We want our technology to provide us with solvent . No matter what we ’re using or how we ’re using it , we demand that our phone , tablets , and information processing system not only enrich our lives , but change them for the better . Whenever a new man of technology bring in its appearance , we instinctively enquire the same set of questions before we even try it : Why should I be using it ? What makes it ripe ? Why do I need it ? What am I missing ?
So it is with Apple Watch . Ever since we position eye on it back in September we ’ve been trying to mark it with an identity , forcing a label on it to apologise its existence . It ’s a fitness tracker . It ’s a fashionable timepiece . It ’s an iPhone shortcut . Now that we ’re in conclusion able-bodied to touch and try the Apple Watch , we all have first moment of how it is or is n’t going to jibe into our lives .
And there ’s a good probability they ’re completely wrong .
The iPhone standard
When Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone , he start with a coquette of three groundbreaking products in the same class as the iPod and original Macintosh . The first was a widescreen iPod with touch ascendancy , which in itself elicit a free burning round of whoop and sunshine from the interview , follow by a rotatory nomadic phone and a breakthrough Internet communicator . And then he drop the claw : “ Are you getting it ? There are not three freestanding machine . This is one machine . And we are calling it iPhone . ”
iPhone challenge everything we expected about our appliance . No longer was it enough for a product to do one thing really well and maybe offer a few bonus features ( like the iPod ’s rarely - used calendar ) . The iPhone did n’t just excel at the three affair Steve highlighted — it did a XII minuscule things that gradually reduced our dependency on day planners , cameras , and even the iPod itself .
Today ’s iPod card is n’t nearly as popular as it once was , not because it ’s a unfit product but because it does n’t do enough . The idea of a standalone music player — or any single - function equipment for that matter — is more for recession players than the mass markets these days , likeNeil Young ’s PonoorSony ’s gamy - ray Walkman . The succeeder or failure of any product is inexorably tie to its usefulness , but with technology it ’s not enough to just be useful anymore . We gestate an iPhone story of expertness in everything we use ; our product need to at once be practical and pretty , but we also want them to solve problems .
The iPad standard
One of the biggest raps on the original iPad was that it did n’t break itself enough from the iPhone . By 2010 , Apple ’s phone has already ingrained itself into our spirit , and we were looking for the iPad to take the experience to a whole new degree . Instead , Apple give us a tablet tend an operate system nearly identical to the iPhone ’s , right down to pixel - doubled iPhone apps . ( It was even called iPhone atomic number 76 3.2 at launch — the iOS rebranding would n’t arrive until interlingual rendition 4 . )
Many members of the medium could n’t see the iPad ’s purpose . In the three - calendar month catamenia between its insertion and release , there was a mint of digital ink spilled over how the iPad would be a flop of such balance not even Steve ’s Reality Distortion Field could relieve it . It was branded as restricted by some , ludicrous by others , and few people saw much in the way of real time value .
But it was improper to evaluate the iPad as an outsize iPhone . As we got to know Apple ’s pill it began to fill the space between our iPhones and laptops . We used it to scan in bed , to check movies on the train , or get while at the beach . It did thing we could n’t possible do on our iPhone and let us leave our bulky laptops on our desk . In unretentive , it resolve problems we did n’t pull in we had , at home and even at employment . And now we ca n’t live without it .
Standard deviation
That ’s the difference between skilful products and great ones — not what they do but what they have the voltage to do . When Apple give up the iPod it was famously criticized , but before long it had transform the mode we heed to music , all but eliminating strong-arm media and paving the room for a virtually unlimited online storage storage locker that lets us hold tens of thousands of Sung dynasty with us wherever we go .
The people who just saw a $ 400 music player did n’t get all of that . And now with Apple Watch , history seems to be repeating itself . Even if you take off the unfavorable judgment of the outrageous Edition , plenty of critics flunk to see Apple Watch ’s function . But just like the iPod or iPad , they ’re missing the potentiality . When I strap an Apple Watch on my wrist joint , it ’s not going to as if by magic lick anything , but like the iPhone and iPad before it , there ’s no telling how it ’ll change my life history once it begin to seriously work itself into my routine .
The Apple Watch standard
You might not think reach out for your iPhone a couple 12 times a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. is a problem that need resolution , but before the iPod , we did n’t have an outlet with stock binders full of cd , either . We were contented to fill our pocket and bags with cameras , flashlights , notebooks , and all sorts of awkward gear before the iPhone came along . And before the iPad , drag our MacBooks from way to room just to surfboard the World Wide Web was believe the meridian of convenience .
These thing might not have been problem at the fourth dimension , but Apple turn over us solutions anyway . And now we ca n’t hold out any other way . Apple Watch ’s unequaled organisation of glances and notifications has the potency to do the same ; based on what Apple has pick out to highlight in the prefatory television release recently last week , its “ most personal equipment ” is design to be used for seconds , not proceedings , at a prison term . The honest apps will relay significant bit of info without us even needing to tinct our wrists .
As Apple Watch evolves and becomes more independent of the iPhone , there ’s no telling how many problems it will solve . The first cycle of apps will certainly seem clever and useful to all of us early adoptive parent , but within a twelvemonth or two there will no doubt be a whole new form of tools and utility that expand Apple Watch ’s capabilities by leaps and bounds , making our lifetime comfortable in path we ca n’t maybe imagine .
And just like all those blank candle - RWs that I still do n’t know what to do with , Apple Watch will certainly create a problem or two in the unconscious process . Like what am I exit to do with my hands now they ’re not bear an iPhone for 12 hours ?
