We live in an age of skepticism, where people, particularly online commentators, seem to derive great satisfaction by putting something down. Even among professional critics and reviewers, thumbs down seem to outnumber thumbs up by quite a margin.
It should come as no surprise that the recent Apple Watch announcement was met by a majority of negative commentary. Indeed most of the criticisms aligned with the “cons” we identified in our Apple Watch Pros And Cons articles, Part 1 and Part 2. As we anticipated, the Apple Watch’s price and battery life were primary criticisms, as was the question as to whether people will need or even want to strap any device onto their wrist, let alone one that merely acts as an extension of the smartphone in your pocket.
Apparent Strengths Of Apple Watch Turned Into Weaknesses
Even one of the device’s perceived strengths, its wealth of apps and functions, has been turned into a negative. Jon Phillips of Macworld accused the Apple Watch of having “feature bloat”, putting its “sublime simplicity at risk”. He argued that the device was “packed silly with features, and far too many of them have been borrowed from the catalog of smartwatch failures.” His contention was that too many functions contribute to overuse of battery life, and that it’s “psychologically deflating” to have a product jam-packed with features that you never use.
Steven Pulvirent of Bloomberg News said that a major criticism of the Apple Watch was that it didn’t have GPS or cellular connectivity. He’s apparently looking years down the road when Apple is able to develop an Apple Watch that can stand alone from an iPhone. He liked the different finishes and watch bands that are available, but then turned around and said that the offering of several varieties and combinations “doesn’t feel very Apple”. Again, something that Apple considered a strength was turned into a negative by a commentator. It’s this kind of thing that leads one to believe that many people were predisposed to criticize the Apple Watch.
The Bloomberg writer also said the Digital Crown feature felt “clumsy and unrefined” and will take “some getting used to”.
Will The Apple Watch Be Upgradeable?
The UK tech site V3 said that the Apple Watch fitness features “need improving”, and found that the feature that monitors how long you sit to be “unnerving”. It also postulated that the device will “be out of date within a year”, despite the fact there’s no evidence that this is the case. For the completely opposite point of view, Louis Bedigian of Benzinga quoted an industry analyst predicting that Apple will soon offer internal upgrades for the Apple Watch, which would make it a “much more compelling purchase”.
The analyst said you’ll be able to take your Apple Watch to the Apple Store, and they’ll upgrade internal components including the processor and the battery. But if this was true, surely Apple would be promoting the possibility, wouldn’t they? It would sure sell more units if they did.
Danielle Kurtzleben of Vox argued that the Apple Watch is an “overpriced gadget and underwhelming luxury item”:
Viewed as a gadget, the device is just too expensive given its limited functionality. Yet it’s going to be an uphill battle to sell a square, bulky touchscreen device as a fashion statement. In trying to be both a gadget and a luxury item, it’s at high risk of falling in the no-man’s land between the two.
Is The Apple Watch That Expensive In Comparison?
Of course, stylishness is completely subjective, and there are plenty of people who think the Apple Watch looks great. But as for the price, there was a dissenting argument made by Jack Smith IV of the Observer. Referring to the $350 price of the Apple Watch Sport edition, Smith said that “if you are a self-respecting dresser who understands what a watch means as a prestige item, this is exactly what you should pay for a watch”. He pointed to low-cost watches such as the Fossil, which cost about $100 and are unreliable and ugly. Compared to that, he said, the Apple Watch constitutes a real bargain.
By far the Apple Watch’s biggest source of derision was reserved for the Gold Apple Watch Edition models, which are priced at over $10,000. This model is getting a universally rough ride. In his TechCrunch column “The Gold Apple Watch Is Perfect For Douchebags”, Kevin Rose argues that the high-end model fails on both the technology end and as a watch to be collected. He said the Edition model should have offered more technology than that which exists in the standard models, but instead is the same hardware cloaked in gold. And there is no extra craftsmanship that is found in the $10,000+ analog watch market.
We might have suspected that Apple was going to get slammed for this entry into the ultra-luxury market. Next time, we’ll go though more Apple Watch reaction. In the meantime, has any of the commentary changed your mind about the Apple Watch?