Apple’s New Job: Selling a Smartwatch to an Uninterested Public

[Victorious Secret]

 

Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, introduced the Apple Watch last September. Other smartwatches, from companies like Samsung Electronics, Motorola and LG, did not sell well

 

 

Whatever your feelings on smartwaches are, we can all agree that they just aren't striking a cord with the average tech buying public that tends to make these products take off and last. Its all well and good that some tech writer likes the latest smart watch out of any company, but we are not the kind of market that will sustain the growth. 

 

The general public will. You need to convince Joe Smith in "insert city here from insert country here" that a smart watch is a good buy and worth owning, only then can you jump from the pitiful sub-million shipments that Android Wear did last year to the tens of millions that these guys probably want.

 

Fanboys, sheep; whatever you want to call it; Apple knows what it will take to push and maintain their Watch sales. Not people like me. People like my dad, or uncle, or even brother. People who aren't interested in understanding tech but would be interested in using the tech.  

 

Apple can either screw up this up entirely and screw up the industry for themselves OR they will have rampant success. Its kinda how they work, it seems. Total success or total failure, so at the very least we know Apple will be aggressive as hell in making sure it doesn't become a failure. 

 

 

 

But Apple has been in this situation before. Most consumers didn’t care about computer tablets before Apple released the iPad, nor did they generally think about buying smartphones before the release of the iPhone. In both cases, the company overcame initial skepticism.

 

The Apple Watch, which Apple introduced last September and is expected to be in stores in April, is a miniature computer worn around the wrist, with a touch screen and a crown for navigating the device. There are three different models sold at different prices and the bands are interchangeable.

 

Apple has marketed it as a device that can appeal to a range of customers like fitness buffs and luxury watch collectors. But it has limited its functions, making it more like a watch, more easily relatable than a tech doodad that happens to look like a watch, said Ben Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies.

 

“This is a brand-new category. Most people have no frame of reference with a smartwatch,” said Mr. Bajarin.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/technology/apples-new-job-selling-a-smartwatch-to-an-uninterested-public.html?_r=1

 

[XYrZbest]

this will be a challenge, but I think they can do it, as they have done before. I guess we will have to wait until march 9th to see how they are going to do it

[Pandalovar100]

Aren't smart watches suppose to make your life easier? Judging from the screenshot of the Apple Watch above, it looks like it wants to replace your entire phone...

[qwertywarrior]

its first gen

just wait for it

 

 

personally i dont see the need for one at all

i mean it for people who find taking their phones out of their pocket cumbersome like linus

but still there will be a market for it

[Victor Golf]

Yeah, for anyone who has to work with potentially damaging chemicals like me, watches in general do not make sense. It is easier to check the phone in my pocket when my hands are not covered in oil or something.

[Fulgrim]

There are plenty of idiots in the world, OP. And plenty of idiots with money. 

[othertomperson]

There's a huge marketing problem with the way smart-watches have been sold to us (or not).

 

All of the phone manufacturers have basically said "this is awesome, it's like a phone on your hand, it's great!" and the general reaction has been "why on earth would I want that!?" Before you can claim that your product is better than the competition, you need to tell us why we NEED one of these in the first place, and pretty much no one has. They've just assumed if they build it, they'll come.

 

Historically this has been something Apple have done well so we'll see how this goes.

[Misanthrope]

As much as I agree with you, I cannot take the OP seriously if you use terms like sheep and fanboys. You gotta give people a chance to disappoint you, not just preemptively dismiss them.

[cubercaleb]

As much as I agree with you, I cannot take the OP seriously if you use terms like sheep and fanboys. You gotta give people a chance to disappoint you, not just preemptively dismiss them.

 

Until these things last a week without a charge then I won't care. I don't want one more device to remember charging every day. Besides I'm content with my easily replaceable, cheap ass dumb phone that only costs $100 a year and lass a month off a single charge.

[RH00D]

I'm leaning on the side that smartwatches will not be successful long-term. They may sell a lot quickly due to hype, but then people will realize its really not that amazing and the hype and sales will die off.

 

Although, I think "smart-wrist-things" can be successful long-term. Particularly ones that are centered around fitness. Like the Microsoft Band, that is very specifically about fitness which gives it a niche but good size demographic to target. Whereas I think people will just get bored with "general purpose" smartwatches because most of them are just duplicating phone functionality, often times making it more difficult anyway.

 

Also with the fitness oriented ones the battery really only need to last for as long as you're exercising/working out. But with general smartwatches you would expect it to last a full day and so far no smartwatches are accomplishing that.

[Common_Courtesy]

To be honest I think that smart watches are more of a awkward transitional phase between smart phones and improved Google Glass style devices or something like that wrist mounded display, much like what PDAs where to smart phones. 

[ChineseChef]

Snip

 

I completely agree with this sentiment.  I can't see general purpose smart watches taking off.

 

Plus, everyone has a need for a phone generically, we all need to call someone at some point in our lives, and thus the smartphone market.  But lots of people don't wear watches; some out of personal preference, some out of practicality.  I don't wear a watch because I dislike having things on my wrist.  But I also work in a facility where we are not allowed to have any smart electronics (phone, flash drive, anything).  So I can only wear a "dumb" watch at work, even if I wanted to wear one.  I also work with a bunch of people who don't wear watches because they do lots of work on machines that makes it unsafe to wear a watch. 

 

There is also the issue of cost.  I can be careful with the device in my pocket, but I am brutal to things on my wrist.  Plus, a $5 walmart watch will last for a year on 1 battery.  And if you break that watch, who cares?  Just buy a new $5 walmart watch.  On the same regard, I have had a $500 watch.  I treated it like crap, and it withstood the test of time and abuse.  That thing was unstoppable, toughest watch I ever owned, and always on time.  I doubt a $500 smartwatch would pretend to put up with the abuse I put that thing through.  Oh, and the big kicker, it was self charging, so it never needed a new battery.  EVER.  I am not interested in a watch that has to be charged more than once a month, but that is just a personal thing.

 

The problem I see is that general purpose smart thingy is already being fulfilled by the phone device.  So having a second one is only going to fill an excessively niche market.  But if the device is a specialized smart wrist thing, like a fitness band, I could see it getting huge traction.

[srolle]

i'm going to buy one. i just like the look, and how you can change the display. don't even care about it being "smart"

 

getting a regular watch would cost me thousands. this is a chance to get something new/novelty for a timepiece without that kind of expenditure.

[TAK]

.

[Palfi]

The last Jobs they had was Steve.

[Shine_Syahr]

i'm going to buy one. i just like the look, and how you can change the display. don't even care about it being "smart"

getting a regular watch would cost me thousands. this is a chance to get something new/novelty for a timepiece without that kind of expenditure.

Err... what? Are you being serious?

Thousands for a REGULAR watch?

Which planet are you from???

[Victorious Secret]

Err... what? Are you being serious?

Thousands for a REGULAR watch?

Which planet are you from???

 

Loads of watches cost more than 99 dollars, you know...

A lot of good watches, not even collector pieces, are around 2000-3000 dollars. People actually do buy and use these. Its not abnormal. I mean, on a forum where people spend thousands on just a computer as a hobby, some do the same with watches. 

[spartaman64]

Loads of watches cost more than 99 dollars, you know...

A lot of good watches, not even collector pieces, are around 2000-3000 dollars. People actually do buy and use these. Its not abnormal. I mean, on a forum where people spend thousands on just a computer as a hobby, some do the same with watches. 

my mom bought me a watch that cost 700 while she was on a cruise 

[srolle]

Err... what? Are you being serious?

Thousands for a REGULAR watch?

Which planet are you from???

 

watches are a big deal to some folks. once you add precious metals/stones you are easily at $10k and up.

[euniqe]

Best.....title.....ever.

[Imabigmac]

It all starts at the price. 

[Pnudran]

I was in best but the other day looking for something and heard one of the customers asking about when they where going to get the apple watch and the woman who had asked was sad to be informed that it was not out yet. I then mentioned "there are a few amazing smartwatches on the market already like the lg g watch R" pointing to my wrist by which she responded " yes but apple didn't make it" by which I responded "well apple doesn't make there phones either" she didn't know what to say.

[mr moose]

I will be interested in a smart watch when they are independent of smart phones. In the morning I want to decide if I need to take my phone or if I can get away with the watch.  For me personally there is no point in having both at the same time.

[Camul]

I already have a hand-held device that does everything and more than that watch can do, on a bigger screen while still being small enough to fit in my pocket. I have no need at all to waste my money on a smart watch. It's not like I feel like the technology isn't here yet, I just don't feel like smart watches are ever going to be something that people want. I certainly don't ever see myself wanting one. It's just taking something I already have and making the experience crappier.

[zacRupnow]

Its a watch with an Apple logo on it. Of course it'll sell like crazy.