Live data from Hacker News

Apple Watch 3

techcrunch.com

311–320 of 349 posts

Re: Apple Watch 3

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My hopes are definitely dashed! I had visions of never buying another iPhone again and just using a watch, iPad, and laptop. Much like the iPod and iPhone were tethered to iTunes and then later gained autonomy, I’m hoping they’ll get there with the watch in just a couple iterations.

The thing is, that would be an investment that would ultimately cost Apple business (or at least has the potential to) so I don't see it happening. They'd effectively be expending resources to make it possible for people who want a Watch to not use an iPhone. Doesn't add up in my head why they'd do that (though I'm with you, I'd much rather just have my iPad).

That's true but Apple is also not afraid to cannabalize their products.

Re: Apple Watch 3

#312
post #225
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phone is how you configure, update, etc. the watch. So I'm betting you need a phone for all the initial setup, and then you can leave your phone at home and go on a marathon run and take phone calls while you are out and about.

why couldn't you do that with a computer or an ipad, or an older iphone? ofc you could. Just Apple being really greedy, as we are getting used to

It's a conspiracy I tell you! Or perhaps the USB plug doesn't physically fit in an iPad or older iPhone. No, it must be Apple trying to sell everyone these Windows PCs that can restore iPhones!(you never needed anything but the phone and a sim with subscription to activate it)

Re: Apple Watch 3

#313

From the bottom of the page: Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS + Cellular) requires an iPhone 6 or later with iOS 11 or later. Apple Watch and iPhone service provider must be the same. Not available with all service providers. Roaming is not available outside your carrier network coverage area. Wireless service plan required for cellular service. Contact your service provider for more details. Check apple.com/watch/cellular…

It wasn't until a later version of iOS that you could setup an iPhone without iTunes. The same independence should come to the Apple Watch eventually, it just might take a few more versions.

You never needed a computer to set up an iPhone. You needed it for restoring and updating the software.

Re: Apple Watch 3

#314
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's technical. Apple are fairly comfortable with their own products taking over their own products (iPod -> iphone, and pushing people from mac to iPad). If they thought that the smart watch would cannibalise the phone market I'm fairly sure that they would make sure you didn't need to own an iPhone to use the watch.

iPhone was and is more expensive than an iPod. That's not cannibalization, it's upselling. As to iPads, to the extent that buying a tablet instead of a computer was appealing, it was always going to overwhelmingly bring people from PCs to iPads more than from Macs to iPads. They did deal with a certain amount of cannibalization there, but their tolerance of that was far from a general comfort with any cannibalization…

I disagree that just because the phone is more expensive than the ipod it is not cannibalization. The phone literally destroyed the market for the standalone MP3 player, and the price point was doesn't change this.

If you listen to the Jobs official autobiography the iPhone resulted from Jobs / Apples concerns that the phone would become good enough for most people as an MP3 player, and thus would 'cannibalize' the iPod product, and that Job/Apple decided all the phones out at the time sucked and that they could do it better.

The technology for the capacitive screen etc was already in development but for the device that would eventually become the iPad!

Re: Apple Watch 3

#315
post #137
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's technical. Apple are fairly comfortable with their own products taking over their own products (iPod -> iphone, and pushing people from mac to iPad). If they thought that the smart watch would cannibalise the phone market I'm fairly sure that they would make sure you didn't need to own an iPhone to use the watch.

This is just not right. Apple didn't cannibalize iPod with iPhone: it recognized that people wanted it to build a phone and did just that. Apple didn't cannibalize Mac for iPad: it recognized that people were buying tablets in lieu of PC's and thus invested heavily in making iPad's more user friendly. Having spoken to many Apple engineers, the company is now as corporat-ey as any other BigCo and will NOT actively can…

Pretty clear in the Jobs autobiography that Apple/Jobs thought that the if people could get 5000 songs on their phone they wouldn't want to carry an iPod around.

Nobody was buying tablets before the iPad.... So I'm not sure what your getting at.

The way I see it now is that many people who now buy iPads would have bought Macs previously, and Apple are happy for this to happen.

Its not really hard to see Apples vision that iPads are the future of computing for maybe 70/80/90% of people, and the remaining 10/20/30% can buy Macs.

Your last statement perfectly represents Apple cannibalizing the iPod with the iPhone.

Re: Apple Watch 3

#316
post #185
post #142

This is a life saver for those who spend time outdoors and can't or don't like to carry phones. I run for example for hours in the Canadian winter and the idea of having an emergency phone is attractive, in case I fall, or maybe there's a big issue at home. Another alternative would be an iPhone SE but sadly we are in the era of oversized phones. I would also love it to have more Bluetooth integration (continuous glu…

I was relieved to see they are still selling the SE. It's really a fantastic little device and I much prefer the form factor. I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade.

I can't upvote this enough. I mean, if Apple would license their previous incarnations of iPhone to a 3rd party to manufacture and to sell, these "iPhone"s would still sell like hotcakes, especially in non 1st world countries.

Re: Apple Watch 3

#317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, that would be an investment that would ultimately cost Apple business (or at least has the potential to) so I don't see it happening. They'd effectively be expending resources to make it possible for people who want a Watch to not use an iPhone. Doesn't add up in my head why they'd do that (though I'm with you, I'd much rather just have my iPad).

Same logic could be applied to the iphone vs the ipod, people who wanted an iphone but not an ipod. The reality of the market is that either you kill your cash cow (with a hopefully bigger cash cow) or someone else will do it for you.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure it applies in the same way. The market demand for a Watch that acts independently of an iPhone entirely isn't even remotely close to the one that killed the iPod. Sure, I want one, but I know I'm part of a very small minority, I think the majority of owners by a huge margin who feel that way are going to get a Cellular Series 3 and be completely satisfied.

Re: Apple Watch 3

#318
post #31

Honestly, it's worth thinking about if I could happily live my life with just this watch and ditching the phone all together.

For the phone call, you would still need an actual phone, right?

Re: Apple Watch 3

#319
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I think it a safe assumption that it would be what a single mobile phone line would cost Tmobile charged me $10 for an iPad sim with it's own phone number. I can't imagine it'll be a huge new cost. It seems pretty much exactly like an iPad, except they don't even need an extra number

Yeah, but an iPad is just data. Now, arguably voice is just data these days, too. But somehow I just don’t see making calls on an Apple Watch for $10/month. Because if I can, I’m ditching the iPhone and the Garmin Felix and buying an Apple Watch.

Pretty sure the iPad could make/get phone calls? It was essentially just a charge for grouping it into my existing data/etc plan. $10 a month is definitely the price they're currently saying: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/12/lte-apple-watch-att-ver...

Fwiw, I am totally jumping on this. I'm not a big watch person, but the utility of leaving the phone home on date nights is going to be a huge win. This is a much bigger game changer than anything else they introduced

Re: Apple Watch 3

#320
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that the other 99.5% of people that do not own Apple Watch actually mean something to Apple then. I wonder why so many Apple "defenders" are passive aggressive... Being a user is one thing, but being passive aggressive over a tech product have no explanation.

The reality is that Apple can't fit all the features (e.g. bright colour screen) in a watch AND have a battery big enough for 7 days of juice. It's just not physically possible. They could make the watch super chunky but then almost nobody would buy it. Everyone wants long battery life but it's not that simple. If the tradeoff is having a huge, ugly watch then most people opt to simply charge daily like we already do…

I beg to differ. There are ways to improve battery life in Smartphones and increase their life from 1 day to up to 4 days (by removing all power draining apps and adjusting settings differently). I know this would be hard, but this is Apple. I would assume that if anyone, they should be able to deliver. This would be what I would call a real revolution. Give us a smartwatch that can be charged on weekends and is waterproof.
Post reply on HN