The latest Apple product announcement has produced the usual responses: breathless adulation by Apple fanboys and girls, and lots of skepticism from critics. It’s become so routine that Forbes contributor Mark Rogowsky had a post yesterday entitled, “One Sure Thing: Here Comes The Hate For Apple’s ‘iWatch.’”
I’ve also seen the “Shut Up and Take My Money” meme appear more than a couple of times. Interestingly, that meme comes from a “Futurama” episode that parodied the iPhone, but I digress.
I’m not here to fawn over or to bury the newly announced Apple Watch (interestingly, not called “iWatch”), which shows great potential as a mobilehealth/digital health—choose your buzzword—tool. It has a built-in heart-rate sensor, which means no more wearing a separate chest strap. It, according to an Apple video, has the features of an “all-day fitness tracker.” An accelerometer measures movement, while an “Activity” app captures various metrics,including calories burned, daily exercise time and number of times the wearer stands up during the day, all “with the goal of helping you sit less, move more and get some exercise.”
A separate app tracks workouts and shares with Apple’s Fitness and Health apps already available for iPhone. There’s not a whole lot new here, as there are dozens of fitness trackers on the market already. I’ve shared my thoughts on the HealthKit platform and related Health app, so I won’t pile on now.
What I will say, however, is that I see one major flaw: you have to have an iPhone 5 or higher to connect the Apple Watch to the Internet. I’m not sure whether it’s an oversight or a marketing ploy, but to me, it severely limits the market for this slick, elegantly designed new product, particularly given that Google’s Android continues to put Apple iOS in its rear-view mirror in terms of smartphone market share.
It also recalls the failed BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which only had e-mail capability—you know, BlackBerry’s historical strength—when tethered to a BlackBerry smartphone by Bluetooth. I don’t think the Apple Watch connectivity issue is as big of a blunder as the PlayBook’s, but it means that this LG G2 owner won’t be buying an Apple Watch anytime soon.
This isn’t a uniquely Apple problem, though. SamsungGear smartwatches have to be tethered to Android smartphones. In a way, it make sense, because people who like gadgets never go anywhere without their smartphones. But I’m still waiting for someone to embed a cellular chip in a smartwatch, particularly one for fitness enthusiasts.
I know a lot of triathletes, most of whom have advanced smartphones. They religiously wear their Garmin GPS watches because they can’t take their phones in the water. I’ve seen smartphones die on very hot days on my bike and on frigid nights of outdoor ice hockey.
Yes, the Apple Watch is a first iteration, and it will get better. It may take a while to achieve the ideal, though. Case in point? Just last night, comedian Stephen Colbert made fun of yet another wearable fitness product, while also taking small digs at the iPhone, Google Glass, Fitbit and Pebble smartwatch.
Source : http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilversel/2014/09/09/apple-watch-is-good-first-take-but-healthfitness-gadgets-need-work/
In other news – Apple also announced the new iPhone 6 and a larger iPhone 6s including the long awaited NFC support, also put September 17th in your diary to download iOS8 and get your hands on Healthkit.
