The Apple Watch is Lost in Time

Are your developers frantically coding for the Apple Watch? Are you super exited for the latest Apple product that will fundamentally change our lifes? Do you think the Apple watch will succeed where Google Glass failed? Are reviews about the Apple Watch positive, bombastic, auspicious of a grand future? Will your whole family buy one? No, no, no, no and no.

But then, what’s the matter with this piece of technology? In a nutshell, everything. After wearing the device, analyzing the app ecosystem and looking at the available numbers it’s clear to me that the Apple watch is’t not the Apple Cube, but it’s a cuboid. A beautiful device that captivates initially but fails to live up to its potential. Just read this review from an angry customer:

I bought it – wore it for 5 days and sent it back.

Its not a good product – its not well executed – steve jobs would never have let that out of the shop. The reasons are too numerous to mention but i’ll save you all from a huge rant and focus on the reason i bought the watch in the first place.

I am a runner. I am training for a half this sunday and amongst other things i am trying to hit a PB on my time. So when i run – i wear my iphone on my arm – listen to music and use runkeeper to track my progress. I saw the watch as a partial replacement to this with its fitness tracking technology. so i wore both. I did 10 miles on runkeeper and 9.7 on the watch.

Fail. i could not easily access my time per mile (V important to me), my splits (v important) , steps per mile etc…..these re real and valuable metrics that i am gonna guess any semi-serious runner on here follows in some fashion. The watch is a horrible fitness tracker, the primary reason for my purchase – so i sent it back.

Oh and bluetooth draining my phone, nightly charging, telling me to stand up at 11pm at night when i am sleeping…..

This is not a “wait for the second version” type scenario – this is a back to the drawing board IMO. it needs to basically replace your phone (so it needs a radio etc) – as a tethered device, its a brick on my wrist.

I am left questioning whether jobs would have released this as is. And i love mac products for the most part.

Conversation Link: http://avc.com/2015/05/the-apple-watch-how-is-it-doing/

Clearly, in the opinion of this customer, the Apple Watch is a weak product. This opinion is notable because it has been echoed in a wide array of media outlets, for example:

– CNN: The Apple Watch will flop. Here’s why.

– Forbes Magazine: Will The Apple Watch Flop?

– Forbes Magazine: Does The World Really Need An Apple Watch?

– Fred Wilson: The Apple Watch Is Going To Be A (Relative) Flop

– The Watch Lounge: The Great Apple Watch Fiasco

– IT Pro Portal: Apple admits defeat following smartwatch pre-order fiasco

– Fast Company: You Guys Realize The Apple Watch Is Going To Flop, Right?

So, Apple’s latest product has receive a fair amount of heat. But what is Apple saying about all this? Well, Apple Claims ‘Fantastic’ Apple Watch Sales Despite ‘Flop’ Claims. But then there’s this:

“Depending on which analyst report you read, Apple ‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new smartwatch is either a hit or a flop. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty on Wednesday raised her ‘base case’ for Apple Watch sales by 20% to 36 million units in its first 12 months, up from 30 million.” – Investor’s Business Daily

So is it a hit? Is it a flop? Where is the Apple Watch? Where is the Vision? Where are the numbers?Where is the watch? Where? Well, to me, the Apple Watch is lost in time.