Why the Apple Watch is flopping(fastcodesign.com)
fastcodesign.com
Why the Apple Watch is flopping
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3048375/why-the-apple-watch-is-flopping
6 comments
Agreed, it's way too early to say anything intelligent about the success of the Apple Watch. As Neil Cybart wrote recently, the iPhone's gravitational pull is simply too strong for any new Apple product or service to reach escape velocity right now. http://goo.gl/CI11RO
Stopped using mine after 10 days, and a friend of mine did the same after the same time. We both did for the same reason : we don't like to wear watches in general. We've got our cellphone to know the time if we want to.
Which means we lost the reflex of putting our watch in the morning. And since the apple watch doesn't have any major everyday use, we simply stopped using it.
Worse, whenever i feel like using it, such as going for a run ( sports being the only time when i feel like it's kind of useful), it's often out of battery, because I hadn't use it for a few days and left it on the table.
Ps : comparing to the ipad, the feeling is completely different. I was very skeptical at first, just like with the apple watch, but i left the ipad on the couch and used it all the time. All i would tell me skeptical friends is " you've got to use one to understand". With the apple watch, it's completely different. It really feels like a flop.
Which means we lost the reflex of putting our watch in the morning. And since the apple watch doesn't have any major everyday use, we simply stopped using it.
Worse, whenever i feel like using it, such as going for a run ( sports being the only time when i feel like it's kind of useful), it's often out of battery, because I hadn't use it for a few days and left it on the table.
Ps : comparing to the ipad, the feeling is completely different. I was very skeptical at first, just like with the apple watch, but i left the ipad on the couch and used it all the time. All i would tell me skeptical friends is " you've got to use one to understand". With the apple watch, it's completely different. It really feels like a flop.
Let me get this straight, you used a device for 10 days and you already had a bias against watches so the watch must be a flop... Ok.
The watch as a smart-device is a completely new concept that will take some time to get used to a tablet is a pretty simple (relatively) thing to use given knowledge of a computer. Not to mention tablets were used or had been used by a larger number of people (even if they were a bitch to work with) before the iPad unlike the watch. While Pebble and Android Wear exist their usage numbers (One would expect) are way under tablet usage pre-iPad. And again Computer/Laptop -> iPad is a lot easier of a transition to make. It took a little bit for me to really understand the best use cases for my pebble but very quickly it became a device I would not consider leaving at home. Because of that and having had worn a smart watch for 1yr prior to getting my Apple Watch I feel I was able to "slide into" normal usage quite quickly. Everything my Pebble did my Apple Watch does better. Battery has not been a problem for me (never fallen below 40%) and charging every night is insignificant seeing how it's on my wrist from the moment I get ready in the morning till the moment I lay down to go to sleep.
IMHO most people who say "I tried it and it's a flop or it's no good" are people who either didn't give a fair shot or expected a phone on their wrist (Which I felt was made very clear that this is not that). This is an extension of your phone, I think of it more like a mouse to a computer than a tablet is to a computer. It's primarily a quick-display device so you don't need to fish your phone out and a portal into what's going to happen next. There are gimmicky things about the Apple Watch like sending taps to people with watches but there are duds like that in every Apple product.
The watch as a smart-device is a completely new concept that will take some time to get used to a tablet is a pretty simple (relatively) thing to use given knowledge of a computer. Not to mention tablets were used or had been used by a larger number of people (even if they were a bitch to work with) before the iPad unlike the watch. While Pebble and Android Wear exist their usage numbers (One would expect) are way under tablet usage pre-iPad. And again Computer/Laptop -> iPad is a lot easier of a transition to make. It took a little bit for me to really understand the best use cases for my pebble but very quickly it became a device I would not consider leaving at home. Because of that and having had worn a smart watch for 1yr prior to getting my Apple Watch I feel I was able to "slide into" normal usage quite quickly. Everything my Pebble did my Apple Watch does better. Battery has not been a problem for me (never fallen below 40%) and charging every night is insignificant seeing how it's on my wrist from the moment I get ready in the morning till the moment I lay down to go to sleep.
IMHO most people who say "I tried it and it's a flop or it's no good" are people who either didn't give a fair shot or expected a phone on their wrist (Which I felt was made very clear that this is not that). This is an extension of your phone, I think of it more like a mouse to a computer than a tablet is to a computer. It's primarily a quick-display device so you don't need to fish your phone out and a portal into what's going to happen next. There are gimmicky things about the Apple Watch like sending taps to people with watches but there are duds like that in every Apple product.
Don't get your point. It's supposed to be much more than a watch, so my bias against watches shouldn't have mattered.
Apple aims at mass markets. They didn't sell the apple watch as something brand new that people will need a lot of time to adjust to. In fact, It would a contradiction to their core value since the macintosh : computers should adapt to humans, not the other way around. The fact that they don't give selling numbers says a lot.
I did use the watch as an extension of my phone, and after 10 days of intense use (because it's my job), it didn't provide any value to me. And i've never missed it since i stopped using it. I don't see what for more time would be needed for ( it's not like it provides very advanced functionnalities that takes time to learn how to use anyway).
Apple aims at mass markets. They didn't sell the apple watch as something brand new that people will need a lot of time to adjust to. In fact, It would a contradiction to their core value since the macintosh : computers should adapt to humans, not the other way around. The fact that they don't give selling numbers says a lot.
I did use the watch as an extension of my phone, and after 10 days of intense use (because it's my job), it didn't provide any value to me. And i've never missed it since i stopped using it. I don't see what for more time would be needed for ( it's not like it provides very advanced functionnalities that takes time to learn how to use anyway).
This seems to be the sort of "what have you done lately?" prediction that is commonly made at Apple product launches:
> The watch has failed to become the status quo object in wearables. For Apple, that's a flop.
It seems to be more a case of "after we moved the goalposts, Apple didn't meet them" than really of flopping. I think that people forget with what scepticism most Apple product launches are met, and how, so far, even the most initially disparaged ones of recent times have proven to be eventual successes.
(I know this sounds fanboi-ish, and I do own both a Mac and an iPad, but I am no Apple loyalist, just observing what looks like a trend to me.)
> The watch has failed to become the status quo object in wearables. For Apple, that's a flop.
It seems to be more a case of "after we moved the goalposts, Apple didn't meet them" than really of flopping. I think that people forget with what scepticism most Apple product launches are met, and how, so far, even the most initially disparaged ones of recent times have proven to be eventual successes.
(I know this sounds fanboi-ish, and I do own both a Mac and an iPad, but I am no Apple loyalist, just observing what looks like a trend to me.)
I'm getting really sick of this shit. The Slice article (where BI got it's numbers that FC then used) is NOT TRUSTWORTHY. They see only a TINY slice (no pun intended) of data and they don't have direct sales numbers.
>Fitbit is outselling Apple in the wearables space. Apple may have already crushed small time smartwatch companies like Pebble, but the Watch has failed to disrupt the larger wearable marketplace.
Comparing the Apple Watch to a fitbit is laughable at best. They are not equivalent except for they both can measure activity. They've crushed Pebble's numbers and ALL other android wear devices. they go on to say:
> Imagine if months after the iPad release, we learned it still hadn’t outsold some model of Windows tablet.
WTF. In this case Pebble/Android Wear == Windows tablet. Windows tablet != Fitbit. What a stupid point to try and make.
> (Which, to be fair, are projections based on email receipts hoovered up by Slice, not from Apple itself.)
How convenient to bury the only fact in this sad excuse of journalism after you have spewed BS everywhere.
> The Apple Watch is flopping because it’s very well executed, but not very well designed. In terms of utility, it’s hard to use, and not solving meaningful problems. In terms of fashion, it's a piece of technology that inherently falls short of timelessness, and yet doesn't keep up with fast fashion, either.
Mmk, no. It may not be what you were expecting but anyone who has worn a Pebble or Android Wear more or less knew exactly what the Apple Watch would be and it's delivered perfectly on that for me and a number of my friends. I think it looks just fine on my wrist and "fashion" can go fuck off for all I care. It puts my notifications on my wrist, gives me the ability to quickly react to messages, I can leave my phone across the room and just look at my watch instead of running over at every little ding/ping/buzz. Also all of this before they release their SDK for developing apps for the thing...
What a stupid article based all on conjecture, let's wait for Apple to release numbers before we start making all sorts of assumptions and try to be the first ones to call it a "flop".
>Fitbit is outselling Apple in the wearables space. Apple may have already crushed small time smartwatch companies like Pebble, but the Watch has failed to disrupt the larger wearable marketplace.
Comparing the Apple Watch to a fitbit is laughable at best. They are not equivalent except for they both can measure activity. They've crushed Pebble's numbers and ALL other android wear devices. they go on to say:
> Imagine if months after the iPad release, we learned it still hadn’t outsold some model of Windows tablet.
WTF. In this case Pebble/Android Wear == Windows tablet. Windows tablet != Fitbit. What a stupid point to try and make.
> (Which, to be fair, are projections based on email receipts hoovered up by Slice, not from Apple itself.)
How convenient to bury the only fact in this sad excuse of journalism after you have spewed BS everywhere.
> The Apple Watch is flopping because it’s very well executed, but not very well designed. In terms of utility, it’s hard to use, and not solving meaningful problems. In terms of fashion, it's a piece of technology that inherently falls short of timelessness, and yet doesn't keep up with fast fashion, either.
Mmk, no. It may not be what you were expecting but anyone who has worn a Pebble or Android Wear more or less knew exactly what the Apple Watch would be and it's delivered perfectly on that for me and a number of my friends. I think it looks just fine on my wrist and "fashion" can go fuck off for all I care. It puts my notifications on my wrist, gives me the ability to quickly react to messages, I can leave my phone across the room and just look at my watch instead of running over at every little ding/ping/buzz. Also all of this before they release their SDK for developing apps for the thing...
What a stupid article based all on conjecture, let's wait for Apple to release numbers before we start making all sorts of assumptions and try to be the first ones to call it a "flop".
I am not surprise. People already have an amazing smartphone they can use for multi-purpose with big screen (and probably continue to grow which is actually a sad fact for me). So why spend a few hundred dollars on a watch? People talk about the awesome stuff Watch can do with health data but honestly, I find that argument to be weak. You should exercise regularly. You are not going to detect a heart failure with Watch and even if you can you would be unconscious at that time. You should go to a doctor at least twice a year for a body check. Everything else? I want a map on my phone. If I want to message someone I'd pull out my phone and type a long message, not doodle. If I want to message with voice I can also do that with my phone. And the truth is a lot of people carry their phone in their pocket already so while it takes a few seconds to pull out that's just a prize. Wearing an expensive gadget like Watch to just see the message is just not economically smart. A lot of things you do still require to pair up with your phone and a data plan, so again Watch gains nothing.
Personally, I find hands-free Siri very useful, it's a nice piece of jewelry, and I'm surprised by how much just having the time, date, calendar, weather, messages on my wrist means I don't need to look things up on a larger screen.
It doesn't do everything, it does the most common things almost instantly. Not everyone will want to pay for that, but I don't think you can call it a flop until they can keep it in stock.