
Despite sizable sales, Apple Watch has challenges to overcome - dangerman
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/apple-watch-with-sizable-sales-cant-shake-its-critics-1461524901-lMyQjAxMTA2MzI4NDcyMTQ3Wj
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quanticle

        And yet, there are detractors such as Fred Wilson, co-founder of
        venture-capital firm Union Square Ventures, in December declared the Watch a
        “flop.” Mr. Wilson, who owns shares of Fitbit through a fund, had earlier
        predicted the Watch wouldn’t be a “home run” like the iPad, iPhone and iPod,
        saying many people wouldn’t want to wear a computer on their wrist.
    
    

Why should we take the word of Fred Wilson on the Apple Watch when he is an
investor in a product that the Apple watch directly competes with? Of course
he's going to say that the Apple Watch is bad; he makes a product that
competes directly with it! It'd be almost negligent if he didn't.

More generally, I find criticisms of the Apple Watch very similar in overall
theme to criticisms of the original iPod. The Apple Watch is derided as over-
priced and under-featured, and commentators can't fathom why ordinary people
are buying it in such numbers. The original iPod showed that people are
willing to pay a hefty premium for a product that offers clear design and
ease-of-use benefits. As long as Apple Watch maintains those advantages over
its Android counterparts (and fitness tracker rivals), it won't matter one
whit if it loses the spec. sheet war.

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snowwrestler
Fred Wilson just does not seem to be a fan of Apple in general. He rage-quit
their shares entirely during Steve Jobs' illness and blogged about it. Some
sample posts:

Fear and Loathing Is Not a Great Brand Image (2007) -
[http://avc.com/2007/11/fear-and-loathi/](http://avc.com/2007/11/fear-and-
loathi/)

Does Apple Have A Blind Spot About Flash? (2009) -
[http://avc.com/2009/02/does-apple-have-a-blind-spot-about-
fl...](http://avc.com/2009/02/does-apple-have-a-blind-spot-about-flash/)

Selling Apple and Google Today - [http://avc.com/2009/01/selling-
apple-a/](http://avc.com/2009/01/selling-apple-a/)

Android and iOS (2013) - [http://avc.com/2013/08/android-and-
ios/](http://avc.com/2013/08/android-and-ios/)

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stormbeta
Personally I don't understand the hype around smartwatches in general.

Don't get me wrong, I understand them as a viable product and why a lot of
people like them, but the demand for them was wildly overblown.

Of everyone I know, only one or two people have one, and it's not because of
price. If you're a huge fitness nut, deal with an enormous number of messages,
or just plain like the gimmick, they're great. But otherwise they really don't
offer much that offsets the cost, need to charge the things on a daily basis,
and general hassle of having yet another electronic device to keep track of.

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user10001
I used to wear watches all the time, but stopped when I realized I could just
pull my phone out of my pocket and look at it.

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nostrademons
I did the same, but then started again when I realized I could read
notifications or hold a phone conversation on my wrist.

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uslic001
I bought a refurbished Apple Sport Watch 38mm for 200 dollars last week. I
have been pleasantly surprised how useful it is. I love using it to send a
quick reply to a text message with either a canned response or a dictated
voice recognition text response. I love the ability to quickly capture a
dictated voice recognition note to Evernote. I love the Do button app from
IFTTT to quickly send things to different apps. I have been finding new uses
daily. I am not sure it is worth full price but it is definitely worth 200
dollars.

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themartorana
Horology survived the Quartz crisis, I'm betting they survive the smart-watch
crisis.

It's an interesting thought, watching smartphone screens get bigger, just how
much people want a computer so significantly smaller. The tracking is great,
but can be done headless, and oh by the way my phone has a pedometer, too.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think smart watches are going away, but I do
imagine their honeymoon glow will fade a degree.

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tbyehl
I can't believe Apple launched a smart watch without solving the problem of
making them fashionable. The higher end bands are nice but they're still
attached to something that screams gadget nerd. Maybe I'm a watch snob, but
the nicest watches I've ever bought are Invicta...

To me the killer feature of a smart watch is just not missing calls and
notifications. Woot had a good deal on refurb Pebble Time Rounds a couple
weeks ago so I bought one of those and a $20 aftermarket metal band. Solved my
pain point. Didn't cost more than I'd spend on a regular watch. I wouldn't
quite call it fashionable but it is discrete.

