You know what’s really funny about Apple’s busted Watch launch? Busted is the wrong word. Can you name a new technology gadget that sold more than Watch (even though Apple won’t tell us how many, but more on that below)?
If only millions were sold and Watch can only manage to sell a few million more every month for the first year or so, it’ll be more successful than iPhone and iPad. So, why doesn’t Apple tell us how many Watch units were sold? If if it was 5-million so far, the launch has been spotty, and that number, though fantastic, pales when compared to iPhone or even iPad.
Alright, back to the topic. What’s the iPhone of the future?
Logic And Rumor
The technology rumor mill has worked overtime with Apple Watch, but the latest and greatest not-quite-news items say Apple Watch 2, due sometime next year, will have a FaceTime camera, and full-on Wi-Fi.
What else? That’s where the rumor mill becomes a coffee grinder, so let’s bring in a dose of latte logic. The iPhone improved year-by-year from the launch in 2007. It added 3G, then 4G LTE, a Retina display, more storage, and cameras seem to have improved year after year.
That’s the logic. The inevitable movement of technological process. Thinner, faster, lighter, more powerful. Alright, let’s apply that logic to Apple Watch 2 and push it a few years out to Apple Watch 4.
If thinner, faster, more powerful applies to Watch, too, and there’s no reason it should not, then can we expect a Watch model with a built-in camera, FaceTime, Wi-Fi, 4G LTE (or whatever comes next), fully native apps, more storage capacity, more sensors, GPS, perhaps to the point of taking blood sugar? Certainly. That’s the nature of technology advancement.
Every now and again there’s a jump forward– Mac in 1984, iPod in 2001, iPhone in 2007, iPad in 2010, and now Watch. Between the jumps are the incessant and incremental improvements, the iterations that take the original jump and make it mainstream.
So, I declare that the future of the iPhone is tied up in the Watch. Some would call it the iPhone of the future. And why not? If Watch matures to the point in a few years– as the iPhone did before it– where it performs many of the same tasks as an iPhone, and no longer needs to be tethered to an iPhone, why buy an iPhone?
There are, however, trade offs with each Apple device. The Mac is powerful but less mobile. The iPhone is power and mobile but has a tiny screen and no keyboard. iPad has a larger, more usable screen, but no keyboard. Watch has decent battery life (maybe not for a watch, though), but no keyboard and a very small screen.
No problemo, amigo.
Siri to the rescue. The jury is still out on the verdict of Siri’s true usefulness, but you can see Apple heading in the right direction by embedding Siri into the app and feature stack to become a true personal and intelligent assistant. Alright, let’s have all that power, all that Siri not only can do now, but will do more of each year for years to come, and stuff it into Watch.
Voila! Watch is the iPhone of the future.
Marvin Price says
I don’t see it. The only people I see going on and on about the Apple watch are bloggers and pundits.
When the iPhone was released I had to have one. I’ve “had to have” every one that’s been released since then.
Prior to the iPhone being released, everyone would ask me, “When is Apple going to make a phone?” There was huge pent up demand.
After the iPhone was released, I’d see them everywhere.
ABSOLUTELY NO ONE has asked me about the Apple Watch. Only one of my clients. She asked if it was be a good birthday gift for her son. A Dentist. I said, “Of Course.” He turned it down. I don’t sense general public interest in the iPhone.
The the bubble of tech gossip and opinion etc., there’s lots of interest. If I step out into the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, I see homeless people with iPhones, but if I stop to question the average person and ask, “Are you interested in the Apple Watch,” I basically get a “Not really,” response.
The pent up demand was for the bigger iPhone. Not a tiny little iPhone peripheral screen.
If I see another stupid article in which some writer talks about his “first week with the iPhone” and how he managed to order Starbucks with it, I’m gonna puke.
I still say this burgeoning “wearables market” is a Wall Street fantasy.