The Apple Watch

Lots of folks have commented on the newly-announced Apple Watch. Many have praised the features. Some have criticized the design. Others have questioned the battery life.

Here's my take: the Apple Watch is not a watch. Yes, it will tell you the time, but it is more than that. The Apple Watch is it a "smartwatch". Yes it can present the time in lots of nifty formats (digital, retro analog, black-and-white, color) and it connects with Siri.

The Apple Watch is single product in a line of products that are designed to make things easy for people. Let's look at previous Apple products:

The iPod was more than a simple MP3 player. It was a system that made it easy to purchase and play music. There were plenty of MP3 players that only played music and left the acquisition of music to the user. The combination of iPod and iTunes (and the impressive collection available on iTunes) was the genius of the iPod.

The iPhone was more than a smart cell phone. It expanded iTunes to allow for the easy purchase and installation of apps. The ease of installation is often overlooked when it comes to the features of the iPhone. Remember, prior to the iPhone the standard model for installing applications was Microsoft's "Setup" or "MSI" packages, which often required special privileges and technical knowledge.

The iPad expanded the possibilities for apps. Apps for the iPhone were designed for the small screen. One could play music on an iPhone, but reading a book is much better on an iPad. One can use Twitter and Facebook on an iPhone, but documents and spreadsheets are much better on an iPad.

The trend has been for larger devices. The Apple Watch moves in the opposite direction, providing a smaller screen. The obvious conclusion is that one will not be using the Apple Watch for spreadsheets and documents. (Twitter may be okay, but I suspect that Facebook is not useful on the Apple Watch.) The less obvious conclusion is that the Apple Watch will be used for something else.

The question is: what will the Apple Watch make simpler for us, in such a way that Apple can profit from it?

A watch is more personal than a phone, more intimate, as it is physical contact with us. Sensors in the watch could be used for biometric information and possibly health information.

Apple has already announced plans for payment systems. We tend to keep the smaller devices with us more, carrying phones more frequently than tablets, so we will probably carry a watch with us more than a phone. Matching payments to a watch is good sense.

Initial enthusiasm for the Apple Watch may see a lot of people porting their apps to the phone. Some of that enthusiasm will be misplaced; the Watch will be good for some things but not everything from the iPhone -- and especially not everything from the iPad. There may be some new apps that are suitable to the Watch and not the phone or tablet -- probably games.

I think the Apple Watch has potential. I also think that it will be its own thing, not merely a small iPhone.