Meet the Apple Watch

Ah, screw this. I was hoping for 1) A round watch. Indeed, it looks geeky at best. 2) More talk about health options (sleep tracking?). Besides, after all the specialists Apple hired, it just measures your heartbeat and walking distance. An iPhone with an M chip can do that (OK, you won't probably have it with you all the time, especially when jogging), but still. And instead there's a load of talk about emoji, causing another user's watch to vibrate, notifications, etc.

I would've been fine with less functionality app-wise, a nicer overall look and a lower price. I don't need to watch photos and read twitter on my watch (it still needs an iPhone for that, right? So what's the friggin' point?)

The wireless things like payments and opening hotel rooms are kinda cool, though, but then again, I'd probably be too lazy/paranoid to enter the data into the watch than to get out my wallet/hotel room key.

But it is? They've now playing music and have clearly moved on from the Apple Watch part.

>> "watches are primarily fashion items, and every single person has an often quite different preference from the next person. I have a very specific style of watch I like to wear, and there's zero chance Apple or Samsung is just going to happen to make that style."

I think it's important to remember than most people under around 30 years old do not wear a wrist watch. So they probably don't have a specific strap or face style they like. They want something cool something that makes it easier to take selfies or send stuff to Facebook.

I think that we will look back on this like the first iPhone. Very cool but missing lots of obvious features. If they can sell enough of them they can afford to push the research to make them smaller, faster, and better and in a few years we'll have the equivalent of the iPhone 4 which is when I think the iPhone finally nailed it. But to get there you have to start somewhere. I think this is the right place to start. It's good enough, it's better than what's out there, and lots of people will buy it.

Possibly the ugliest of all smartwatches, useless for the majority of people out there, not likely to be on the wrists of most of the target demographic (they already own watches and fitness bands), and incredibly expensive. Not sure how many people need a watch to tell them that their phone is ringing.

Good job, Apple. While I'm sure there will be some adherents who will buy whatever you will produce, the Android watch makers will already be on their next iteration AND will have seen your specs to boot. Never thought I'd say this, but Apple has fallen WAY behind in terms of product design.

I think it is great to be skeptical, and it is fun to slag on Apple, especially if they insist on having U2 play their event.

But on a more serious note, I won't underestimate the potential for a widely adopted device that is:

1) always visible to the user. Yes, in my opinion taking my phone out of my pocket and putting it back in again is one of those irritations you don't notice until it goes away and then you wondered how you lived for so long doing that dumb behavior. Setting your phone on the dinner table, constantly looking at it when you are trying to walk around town ... the watch could be subtly revolutionary for those thousands of glances a day.

2) always touching the user. I am extremely excited, or at least intrigued, by what is possible with persistent two-way haptic communication. Without having used the dev kit, and without feeling the actuators, I don't know how nuanced the communication can be. But there could be a whole new world here.

Just a thought from the "maybe they aren't idiots at Apple" perspective.