Have to disagree on this one. The 6th gen iPod nano (https://support.apple.com/library/content/dam/edam/applecare...) is my absolute favorite, so if they made the Apple Watch able to be an iPod without accompanying iphone AND able to support bluetooth wireless headphones, I'm sold. Perfect fitness form factor.
Would it be successful today, though? I say that as someone who bought and loved the iPod touch...but quickly abandoned it since it can't load any of the modern music apps...I've pretty much abandoned not just my physical CD collection, but iTunes as well, for Spotify. I'm not saying the old iPod touch is useless...it's just I'm not going to bother to turn it on and maintain it when I have an iPhone 6, even though the phone is much bigger and not quite as nice for working out with. I'm hypothesizing that such tradeoffs in software usability will outweigh the form factor.
I thought the problems with the Watch were bigger than just its physical limitations, though...Even if the iPod lacked wireless and cost more and had less HD space than competing MP3 players, you don't have to "sell* the concept that a portable music player is going to be just awesome...sure, you may not be able to afford it, but at least you can aspire to it, because virtually everyone loves music, and before the iPod or any mp3 player had come along, they had Walkmans. Or they plugged their headphones into their laptops.
But that universal appeal didn't seem to apply to the Watch. I don't have a watch because I don't see it as a necessary fashion accessory (I think it goes without saying that a watch is no longer necessary for telling time). So whatever non-obvious features the Watch has...Apple can't rely as much on my consumerism-fueled imagination to aspire to buy it...even if I'm not falling into the mindset of "well my phone, which I already carry with me all the time, does everything the watch does".
I don't think I'm underestimating the appeal of the form factor. The original iPad has been the only thing that I've ever waited in line for an Apple opening (OK, that and the first Apple Store in Iowa)...yeah, you can call it a "big iPhone"...but I already know that I don't really enjoy reading/writing things on my iPhone...or, at least I can imagine such activities being much better if only I had a bigger screen -- and if I didn't have to pop-open a laptop.
I don't have the same imagination for the fact that I can look at my watch without pulling it from my pocket. I already hate that I pull out my phone almost reflexively to check it while I'm idling around in real life, so being able to do that on a tiny screen on my wrist has very little appeal to me, certainly not enough to pay hundreds for.
Yea I'm really surprised Apple didn't go with this route initially. Add the heartbeat measurer + calories burner and it will be the perfect fitness assist device.
I guess they don't want to pigeonhole a device into a specific category.
