Thursday April 9, 2015 7:14 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Apple Watch Sport BlueA collection of major tech blogs yesterday published their in-depth reviews for the Apple Watch, one of which was Yahoo! Tech's David Pogue, whose opinion fell in line with most other sites, describing the Apple Watch as "light-years better" than any other smartwatch, but "you don't need one."
When discussing the Watch's tethering to an iPhone, Pogue reveals a few pieces of information about the Watch that Apple has yet to comment on in any promotional material for the wrist-worn device, mostly regarding some cellular-related functionality sans iPhone.
And heres a surprising feature that Apple hasnt said anything about previously: When the watch is in a known Wi-Fi hotspot, the watch can perform the most essential online functions even when your phone is completely dead, turned off, or absent. It can query Siri, for example, send and receive texts, and send/receive drawings and tap patterns to other watch owners. Thats impressive.
According to Pogue's week-long experience with the Apple Watch, even with the iPhone dead or turned off, his Watch could still perform these basic iPhone-reliant functions like sending and receiving texts and drawings. He never mentions actual phone calls, which are undoubtedly still reliant on full use of an iPhone.
Pogue also mentions the Watch's ability to communicate with an iPhone over both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, meaning the two devices can communicate indefinitely as long as they stay under the same Wi-Fi connection even when they're out of Bluetooth range, a previously known but still notable aspect of the Watch.
The Wall Street Journal's Apple Watch review makes a passing reference to Pogue's claim, though providing fewer details than Yahoo! Tech's piece. "The watch does work (a little) away from the phone," The Wall Street Journal's Geoffrey A. Fowler said. "When youre around a known Wi-Fi network, the watch can tap directly into it."
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Cab you shower with it Mon?
Can you break a pistachio with it?
Does it have a Big Ben gong sound file?
I seriously doubt Wifey is gonna get one of these..
No matter how many jewels ya stuff on it.
Bow down to the God who is Apple.
Can it tell time?
That’s all I want.
I don't even have a smartphone. Nor I intend to get one. Oh well.
Thanks, still won’t buy one.
Apple Watch: An Overnight Multi-Billion Dollar Business
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3280976/posts
It was just three years in the making
Quick look
Heres the quick summary for those of you who dont have time to read the next 3,000 words.
The Apple Watch went on sale for pre-orders on April 10, 2015, and the Apple Store tells us that delivery dates for all orders now stretch into summer and beyond. We know that the initial production run of Apple Watch has sold out; what we dont know is how many Apple Watches that represents. Ive built a simple model that predicts that the initial run of watches was more than 3 million units and will yield Apple Watch revenues of over $2 billion for the first two weeks of sales. While this figure is smaller than first weekend sales of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, it dwarfs all other smartwatch sales to date and represents a milestone in wearable sales. The model suggests that while Sport Watch will lead sales in volume, selling 1.8 million units through May 8, Apple Watch will actually lead in revenue during that period, garnering about $900 million versus Sports $675 million. I also believe that Apples decision to introduce the Edition will be validated by $500 million in sales on only 40,000 units.
The Apple Watch is Already Wiping the Floor with the Entire Smartwatch Market
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3280021/posts
The Apple Watch is on fire: KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that Apple’s debut smartwatch has sold more than 2.3 million units since preorders opened, MacRumors reports.
Apple hasn’t released any sales data on Apple Watch sales, and it most likely won’t until the company’s quarterly earnings report. But this 2.3 million figure echoes what others have estimated the research company Slice believes there were about 1 million US preorders on launch day, for example.
Ming-Chi Kuo has a good track record on Apple: He was spot on with his predictions about the iPhone 5S, for example. If Kuo’s figures are correct, Apple has in a stroke cornered the entire smartwatch market.
The Apple Watch’s strong sales are bad news for Google and its Android Wear smartwatch operating system OS. According to Canalys, devices using Android Wear sold 720,000 units in 2014. Slice’s figures suggested Apple was able to easily breeze past this figure in a single day. In doing so, Apple took away Google’s one historical advantage, which Business Insider explained in a previous story:
The iPhone has always with some truth been considered the “rich man’s phone.” Apple customers tend to be better off than Android users and spend more on apps and in-app purchases. Accordingly, ad rates on iOS, Apple’s operating system, are higher than on Google’s OS.
This strong push is immediately going to make Apple’s Watch OS an extremely attractive platform for developers looking to move into wearables, especially when coupled with the purchasing power of Apple consumers. And as this app ecosystem develops, it will make the Apple Watch even more attractive compared with other smartwatches, consolidating Apple’s position further still.
How to Pretend Apple Watch Is a Failure No Matter What
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3280472/posts
I wrote a piece looking at the mental gymnastics required to be a member of the Church Apple Doom, but this takes the cake. Mr. Kay is setting the bar for Apple Watch success in fantasy land and couching that as reasonable so that no matter how well it does, he will still be able to label it a failure.
The funny thing is that I also have a bet running on Apple Watch with my friend Rocco Pendola. About a year ago I bet him that Apple would sell 40 million Apple Watches in the first full year of availability. I’m going to lose that bet. I was thinking in iPhone terms, not a new product category, and I was thinking about it as a fan of watches. I made a terrible bet, and I’m OK with that.
If Apple sells 2 million units in the first year, it would be a huge success compared to any other piece of wearable computing on the planet. Those kinds of numbers would make the device a blowout hit by any yardstick other than “Apple.” At 5-10 million units, Apple will have a runaway success by any sane standard. Apple Watch sales above that will simply be stunning.
But don’t look to Roger Kay to acknowledge such success.
So essentially, the Apple watch allows you to do some of what the iPhone does, on a much smaller screen, but with the luxury of being able to do it without having the more bulky iPhone with you.
For that small luxury, I expect millions will shell out a lot of money for the Apple watch, and do it every couple of years as the software changes! There’s lots of rich people out there, and lots of people who make decisions that keep them poor.
Besides, I have a life... sitting around watching my wrist waiting for tweets announcing the next pricey upgrade to the iWatch isn't my thing.
But... I'm sure they'll sell plenty of them... the folks who line up overnight outside stores so they can be the first to get every new phone or Mac will of course all snap these things up... if they don't they'll feel inadequate. That's the power of marketing.
It's like these Apple Haters have an obsession with gays. Maybe we can book them on Dr. Phil, I'm sure he can straighten them out. LOL