Oh, the Apple Watch.
To start, I am confused, as I am sure are many others, as to why Apple has decided to not brand their new product, as they have all of their products in the past, as the iWatch. Why do you have to confuse everybody, Apple, why?
But that’s besides the point…
The Apple Watch starts at an affordable price of $350, which for a state-of-the-art product, from Apple nonetheless, is not too outrageous. The price has to cover the costs of all the parts, and still make a profit for the company. That’s all pretty standard.
However, the one thing that I find absolutely ridiculous, is that there are Apple Watches available for purchase that are over $17,000. Granted, they are made with 18k gold, but technology is constantly evolving, and with the way Apple does things, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Apple Watch 2 is announced sometime next year. The instant a new version of the Apple Watch comes out, your $17k watch suddenly becomes just another bracelet.
With all that being said, the Apple Watch does fill a relatively new need for a smartwatch. After pairing your iPhone to the Apple Watch via Bluetooth you can receive all of your calls and notifications straight to your wrist, which is pretty convenient if you don’t feel like searching for your phone just to see who texted you. It also has features that track your heart rate and where you’ve been throughout the day, which is useful for working out. However, you cannot type on the watch, so unless you use voice-to-text, you have to pull out your phone to reply to messages. Developers also now have a new challenge on their hands to create or modify existing apps to be compatible with the Watch.
Will the Apple Watch replace the standard timepiece? Like the book vs. ebook competition, it’s difficult to tell. Over time of course we will see Apple update and improve the Apple Watch to be more functional and necessary for every day use. I mean, just think back to the first generation iPhone and how much it has changed over the 8 years since it has been released and how many people now own an iPhone. The Apple Watch is just getting it’s start and I’m excited to see what changes will be made and what it will be like in just a few years. I’m sure it’s not long until you can’t go out in public without seeing multiple people with one on their wrist.
Probably just not the gold one though.
