T-Mobile US CEO on wearables: 'Apple Watch is the tipping point' In a rash of annual predictions, T- Mobile big cheese John Legere claims that “Wearables and phablets will be the big device stories of 2015”. He goes on to look at exercise and fashion products as being in the same space: “I love what Jawbone, Fitbit, Samsung, LG, Microsoft and others are doing in the wearables space. But we …
"Who the fark wears a watch?"
Me! I have a 5.5" phone that is mostly in a cargo pocket, if I want to know the time while driving, I can see it immediately, or while up a ladder or any one of a dozen other places my work takes me.
Don't judge the world using only your own frame of reference; it's too limiting.
Personally I don't think 'Phablets' ( I hate that word ) will dominate, they are too big to carry conveniently for much of the population, if you need a briefcase or bag to carry a large phone why not carry a reasonable phone in your pocket and a decent sized tablet in the bag. Better screen, better speakers, bigger battery, more time etc.
The fitness thing may last or few more years or not but it is a fashion and all fashions peter out eventually even if they are good for you.
I have a slightly different take.
I *love* a well made watch just as some *love* vinyl and just as I write with a good quality fountain pen - because i like the feel and experience. I used to wear a watch every day.
But, even though I have 5 pretty high end expensive time pieces on my bedroom dresser, I now *never* put one on (save interviews, weddings etc.). I've thought about why this is and the best i can do is simply that a wrist watch doesn't have enough added value (features?) for me to spend the time pulling it on - which might sound odd, but is the truth - so I rely on my phone.
So far nothing i've seen in the wearable stakes has made me consider one, not even the iWatch which is probably the most functionally rich offering but still leaves me cold.
The cellphone, it seems to me is the new pocket watch - but unlike the pocket watch it has sufficient added value not to be replaced by the convenience of a wrist watch.
The secret to adoption (if there will ever be one) will be a killer app of some description but I can't see where it's coming from.
I have to admit that as a child I really looked forward to the DickTracy TV watch...
http://techland.time.com/2013/02/11/dick-tracys-watch-the-most-indestructible-meme-in-tech-journalism/
... so a Skype type app on a watch might add enough value for me to get one, but I still ain't gonna like that "feeling of someone holding my wrist" all day long. I know people get used to it... I never could.
Nope, they are not the killer app, and niche "fitness" related wearables seem to be the lions share of the wearables market. The vast majority of people don't actually go jogging daily or to the gym multiple times per week and so will never buy one of them.
Apples iWatch might be the trigger since Apples marketing is usually so in-your-face and wide-spread as to grab the attention of the general public rather than the niche markets we are currently seeing but they need to find a way to market it in "must have" way or actually come up with some use case that people want.
As for people wearing watches, yes that's still the majority of people. The hipsters who say they don't need an easily accessible "flick of the wrist" time piece because they have a smart phone they can fumble for in their pockets are very much a minority in terms of the general population.
Pratt Phones more the like (IMHO)
5in phones are big enough for almost everyone but those who want to shout out loud and clear
Hey look at me.
I was in a less than prosperous part of New Jersey (Camden) last month. Most of the locals walked around with huge slab things glued to their lughole.
Many also carried copious amount of 'Bling' too.
Thanks but no thanks.
... people have an ocd-like obsession with time.
"As for people wearing watches, yes that's still the majority of people." A quick survey around the office here (even if a limited sample on this day) show out of 20 only 4 are wearing (or do wear) wrist watches. Ages range from 25 to 65. Ages of the 4 wearing them are 28, 49, 55, 65.
"Don't judge the world using only your own frame of reference; it's too limiting."
Hello pot, meet kettle.
********
It all starts with boredom, then moves into narcissism which then converts to masochism and eventually bondage scenarios... always looking for a new bling master to justify your relationship with the spawn of satan (marketing) and it's older brother the consumer-junkie.
I know... a simple <snicker> would've been enough, but what kind of fun would that be.
Carrying a time piece strapped around your wrist so you so you can satisfy a need to know exactly what/where you and your relationship with it is at any given moment(sic) is really a borderline "unhealthy" obsession... not like whatever society you participate in hasn't trained you to think otherwise. Some people actually maintain a stockholm syndrome with *time.
Having fun yet?
I carry a watch because it allows me to know how fast I need to walk to catch the train. Every morning, I check it at least three times while walking to the station.
That's my usual excuse. It now occurs to me that I was skiing the whole day, and that while in ski gear, it takes me two seconds to check my watch, and two minutes to fish my cell phone from whichever pocket it is in. Assuming I even have it on me.
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No doubt all of us have personal preferences but Reg readers are a rather special sub set of the world population and we will not determine the success or failure of the wearables market.
Manufacturer's advertising budgets and marketing plans are directed at a wider demographic which has different interests and possibly more money - trendy Apple buyers.
A few friends have a fit bit or similar but most have a what would I want that for attitude. Non Geeks regard Google's Goggles as just so ugly they would not want to be seen wearing them even if they could be persuaded that they had a use.
In any case the market will decide as usual.
I can see the advantages of having a smart watch, quick checks of phone data while out cycling and non-invasive health monitoring (on some models).
But these advantages are hugely undermined by corporations need for selling your data, short battery life (for none e-ink models) and lock-in.
Let the Apple fan boys feel the pain.
Actually a fit bit device which could honestly supply the following info would be great:
1) is my blood pressure too high ?
2) Have I drunk too much to have an intelligent conversation with my boss ? or alternatively drive home?
3) will that extra slice of cheese cake tip my cholestorol levels into the danger zone?
4) Can that extra puff be spotted on tomorrow's drug test ?
yada yada................
You gotta hand it to the bigwigs to recognise things for what they're not and being late to the game. I know that juxtapositioning "Apple" on anything will make the faithful converge on your stores, but honestly, I have never seen so much drivel said about the damn watch. I actually saw magazines print in big bold F-U letters, this Christmas, that the Apple Watch was the thing to buy for your loved ones. That's how deluded the media is.
Effing snap out of it, everyone.
The Moto 360 is probably the best design-meets-functionality-meets-aesthetics wearable out their right now, and it happened 5 months ago. That was the tipping point, that was the exact moment when half the industry facepalmed and recognised a buck could be made.
Even Glass - the "other" wearable that - for me - got the ball rolling on wearable technology, has been sidelined while faced with the onslaught of smartwatches.
So, summing up: a bunch of products that actually exist in our space-time continuum are simply whitewashed and discarded because of an unreleased toy?
*sigh* Faith in humanity NOT restored.
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