by Evan Deane
Smartwatches have been struggling to gain popularity since early 2013 when Pebble released what many would consider the first form of smartwatches as we know them today. Since then, hardware manufacturers have been hard at work trying to convince the mass market as to why they need a smartwatch, but that seemingly simple task proves to be easier said than done. That is because all smartwatches, at their core, have one true functionality -- to deliver notifications.
Many consumers find themselves
asking “why?”. Why is something as arbitrary sounding as a tiny screen
delivering notifications needed, especially when you may have a much nicer,
higher quality screen sitting right in their pocket. This is the rationale that
has resulted in the niche market that is the smartwatch industry.
The vast majority of people who
have bought smartwatches in the past, buy them for the convenience factor. On
many smartwatches you are able to not only see notifications, but take action
and dictate replies straight from the watch, which is often more convenient to
the user and less distracting to those nearby. But even then, what little
benefit smartwatches provide has just not been worth the investment to many.
But this has all been very quick to
change. On the launch day of the Apple Watch, the mobile giant sold more units
in 1 day than the amount of watches running Android Wear sold throughout all of
2014. Apple even predicts that once backorders are filled, the watch could sell
up to 20 million units around the world.
So what’s contributing to all this
success? Aside from the fact that anything Apple makes nowadays is sure to
sell. Users would be surprised to find that there’s actually quite a lot of
features that the Apple Watch offers not found on competitor models.
One of the biggest features would
have to be phone calls. Yes, believe it or not, it’s been two years since the
creation of the modern smartwatch and the Apple Watch has been one of the first
to actually allow you to make calls with it.
But forget calls -- Apple has
created new communication experiences especially for the Apple Watch. The first
of which is drawing. Just choose a contact and draw a picture on your watch.
When you’re done the drawing will fade away in seamless Apple fashion and it
will shortly appear on your friends watch. In addition, you can simply tap your
screen, and Apple’s patented vibration motor will actually simulate those taps
onto your friends wrist.
Another form of communication,
emoji. Nearly everyone and their white girl love emojis. As such Apple took it
upon themselves to animate them. Now on the Apple Watch you can choose from a
select few of 3D modeled emojis and animate them to different poses. not
groundbreaking, but fun at the least.
Finally, the Apple Watch allows you
to share your heart rate with your loved ones and friends alike. Just press and
hold two fingers to the screen and your partner will feel a vibration to the
tune of your heart beat. How romantic? Albeit a bit creepy.
One of the final and most useful
features of Apple’s new wearable is the integration of ApplePay. The
watch’s Near Field Communication (NFC)
chip allows you to hold your write up to a PayPass at any register, commonly
found at McDonalds, CVS stores and vending machines and pay instantly with your
linked credit card.
Whether or not you consider these
new options “innovations”, there is no denying that the Apple Watch has sold
tremendously. And in the end, those sales will benefit everyone. Competition is
great when it comes to the technology space because it will only drive
competitors to create better and better products -- and with better products
come more sales, and before you know it, smartwatches become as commonplace as
smartphones and computers are today.
No comments:
Post a Comment