

The Apple Watch Is About to Make Apps an Afterthought - digital55
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/apple-watch-make-apps-afterthought/

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apu
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22*%20is%20about%20to%20*%2...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22*%20is%20about%20to%20*%22%20site%3Awired.com)

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jemka
Off topic, but why does Google return "About 187,000 results" for ("* is about
to *" site:wired.com) and only "About 14,600 results" for ("is about to"
site:wired.com)?

Isn't the second query less restrictive?

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dgemm
I believe the number of results is totally made up. If you click all the way
to the last page you will find there are far fewer than whatever number is
shown there.

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newman8r
a bit sensationalist. Sure it may mean a shift in UX - but an "action" is just
another layer of abstraction on top of the apps people still need.

Again, the only real 'innovation' here IMO is allowing developers to continue
to innovate - they will make billions off it though and that's the goal.

We've seen smart watch apps for years - most of the 'novelties' of smart
watches have been played out on android devices - so I'm not really one to
think that the concept of a smartwatch is going to make apps an afterthought -
actually, the apps will be on your wrist all the time so it might have the
opposite effect.

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urda
> a bit sensationalist

VERY sensationalist.

If anything, this will simply augment the app experience for the end user. The
sky is not falling.

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azinman2
Seems a little extreme, but I guess that's how you get headlines and
"virality."

It's a good point that watch-based apps will be much more limited in their
interaction, and thus a new rise of contextual apps full of quick interactions
will find a very appropriate home.

However that's completely neglecting the fact that communication, boredom, and
play all necessitate longer interactions for which the phone-based app isn't
going away anytime soon. Sure 'yo' and anything more substantial that that
will break through as a new communications style, just like texting did, but a
true conversation just isn't possible in that fashion. And many people have
10+ minutes to kill and want something to fill that timeline. Then there's
actual problem solving, researching, news reading, etc that all won't be
solved within 10 seconds nor would that be desired.

I'm most interested to see what becomes the 'killer' use case for a smart
watch and I don't think notifications are it. I believe it's going to be
connected to something larger in which the watch itself may not even need its
screen or much interaction -- whether that's acting as a key/CC-replacement
via NFC or transmitting gestures via EMG recordings like the Myo.

It took iPhones many years to refine what an app could be and we're still
getting new waves of concepts. Exciting times :)

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sergers
my killer use case is, i need a few wrist watch as a fashion item.

if i am going to spend several hundred $ minimum on a watch watch, why not
spend it on a decent looking digital watch where i can apply different clock
faces.

i ofcourse not in the apple market, the strap pricing is just ridiculous
compared to the already outrageous pricing of the watch itself... maybe the
new haweii one.

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CaptainZapp

      if i am going to spend several hundred $ minimum on a watch watch, why not spend it on a decent looking digital watch where i can apply different clock faces.
    

because of the 18 hour battery life?

Given this constraint it may be a cool gadget at this time, but with a battery
life of less than a day I don't see it as a replacement of a real watch.

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forthefuture
This is all I can think about anymore: [http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-
introduces-revolutionary...](http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-introduces-
revolutionary-new-laptop-with-no,14299/)

The scariest thing is that I'm almost certain I'll be buying the new Macbook.

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supercoder
"In a mobile world that favors actions over apps" what does this even mean ?

Apps enable actions. Their two examples, Yo and Uber, I think you will find
are 'Apps'.

Thoughm maybe I've missed the implied definition of 'app'.

Still, if the conclusion is that 'Apps' are in trouble, what does that say for
content websites ?

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harryf
The implication here could be for Facebook, Twitter and other apps relying on
people addicted to their streams. Watches could mean less time spent staring
at phone. Depends on how hooked we really are I guess

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supercoder
Think the reality is it will just let us consume these feeds more easily.

Twitter will adapt to the watch well and with less friction on notifications
Facebook has more opportunities to engage you.

There does seem to be a strong narrative from commentators on 'freeing' us
from our phones, but I can't see the reality being anything other than the
other way around.

It's the phone breaking free from our pockets and making itself always
available within reach and vision.

I think we'll look back and see this as the middle stage in the evolution in
the phone consuming us.

The last stage of complete consumption, will be attaching to our heads /
brains at some point.

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clarky07
I guess for a few things the time spent matters, but much of the time value
created is what matters. If you don't make the watch apps free, it doesn't
matter how much time is spent with them. Saving users time is value created,
and app developers can charge for that.

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EdwardDiego
Assuming that it succeeds...

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dang
Downvotes can indeed be annoying, but for the sake of signal/noise ratio,
please follow the HN guidelines:

 _Resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it
makes boring reading._

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

Edit: speaking of signal/noise ratio, your comment downthread is substantive
and a fine contribution. That's more the thing we're going for in HN comments.

~~~
EdwardDiego
Ah yep, editing it now. Cheers.

