The iPod was widely panned on its initial release on tech and mac sites and proclaimed a failure on day 1 back in October 2001 when it was released. Look for the infamous thread 500 here, or the old slashdot thread.
Most people are not visionaries and cannot predict the future.
True. It's interesting how similar the criticisms were of the iPod: too expensive, unnecessary, Jobs had lost his touch, Apple was going down in flames. People had gotten so committed to the rumors of a revived Newton that an mp3 player seemed like a step backwards. But none of us could have predicted how the iPod would change the world and change Apple.
At this point, I'm reserving judgment on the watch. On one hand, watches have long seemed like a thing of the past to me; I don't wear one anymore, so the keynote's focus on perfect timekeeping and timepiece-as-elegant-jewelry don't particularly appeal to me. The watch design itself also was more traditionally watch-like (even retro?) than I expected; I was imagining something more futuristic. And it does seem really expensive for an accessory. All in all, I wasn't blown away, and I'm not convinced that I need one.
That said, I thought the iPad was unnecessary when it came out, and now I use mine all the time. For me, a lot will come down to apps and functionality, and I got the sense that there was a lot we didn't hear about in the keynote.
I love the idea of using the watch to pay for things, though that's not worth $350 to me. More subtle notifications from my phone (no loud vibrate and having to pull it out of my pocket to see who messaged me) is a plus, of course. But I'm intrigued by some of the things we didn't hear about: What kind of health data can it read about me? (Just my heartbeat? More? What can it learn from that?) Cook mentioned that it can function as a viewfinder for the iPhone camera; how does that work? (Selfies from the iSight?) What else can this thing do out of the box, and what avenues does it open for developers?
A lot of what was demoed at the keynote seemed to me to be scratching the surface. I don't care about doodling to another watch-wearer or crafting my own emoji faces. But I think there's some tremendous potential for a platform like this, and I'm curious to see where it will go.
