While it’s impressive how small today’s computers can get, Google and its partners have still failed to demonstrate truly compelling use cases–let alone “rich user experiences”–that will create a mass market for $200+ smartwatches. In almost every example during Singleton’s presentation, simply accessing a smartphone–an activity Google says its one billion Android users already do an average of 125 times a day–seems like it would be a more capable and comfortable solution. (And there’s no either/or option here–today’s smartwatches must be paired to a phone in the vicinity to access the internet.)
— Dan Frommer, Quartz
Seeing all these companies scramble to come up with compelling smartwatches makes me think how much the people at Apple are enjoying watching it all go down. Apple wasn’t first to market with their MP3 player (iPod), smartphone (iPhone) or tablet (iPad).
In the past there was never as much of a desire to preempt an Apple product launch like there is now with the rumored ‘iWatch’. Samsung, and Motorola and LG and Google have all raced to get wearables to market. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple looked forward to such preempting.
Ironically, this preempting gives Apple a head start in getting things right with wearable computers where everyone else is getting things wrong.