Fad or Here to Stay? Apple unveiled the new Apple Watch

After a teaser in autumn 2014, Apple finally unveiled its Apple Watch. Only time will tell if this watch will catch on throughout the world. One group of experts stay that it all depends on the apps. Others say success will happen for ease of use. Still others say style matters.

No matter what the analysts are talking about, Apple is taking the plunge.

‘App-wise’ the watch looks like that ‘apps’ will not be a problem, but how many apps can a user load before the device’s memory explodes? The functionality of those apps look like they will be fine, but I wonder if certain apps will cause glitches. If I owned such a watch, any exercise or health app would be my ‘number one app.’ The Apple Watch’s portability cannot be beat, but the devil is in the details. Apparently I would still need to take my iPhone along to make the GPS feature happen. In other words, this device is useless to me. In a perfect world, I would be able to track my runs while most likely listen to iTunes while out and about. Still, even if I did not have to take my iPhone along, I wonder how good the battery would hold up over time with such use.

The Apple Watch’s ease-of-use looks like it could be a challenge for some, especially for those with larger fingers. I’m at a loss as to how those with size large fingers are able to text on their Smartphones. The Apple Watch brings to mind my first watch that did more than just tell time. I once owned a Casio calculator watch. In those days, I thought it was quite cool with its myriad of number buttons. About three years in, I lost a button or two, but I still thought the watch looked cool. About the time I was 13, I created a sketch poking fun at how many fingers it took to operate the thing,

Even though I liked the calculator watch as a young teen, I became a tad more fashion conscious and ceased wearing it around age 18. I vacillated between an old school analog watch and a more basic Casio digital watch. I missed the calculator function, but not the bulkiness of the large watch. What’s old is new again with the Apple Watch as far as the size goes, but this new watch looks a bit better than my old Casio calculator watch. Style-wise the Apple Watch looks good for a device that is basically a mini-computer.

The Apple Watch will apparently have a multitude of functions including e-mail access, health information and phone features. I have no idea how the phone feature will be used. I cannot imagine a world in which folks have their watches to their ears.

There’s no doubt that there have been attempts at creating a ‘smart watch’ with the Pebble and others. The Apple Watch looks like it could trump all of the competitors’ previous attempts at such a device. If successful, this device could be a game changer like the iPod and iPhone devices. Obviously copy cats will happen if the watch becomes a phenomenon.

At this point, I would let the more wealthy folks purchase these devices to ‘Beta test’ them. Once they work the bugs out, I would consider the watch mostly for exercise if Apple put GPS technology into the actual phone so that I could ditch my iPhone.