iWatch Is All About The Ecosystem
Like the iPhone and the iPad before it, everyone seems to have an opinion on how Apple’s rumored iWatch will look and work. And that’s fine. Some of these analysis will be way off the mark and some will come close. But you can rest assured, the iWatch will be far better than our wildest dream.
Today, Carl Schlachte shares his views on Apple’s rumored iWatch device. According to Schlachte, Apple has been busy building its next ecosystem for wearables. However, Apple chooses to focus on the wrist instead of the face like Google. This is because the last two hundred years of market research showed that many of us were willing to put a scientific instrument there, Schlachte said.
This view is consistent with what Apple CEO Tim Cook said at D11.
“I think there are some positive points in the product,” Cook said. “I think it’s probably more likely to appeal to certain vertical markets. … I wear glasses because I have to. I don’t know a lot of people that wear them that don’t have to. They want them to be light and unobtrusive and reflect their fashion. … I think from a mainstream point of view [glasses as wearable computing devices] are difficult to see. I think the wrist is interesting. The wrist is natural.”
Carl Schlachte posits that Apple’s iWatch will be successful because the company has focused on building a formidable ecosystem around the yet to be announced device:
[su_quote]To build an ecosystem, Apple is going after sensor density on your wrist as a way of truly keeping “watch”. If they are building this thing called an “iWatch” then they are going to gather data about you from your wrist and let a developer community write apps to monetize that dataset. Apple will provide the platform and developers will provide the usability. Apple will take their usual cut. You can bet iWatches will have cutesy “change the clock face” functionality, or text message alerts, but those apps will be sitting over a dozen unseen sensors buried in a liquid metal bezel, looking out from underneath a scratch-resistant sapphire face. Apple will hand out developer tools and a set of APIs that enable the making of medical diagnostic apps a breeze. Apple will have thought through how iWatch data is synchronized and secure; they’ll have modeled app pricing in the forthcoming “iWatch store” and have Jony Ive designed interchangeable watch bands at the ready. Apple will have considered third party peripherals based on protocols on which they intend to collect royalties. Importantly Apple will have decided than an iWatch requires an M7 motion coprocessor in your iPhone. This M7 requirement will force a mini upgrade cycle in iPhones for buyers of iWatches who are “stuck” on an iPhone 4. Ecosystems feed themselves after awhile.[/su_quote]
It’s hard to disagree with the above. I for one can’t wait to see the real thing.
