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0 pointspeteretep11y ago0 comments

Apple fan-boy here. I agree with the grandparent that Gruber didn't really make this point well. But:

    > If you look at the features of the Apple watch, they are
    > basically the same as every other smartwatch released by
    > Samsung and motorola

This is basically true of almost every Apple product ever, except perhaps the iPhone at launch. I'll go a step further, and agree that Apple generally lags on features comparisons.

Which leads to one of two conclusions: Apple fans are all idiots caught up in marketing bluster, OR, there's something qualitatively different about Apple's take on their products, enough to stump up the extra cash. And you're welcome to the former of those opinions, but I think it's the second.

Fundamentally, I buy Apple for the same reason I shop with Amazon. There is - to me - enough implicit guarantee of quality (for Amazon, of the logistics, returns, etc) that anything else seems needlessly risky.

I'd probably enjoy and find value in a Moto '360. But I might not. I think I'd want to use one for a few weeks before committing to the cash. But my experience of Apple products to date suggests to me I'm going to love my Apple Watch, enough that I'll stump up the cash sight unseen.

    > there's nothing revolutionary about this, and its
    > functionally the same as the 6 watches that Samsung has
    > released, and will probably be almost as underwhelming

History is not on your side with this one.

0 comments

rtpg11y ago

I also own some Apple products,and one thing that is substantially different has been build quality and ease of use.

iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI differentiation with things like blackberries to be "different".

the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that. As a cousin post commented, Android Wear's UI almost seems more Apple than Apple's own UI.

Maybe the Zoom-UI and the crown are it. maybe this will tackle people's issues with usability. But there seems to be little differentiation. I won't argue about it being the best on the market (it might be), I just doubt this changes the marketplace as much as we might want.

This might end up being like the iPad. A lot of people ended up buying iPads, but unlike the iPhone, we didn't get a very large new tablet market from it.

peteretepOP11y ago

    > iPods were fun to use, iPhones had enough UI]
    > differentiation with things like blackberries to be
    > "different".

These things are true only in hindsight. When the iPod came out, how would it ever compare to the Nomad? How was a phone that had no keyboard going to compete with people's beloved Blackberrys?

    > the Apple Watch doesn't seem to have that

I'm wrong a lot, but I'll be amazed if that's a comment you can stand by a month after it's in consumers' hands.

elblanco11y ago

> Maybe the Zoom-UI

The ZoomUI looked terrible to me. After years of huge iPads with only 4 icons across on it, because that supposedly makes them easier to use, the tiny tight grocery fruit pack of the icons looks like a usability nightmare. Fiddling with the knob (it's not a crown, crowns have specific functions in watches) also looks like a terrible time with every interaction. There's so many other ways they could have gone with it, and it's like they chose the wrong way just to be different.

bane11y ago

> But there seems to be little differentiation.

The thing that's really interesting to me is that there's a million different ways Apple could have gone with their watch, and instead they just arrived at an Apple version of what's been going on in Android land for a while now.

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