriously depletes battery life. Was perfect on iOS 7.

The OS just isn't optimized.

I wear my watch from the time I get up, until I go to bed, and I never have less than 60 or 70% left at the end of the day. I could easily get 2 days out of the watch, but I want it on the charger so that it acts like a night stand clock. Longer batter life makes no sense, on it's side as a night stand alarm clock makes total sense.
So if the batter lasted 7 days, I would still put it on charge every night. I would actually prefer a thinner watch and would be willing to give up battery life for thinner.

 

[Macaholic868]

The more competition the better but as others pointed out it's the integration with iOS that was and remains the key selling point for me. I need to be able to control which notifications I receive on the watch versus iOS, I like the ability to see my texts and send a quick reply without taking the phone out of my pocket, it's nice to be able to see whose calling and decline a call without taking my phone out of my pocket and I love the integration with maps that taps you when you need to do something. If this watch can do all of that I'd look at it but if not it's not going to work for me.

 

[Arran]

With a niche OS it'll be more of a "feature-watch" than a smart watch.

Like a feature-phone.

 

[cube]

With a niche OS it'll be more of a "feature-watch" than a smart watch.

Like a feature-phone.

Billionaires like feature phones.

 

[JMacHack]

No thanks to both Apple and Swatch. I'll stick with my great-looking mechanical watch (since at this point watches are more jewelry than necessity) over some weird-looking tele screen any day.

 

[MacCurry]

I wear my watch from the time I get up, until I go to bed, and I never have less than 60 or 70% left at the end of the day. I could easily get 2 days out of the watch, but I want it on the charger so that it acts like a night stand clock. Longer batter life makes no sense, on it's side as a night stand alarm clock makes total sense.
So if the batter lasted 7 days, I would still put it on charge every night. I would actually prefer a thinner watch and would be willing to give up battery life for thinner.

Longer battery life makes complete sense since these devices are fitness trackers and you want it on while sleeping. You want it off for just a couple of hours to charge it. Smart watches are meant to be worn 24/7.
[doublepost=1489962648][/doublepost]

No thanks to both Apple and Swatch. I'll stick with my great-looking mechanical watch (since at this point watches are more jewelry than necessity) over some weird-looking tele screen any day.

Right now the major Swiss watch makers will be survive like Rolex, Omega, Breitling, and Swatch (Tissot), but will certainly suffer in reduced sales. The major Japanese watch makers like Casio, Seiko, Citizen and Orient will also survive, but Seiko may get acquired as it doesn't really have any new technologies to offer nor are its mechanical watches aesthetically pleasing jewellery.

Casio and Citizen have hybrid smart watches that are solar powered, get GPS and radio time synchronization, and communicate via Bluetooth to a smart phone. This is probably the most exciting feature in any watch. Perpetual accurate time on earth without the use of external power sources or phone connection.
[doublepost=1489962784][/doublepost]Right now the most exciting hybrid smart watch that is coming out this May is the Casio GPW-2000.

 

[groovyd]

lol... they think they are going to beat a company that has an entire mature ecosystem around a custom SOC and world class hardware and software design? they aren't even going to compete. if they are lucky they will last a month after launch. how can people be so blind? they would be more successful giving me all the money they are wasting on this development and letting me invest it for them on any other stock in the market. They would make more on Apples dividend alone then they will ever make on this hair-brained idea of theirs.