Apple Watch will replace your car keys, says Tim Cook

The Telegraph ^ | 02/27/2015 | Allister Heath

[fireman15]

Apple Watch will replace your car keys, says Tim Cook

Exclusive interview: The Apple chief executive reveals to Allister Heath how the revolutionary features in the company's smartwatch could forever alter our daily lives.

Like millions of people, Tim Cook stopped wearing a watch a while back. The Apple boss no longer needed one: his iPhone told the time just fine. There was just one problem, as he readily acknowledges in his interview with The Telegraph: glancing at one's wrist can be a very useful way to find out information. It is less rude and less intrusive.

So Apple now wants to pull off something that no company has ever managed before: it wants to reverse a cultural trend that it had created itself. It wants us to start wearing a watch again.

The big event on 9 March will showcase the Apple Watch; and it will be launched to consumers in April. Cook, needless to say, is already wearing his new Apple Watch. He couldn't even contemplate living without it anymore, he says.

"I'm now so used to getting all my notifications and all my messages," he says. "It's so incredible just to do this."

Reinventing the wrist watch

The Telegraph had a peek at two watches, one worn by Cook and the other by another senior member of staff. Three versions will be available to consumers; the two we saw seemed to be the Sport edition. One had a dark wristband; Cook's had a white one.

• Apple Watch: everything you need to know

The watch's screen boasts all of the usual Apple interface, but the icons are rounder than those of an iPhone, presumably to match the watches' shape. The first reason to buy the watch will be as a fashion statement and for its striking design.

[GraceG]

Steal a person’s watch and get their car too....

[Vendome]

Very thoughtful of your wife

[fireman15]

I don’t know much about the CEOs of Apple or Samsung. I have never owned an Apple product. Our cars both came from our state’s surplus vehicle auction and do have keyless entry. This article is the first that I have read that indicated that the watch will start a car.

I have some experience with the Samsung Gear 2 and it has been a surprisingly pleasant experience. Both it and the phone came from eBay and combined they cost around $250 with shipping. I have just been trying to figure out what the iWatch will do that has got people clamoring to buy one. There are some Apple experts here and I figured they would know something about it.

[5thGenTexan]

If the car feature has the same security level as the Apple Pay feature, it will be disabled when the watch is removed and must be enabled each time you put on the watch via a passcode or Touch ID in the phone.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Refusal to follow fashion trends is a badge of honor, and a great way to laugh at the lemmings, rushing off to the next great new thing!

Grumpy Old Man: I'm oooooold! And I'm not happy! And I don't like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress -- phooey! In my day, we didn't have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state -- it was open only one hour a year. And you'd get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people -- fornicators and thieves, mutant children and circus freaks -- and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn't remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that's the way it was and we liked it!

Life was simpler then. There wasn't all this concern about hy-giene! It my days, we didn't have Kleenex. When you turned seventeen, you were given the family handkerchief. ... It hadn't been washed in generations and it stood on its own ... filled with diseases and swarmin' with flies. ... If you tried to blow your nose, you'd get an infection and your head would swell up and turn green and children would burst into tears at the sight o' ya! And that's the way it was and we liked it!

Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn't need moooovin' pitchurrrres. In my day, there was only one show in town -- it was called "Stare at the sun!" ... That's right! You'd sit in the middle of an open field and stare up at the sun till your eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, "Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn't've stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open." But it was too late! Your head was on fire and people were roastin' chickens over it. ... And that's the way it was and we liked it!

Progress?! Flobble-de-flee! In my day, when we were angry and frustrated, we just said, "Flobble-de-flee!" 'cause we were idiots and we didn't know what else to say! Just a bunch o' illiterate Cro-Magnons, blowin' on crusty handkerchiefs, waitin' in lines for our head to burst into flame and that's the way it was and we liked it!

[catnipman]

I have some more “next big thing” ideas for Apple to add to the iWatch accessory line:

1. The iCuffLink.

2. The iSuspenders.

3. The iWingTipBrogans.

4. The iFedoraSnapBrimHat.

5. The iBuggyWhip.

6. The iRotaryTelephone.

7. The i33RPMVinylRecord.

8. The i8TrackTape.

9. The iTieTack.

10. The iBlackAndWhiteTV.

11. The iConsoleRadio.

12. The iCassetteTape.

[fireman15]

Very thoughtful of your wife

She is very good at finding things for my birthday or Christmas. I think she spent a little time researching this one. We buy and sell stuff on eBay so even if it turns out to be a bust we usually get our money back.

[fireman15]

iLove it!

[garjog]

[Jonty30]

Don’t forget the iCondom. It texts your friend list when you finally gort some.

[fireman15]

In fact, my pedometer says I’m up to 19,000 steps today.

Wow! I hope you have a good set of shoes.

[fireman15]

I actually posted a picture of the wrong Samsung Gear Watch. Here is what the Gear 2 looks like when the default media player is being used. This is the type of band that I am using, but I is interchangeable.

[Star Traveler]

It’s kinda hard to know something about an Apple Product before it has been released for sale. Apple keeps most of the details secret beforehand. With this Apple Watch, this is the first time I’ve seen Apple announce as much as they have thus far, without it actually being on sale.

The fact of the matter is that most of what people say about it beforehand is going to be pure speculation, and even what Apple says beforehand can change by the time the product goes on sale.

There’s only ONE RELIABLE TIME to comment on what the watch has, what it can do and/or anything about its functionality ... and that is commenting on it about a week after it’s been on sale!

ALSO ... another thing to keep in mind with a brand new product area which has never been done before ... is what happened with the iPhone. That first iPhone was an amazing product for its time and the touch interface and how it all worked together ... back then. No such thing had existed like that and worked so marvelously for being that first iPhone. BUT ... when we look at what we have RIGHT NOW with the iPhone, 8 years later ... NO ONE today would want that iPhone as introduced. That phone would be a “Model-T” of a phone, as compared to what we have now! BUT ... it was TOTALLY AMAZING for what we had BACK THEN!

It is going to be the same way with the Apple Watch, except that it actually can’t match up to that original iPhone (in terms of consumer amazement) because we’re more familiar with the concept now (in terms of how the iPhone user interface works and functions) and that does lessen the initial impact of the Apple Watch ... in a way that iPhone did not have to contend with back then.

The Apple Watch will be amazing ... but not quite as amazing as that initial iPhone. And about the third year out, for the Apple Watch, will make that first model of Apple Watch seem like a “Model-T”!

[Swordmaker]

The AppleWatch may be your key to your car — PING!

AppleWatch Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Star Traveler]

It’s all in the “aftermarket” ... doncha know ... :-) ...

[Swordmaker]

I forgot to mention that the Gear 2 has a surprisingly good camera. I am not sure why they included it other than novelty and possibly scanning barcodes.

The better to do selfies?

[Swordmaker]

LOL! Great reference. (got my general back in the 60’s and haven’t used code since).

Well, you never know when you might get arrested and have to tap your cell neighbors in code. . .

Of course the chance that any of them would be able to tap back?

[Star Traveler]

You know ... on Apple Pay, some people think you can steal a phone and they get to use all the credit cards on Apple Pay. In actuality, no one can even get or see the details and they can’t do purchases either.

And thusly ... one won’t be able to steal an Apple Watch and then take the car.

Apple is pretty darned good at that stuff!

[Bob434]

used to be you could go and get a duplicate key for about $5 total- maybe $10- then along came ‘smart keys’ with chips in them, and getting a duplicate now costs well over $100- some as high as 3-400 after all the programming is doen to them by the dealers who are the only ones ‘qualified’ to program the keys (unless you go online and find the corre4ct combination of brake taps, door lokcs, and horn blowing to properly program the key)

Now they want ot have a several hundred dollar device as the ‘key’?

[Star Traveler]

Actually, I’m very nostalgic for the HP-12C. AND I’ve got that on my iPad! I’ve also got the HP-12C in my briefcase! ... :-) ...