Did you buy Apple Watch? Tell us about it
Today we closed our poll asking readers if they would purchase the first fruit from the field tended by Tim Cook. Apple Watch marks the era of new gadgetry developed on the CEO's, er, watch. Sales started today, which effectively meant preordering two weeks ago. All three models are sold out from the company's online store, which lists ship dates as "June" for orders placed April 24.
Are you one of the lucky Apple Watch buyers? That's assuming you feel lucky. Two-thousand forty-nine people responded to our poll, with a stunning (and, honestly, unbelievable) 42 percent planning to buy the gadget. Really? Someone wants this gadget.
The Apple Watch becomes an enterprise security tool
Everyone, it seems, is jumping on the Apple watch bandwagon today with new apps, but one of the more interesting developments comes from enterprise security specialist MicroStrategy.
It's launched a version of its Usher platform allowing the Apple Watch to be used as a secure digital key, enabling wearers to log into business systems, unlock devices, validate personal identity, and open physical doors with a simple gesture or tap.
Apple Watch gets Amazon shopping capability
Today the Apple Watch begins its highly anticipated rollout. The tech world is watching, while fans are eagerly expecting the device. Of course any product today requires a healthy ecosystem of apps to survive, and Apple is doing its best to make that happen. Others are trying to do the same, also from an economical standpoint.
Amazon plans to allow customers to shop from their wrist -- why you'd want to is anyone's guess. The retailer is announcing a shopping app for the new accoutrement. The company claims it will be useful in certain situations, such as heading out somewhere and suddenly remembering something you need. Granted that's a good scenario, as you may forget by the time you return home. However, isn't that what the smartphone in your purse or pocket is for?
Microsoft brings OneDrive app to Apple Watch
Microsoft has been quick on the ball when it comes to supporting other platforms, adding OneNote with an experimental keyboard to Android Wear a few weeks after the launch, and now OneDrive on Apple Watch before the device even launches.
It is part of the new Microsoft goals, to have services on all platforms to keep customers loyal. Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of mobile market share, meaning it needs to focus on iOS and Android in order to keep Office and other services relevant against competition.
My Two months with Moto 360 [Review]
A smartwatch by any other name is compromise. The question: How much are you willing to pay, if anything, for the privilege? No matter what any manufacturer promises, battery life will never be enough, particularly when daily recharging is the minimum requirement. If you use the wristwear as prescribed, no less is demanded, regardless of the device maker. None delivers daily use without sacrificing something.
Nearly all these mini-computers on the wrist aren't smart enough. You need a phone, too. Is two of one and half-dozen of the other worth the trouble? The answer depends much on your lifestyle. If you text and drive, and can't break the habit, a smartwatch could save your life or others. If your mobile handset feels like a ball and chain, adopting glance-and-go lifestyle can liberate you. But if your smartphone is practically surgically attached, for its frequent use, you shouldn't add another tech accessory. If your phone battery often runs out, because you forget to plug in, don't multiply your troubles. If you don't wear a watch now, and haven't for years, don't bother.
The Apple Watch launch is a brand-damaging botch job
It really is amateur hour at Apple. The tech giant’s first major product line launch in years has gone badly wrong, with the original in-store sales date scrapped, and no word of when the Apple Watch will actually go on sale for people to, you know, buy.
Sales predictions, and online pre-order numbers look great, but that’s about the only thing that’s good about the launch of the first new product line to come from Apple under Tim Cook’s stewardship. Frankly, everything else associated with the launch has been a balls up from start to finish.
Apple Watch is coming… but when? [Update: not any time soon]
Apple’s first wearable went up for pre-order last week, with early estimates suggesting it managed to sell close to a million devices in the US in one day alone. Reuters estimates 6 percent of US adults intend to buy the device. Oddly though, Apple has so far not released any official pre-order figures, which is strange if the device is the success that it appears to be. Why isn’t Apple shouting about it from the rooftops? What is it waiting for?
Another more pertinent question is this: when will Apple start selling the device -- for real -- and in-store? 24th April you say? Well that’s what Apple originally said, but that no longer appears to be the case.
Apple Watch first-day preorders nearly 1 million in the US alone
While Apple haters would love to see the company’s latest product fail, it looks as if the tech giant currently has another sizable hit on its hands with Apple Watch. High preorders have already triggered the predictable backlog -- supply was always going to fall short of demand, Apple knows how to play this game -- with shipping times now at least a month for all models.
Slice Intelligence tapped its panel of over 2 million online shoppers to size up the early demand for Apple Watch, and also for the new MacBook, and the sales estimates make for interesting reading.
Apple thinks Apple Watch customers are completely stupid
Today Apple started taking orders for Apple Watch, and the world is agog. It's online only this time around, so there are no amusing articles about nutters camping outside Apple stores for six months living on noodles and coffee just to be first through the door -- people are, in many cases, buying blind. We've already baulked at the price of the Apple Watch Edition, but today Apple released details of its AppleCare+ extended warranties and, my god, do they make for interesting reading.
There has already been much said about the pricing of the various Apple Watch models -- not least the Apple Watch Edition -- and Apple is sure to make quite a markup on the precious metal version. Not content with raking in the cash through its sales of wrist-bound hardware, Apple is trying to squeeze every last possible cent from its customers. If something goes wrong with your Apple Watch, even if you are covered by the extended warranty, it's going to cost you a pretty penny to get things fixed. If you were foolish (er... lucky) enough to invest in the Edition, the costs are absolutely astronomical.
Newest Apple reviews are rotten
I typically don't pull together review roundups, but bloggers and journalists with early access to Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook beat the products senseless. Not even Wall Street Journal gives glowing look at the laptop; the pummeling is among the most brutal. Meanwhile, The Verge repeatedly gut-punches the smartwatch. Two themes rise from the many reviews, even those trying to cover up pooh with perfume: The devices are beautiful, but performance is a lumbering beast.
Welcome to the Tim Cook and Jony Ive era of putting form before function, and to a fault. Apple's CEO and design chief may not be the dynamic duo shareholders hoped for. The first truly new products to emerge under Cook's stewardship receive a collective meh, which should scare any intelligent buyer witless. Because if the past means anything, the carefully chosen coven of early reviewers embrace newfangled Apple things like the Devil clings to sinners. But not this week.
Apple Watch won't be 'wildly successful'
As the clock passes Midnight and takes us into April 10, Apple Watch preorders begin. Sales start two weeks later. The buzz is big, but will actual demand be? Argus Insights, an analyst firm that is new to me, doesn't see strong sales ahead. The metrics are interesting: 7.8 million social interactions and 65K online reviews about wearables.
"Though the Apple Watch will of course be successful, we don’t see the product to be wildly successful", John Feland, Argus founder, says in a statement. I reviewed the firm's report, which data is from September 2014 to end of March 2015, and it's interesting reading. The question, and Apple Watch sales likely will answer: Is online social buzz a means for predicting a product's success?
Before our buying polls close, please answer: Will you buy Apple Watch or Chromebook Pixel?
If you haven't responded to either of our most-recent buying polls—Apple Watch and Chromebook Pixel—it's not too late. Preorders for the timepiece start April 10. The laptop is available now, but with long-wait ship times. I purchased the higher-end Pixel, which review is underway. Whether or not one of our writers will test the smartwatch is uncertain.
Polls of this nature are meant to gauge what a specific audience, BetaNews readers, plan to do. Often what respondents would like to buy isn't what they do. For lots of reasons: Budget; spousal or partner objections; availability; competitive pricing; early product reviews; and more. Results better reflect your intentions as the sample size increases. So, please, take a few seconds to answer each poll, if you haven't already.
Apple Watch will benefit traditional watch companies
It’s been six months since Apple officially announced its Apple Watch, which is currently one of the most anticipated releases of the year.
Apple will be joining tech giants Samsung and LG in the smartwatch market, but those aren’t the only companies they will be competing with. Last week at the Baselworld 2015 jewelry trade show in Switzerland, several traditional watch companies revealed smartwatches of their own.
Apple Watch's potential profits are scary
Behind buying polls there are as many questions as answers, like: "How many people saying they will buy X, really will?" Oftentimes the number wanting something and actually getting it are usually much less than tallied results indicate. Considering those caveats, our Apple Watch buying poll nevertheless illuminates how the device could be hugely successful even from a small number of sales. I do mean big.
Among the more than 1,100 respondents, as I write, 19 say they will buy Apple Watch Edition, which price ranges from $10,000 to $17,000. Assuming they all purchase and do so on the cheap, the math is easy: $190,000. Another 482 people want either of the other two models (Sport and standard Apple Watch). for $216,618 calculated at base prices of $349 and $549, respectively. The closeness of these two total dollar figures, possible profit margins behind them, and differences per-customer profits are ghastly.
What could you buy for the price of Apple Watch?
As Apple Watch hype increases and the preorder date (April 10) approaches, a question gnaws me: Why would anyone spend so much money on the device? Our BetaNews buying poll now exceeds 1,000 responses, which is large enough sample-size to get some sense of the readership's intentions. Fourteen (2 percent) of you plan to buy the Edition model, which price ranges from $10,000 to $17,000. No disrespect, but talk about money to burn! Forty-five percent of respondents plan to purchase any Apple Watch, while another 5 percent of you are undecided.
So I wonder: What could you buy instead of Apple Watch? I intentionally single out the big spenders, settling on $13,000 as mean between $10K and $17K, being it's such a lucky number and Apple looks to make lots of luck—eh, money—from the smartwatch. Before continuing, an important reminder: Functionally, there is no difference between the cheapo timepiece ($349) and its massively-expensive sibling. The price difference is all bling.
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