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Hardware

No One Is Buying Smartwatches Anymore (gizmodo.com) 330

An anonymous reader shares a Gizmodo report: Remember how smartwatches were supposed to be the next big thing? About that... The market intelligence firm IDC reported on Monday that smartwatch shipments are down 51.6 percent year-over-year for the third quarter of 2016. This is bad news for all smartwatch vendors (except maybe Garmin), but it's especially bad for Apple, which saw shipments drop 71.6 percent, according to the IDC report Apple is still the overall smartwatch market leader, with an estimated 41.3-percent of the market, but IDC estimates it shipped only 1.1 million Apple Watches in Q3 2016, compared with 3.9 million in 2015. To a degree, that's to be expected, since the new Apple Watch Series 2 came out at the tail-end of the quarter. But the news is still a blow, when you consider how huge the Apple Watch hype was just 18 months ago.
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No One Is Buying Smartwatches Anymore

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:28PM (#53142847)

    There are very few use-cases of these which make sense.

    Workout accessory? Hardly adds much.

    Wireless extension of phone display? Hardly much better than just looking at the damn phone..

    Oh - and especially - as a time piece? Size sucks, Durability sucks. Battery life sucks even more making them pointless for most cases where you want a watch (long trips, hiking, camping, etc.).

    Failed experiment by electronics makers selling jewellery. They fell into the classic trap of trying to create a market for something which doesn't actually do anything that anyone cares about.

    • by tsa ( 15680 )

      Their pointless what?

    • by Geeky ( 90998 )

      Actually I do find mine useful. I like having music controls on the watch for when I'm out walking and the phone is buried in an inside pocket, and I like getting notifications at a glance in the same sort of situation. Aside from telling the time, that's about all I use it for, but it's enough to be worth having.

  • by rahvin112 ( 446269 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:28PM (#53142849)

    Anyone that knows anything about watches could have saw this coming. There is a potential here if they can get a watch that does what a watch does now with additional functionality but they've got to get something else right and that's battery life. Watches are JEWELRY first and time pieces second. Most people who don't care for the time keeping abilities don't even wear one anymore because cell phones have clocks now. Apple tried really hard to get the Jewelry side right but IMO failed miserably. This is a fit and finish game with high end precious metals comprising the composition, often with gemstones.

    None of the smartwatches satisfy the Jewelry aspect of time pieces. Taking that into consideration and the fact they have atrocious battery life, offer almost no convenience that their phone doesn't already provide and you've got a product that will sell a few as a status thing and rapidly implode as the main market avoids it. There is a future for these things but it's going to be a niche market until they solve the serious limitations in both functionality and battery life.

    • by zlives ( 2009072 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:35PM (#53142887)

      the other issue with watch as jewlery for all smart watches, in my mind, is the software. 10 years from now my Ulysse Nardin will still have value and 20 years it may even appreciate. 30 years from i will give it to my son. 2years from now the iwatch will be out of date and no longer supported.

      • by nine-times ( 778537 ) <nine.times@gmail.com> on Monday October 24, 2016 @09:52PM (#53143829) Homepage

        the Apple Watch 2.0 only really offers waterproofing. no real advances that people would dump another $350+ to replace their 1 year old Apple Watch 1.0

        I think this really needs to be taken into account in the whole discussion. The big story is that Apple Watch sales are down from last year?

        You have to figure that a large percentage of people who wanted Apple Watches bought them last year, when they were first released. Most people don't usually replace their electronics after only a year. Even with cell phones, they wait 2 or 3 years, and that's about as frequent as it gets. Given that smart watches are mostly being used as watches and to display notifications from your cell phone, it seems possible that the smartwatch upgrade cycle will be less frequent.

        Also, the "Series 2" model is ultimately a minor upgrade. It has GPS in the watch, which may be important to some people. It's waterproof and the old one isn't officially waterproof, but was still more water resistant than advertised. It's not thinner or lighter, the battery doesn't last longer, and it doesn't even look different. Some people will want to upgrade after only one year, but I wouldn't expect most Series 1 owners to think it's worth buying a Series 2.

        Given that, I would assume that there'd be a big spike of sales when the Apple Watch was first released, followed by a few years of diminishing sales. I even had a theory (which so far has worked out) that Apple would avoid making a lot of small incremental changes every year. Given the novelty of the product, some people probably held off buying it the first year because they wanted to see if the following year's model would show substantial improvements. Now that we've seen only minor improvements for Series 2, that may have lead some of those people to go ahead and buy one, which may explain why their sales aren't even worse.

        My basic theory is that Apple has a cycle in mind for how often they'll release major updates with major design changes, and it's basically on the same time frame that their marketing experts tell them that people will be willing to buy a new smart watch. I don't know if that's 2 years or 4 years, but it's not going to be 1 year.

    • It doesn't help that a lot of the 'watches as jewelry' types are either looking for jewelry in a budget(in which case spending a large fraction of the purchase price on expensive and largely invisible electronics, rather than most of the money on the attractive case, is less than totally attractive); or looking for the 'timeless' and 'heritage' and so on that watch ads are always going on about.

      While technologically pointless, your zillion-jewel-fiddly-mechanical-movement is going to be just as nifty for
      • As another poster already pointed out that "zillion-jewel-fiddly-mechanical-movement" watch isn't just cool, it's likely appreciated in value. Those luxury watches are all very valuable decades down the line even though they are used.

        You aren't going to get that with an Apple or Android watch, it's going to be abandoned by the manufacturer in less than 5 years and the battery probably won't last 2 and most of them have batteries that are near impossible to replace, to the point where it's cheaper to buy a n

    • This was obvious a year ago if you were paying attention in the healthcare startup space. It doesn't mean there's no market, but they haven't made it to the general market some were hoping for. On the upside, more specialized uses should continue to drive some work in the space (and perhaps yield successful B2B exits) in the future. But they will (for the most part) be focused more on utility than fashion.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Anybody who knows anything about watches could have seen this coming. Everybody used to wear a watch. Then everybody started carrying a smartphone and now watches are rare items worn as decoration by a few people.

    • by floodo1 ( 246910 )
      I happen to find that having to pull my phone out of my pocket is dramatically harder than simply looking at a watch on my wrist. Sounds crazy but I had ditched watches long ago in favor of checking my phone for the time until I randomly received a watch as a gift. I started wearing it and realized how much more convenient it was! Seems like most people are so used to checking their phones that they forgot how nice having a watch can be (-8
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Why should we have to upgrade our watches every year? Maybe people are happy with what they have already?
  • by Keruo ( 771880 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:30PM (#53142857)
    I stopped wearing a wristwatch 10+ years ago. It was annoying to wear while using a laptop.
    There's clock on my phone, computer, car, radio, egg timer.. I don't see the point in carrying extra one on my wrist.
    Smartwatches seem even more pointless to me, redundant and limited functionality and horrible battery life.
    • I stopped wearing a wristwatch 10+ years ago. It was annoying to wear while using a laptop.

      There's clock on my phone, computer, car, radio, egg timer.. I don't see the point in carrying extra one on my wrist.

      Smartwatches seem even more pointless to me, redundant and limited functionality and horrible battery life.

      This is what kills the wristwatch for me.

      Even when I had a wristwatch, half the time I kept it in my pocket because having something strapped to my wrist is just too bloody annoying.

    • by Ramze ( 640788 )

      It's... really a misnomer to even call it a smartwatch as that's not its intended use-case. It's really a wrist-mounted mini-phone/tablet that has a limited use-case.

      1) The Chinese love them -- because you can tap and draw on their surface while talking to people of different dialects to communicate better

      2) Bartenders and other busy people who don't have hands free to pull out their phones every time they ring (assuming they can hear or feel them vibrate).

      3) Joggers and other athletes on the go. You

    • When the Apple Watch came out I bought an 80s-style digital watch as a sort of protest to what I saw as hipster culture, but now I really like my $14 Timex watch, makes me feel more organized when I'm out and about. That was the first time I wore a wristwatch again after 10+ years.

      • by floodo1 ( 246910 )
        I had a very similar experience, in terms of not having a watch for ages then finding that a basic watch was rather convenient.
  • It's almost as though a relatively small market got saturated; with some added bite from the (more limited; but substantially cheaper) 'fitness' bands that offer a much lower cost of entry to have an annoying gadget on your wrist and bothering you.

    I never would have expected that outcome.
    • Most of the (few) people I know with smart watches have them for some kind of fitness stuff, because they want a bit more than the bands have to offer. However, I'm of the opinion that they still don't offer enough to justify the added cost. The only reason I ever had to wear a watch died completely when cell phones became small enough to fit in a pocket, and that was over a decade prior to the advent of the modern smart phone.

      If you could put a lot of really ridiculous health sensors or something else l
  • by dissy ( 172727 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:33PM (#53142881)

    Remember how smartwatches were supposed to be the next big thing?

    Nope.
    But do you remember how we told you they were just an early adapter fad, and would remain so until a killer app came along, or at least some more useful functionality than as shipped?

    About that...

    Yeah...

    The market intelligence firm IDC reported on Monday that smartwatch shipments are down 51.6 percent year-over-year for the third quarter of 2016. This is bad news for all smartwatch vendors

    Well as we all mentioned back then, perhaps the vendors should now be working on coming up with new features and functionality so the watches would be even more useful, and perhaps spend a bit more effort searching out for those killer apps that still don't seem to exist.

    Then they can make those available to the current early adapters that already bought the things, so when asked "How do you like the watch?" they could rant and rave about the awesome things they are doing with it, instead of just replying "meh"

    That just might spur more people to buy the things.

    • by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      There are killer apps. and look at the pebble forums ayou can find all kinds of really cool ideas that people are freely publishing.

      Google and Apple prefer to hinder development and force people to pay $99 a year and go through a "you suck and your apps sucks" approval process for the watch ecosystem

      • by dissy ( 172727 )

        To be fair I wasn't (or didn't intend to imply) the problem lies with developers, but specifically with the problems brought upon by the vendors themselves.

        I would certainly agree the entry fee and sometimes inconsistent approval rules are a problem though, and at least in Apple and Googles cases, brought upon fully by themselves.

        Be it cost to publish apps, or the input data an app can have available to it, the devs can only work within the limits of the hardware and the stupidity of the app stores provided

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • by dissy ( 172727 )

        I actually thought Apple would have had the better success with a smart watch than most other vendors, as in if any technology company could get the jewelry status symbol angle right, it would be them.
        And I suppose looked at relatively that could be argued is the case, as their watch sales are a bit higher than the others lacking that angle.

        But the problems with the current crop of smart watches run much deeper than just Apple, and spans pretty much every vendor making general purpose smart watches.

        The only

  • It was, as the subject reads, a dumb idea. I don't even wear a watch. If I need the time, I have my smartphone.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I want a watch which is my phone and data connection. I want to see basic comm functionality I can use - bluetooth for audio if need be - all the time. I want a mini- or regular sized tablet I can carry with my when I think I'll need to interact with the data - but I want to be instant. When I pull up my tablet (whether it be a 5" Android or Apple handset, or a Surface Pro or iPad Pro), I want the low power BT to kickstart the connection and then ramp up to max LTE speeds (or at least hit the 25Mbps BT 4

    • I want a watch which is my phone and data connection. I want to see basic comm functionality I can use - bluetooth for audio if need be - all the time.

      Basically, you have a Dick Tracy fantasy.

  • by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:43PM (#53142943) Homepage

    Nobody is UPGRADING their smartwatches because why the hell should I pay $350 to get a watch that has zero features above what I already have? When I had a Pebble Time it did everything I wanted then and the other pebble offerings were useless iterations that either offered a useless feature (lighter and shorter battery).

    the Apple Watch 2.0 only really offers waterproofing. no real advances that people would dump another $350+ to replace their 1 year old Apple Watch 1.0

    The android watches, well nobody has been buying them, they have always been the last place runners, but their new iterations are all useless. Zero advantages on the new versions.

    The ONLY smartwatch maker not with their head up their ass is Pebble. 10 day battery life in the Pebble Time Steel. Apple could have doubled the battery life, Samsung could have doubled battery life.... nope, they are all stuck in the "ZOMG THINNER!" stupidity.

    • by dbialac ( 320955 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @07:41PM (#53143245)

      > Nobody is UPGRADING their smartwatches

      You're acting as though this is an item that everyone has. It isn't. It's an item where most people took one look at it and said, "meh". Meanwhile in that same time period, I bought a conventional automatic watch because you never have to wind it and you never have to change the battery. It always works, it's (old) alternative energy and for me that makes it cool. One of the thing we often forget in technology is that sometimes our ancestors already solved the energy problems we're facing today, simply because they didn't have any.

      • by floodo1 ( 246910 )
        meanwhile the humble quartz watch doesn't have much of an energy problem considering that batteries last on the order of dozens of months haha
  • I have had an LG Urbane since it first came out about 18 months ago. It is not as geeky looking as most smart watches. It passes for a regular round dial watch since I use a simple watch face that just shows calendar alerts. It was more expensive than the thin and light Seiko it replaced. It is also more useful. I have enjoyed the LG immensely and use it for calendar tracking, Google Fit, flight alerts, maps, etc. I am extremely pleased with it. But I can't see a smart being something I replace frequently

    • FWIW I am also happy with my two year old Nexus 6

      6 or 6P?

      I just bought a Nexus 6 second hand to replace my second hand Nexus 5 which I broke the digitiser of and had a dead battery. I have now successfully replaced the digitiser by replacing the whole screen module because I broke the screen trying to remove the digitiser from it (it's glued). And of course it has a new battery now.

      As a new-to-me phone the old Nexus 6 seems pretty good to be honest.

  • I need my phone to be a phone and my watch to be a watch. Smart watches are just shitty phones. I've already got a phone. Don't need a second one.
  • by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @06:44PM (#53142955)
    In the past that mostly had to do with Madonna, but now he is upset no one uses two way video watches.
  • I really like my smart watch (Samsung Gear s2 Classic). That said, my wife has gone through 3 different ones trying to find something that has some appealing style and functionality. She's pretty happy with her s2, but it's very 'sporty' looking. We both like the rotating bezel control for the Gear s2 series, but it only comes in 2 styles. Most of the other smart watches out there are a PITA to use. I really wish Samsung would open up their bezel control, because it is very easy to use. Honestly, the
  • I thought I was the only one that thought these things were the biggest pile of fluff. I'm taking bets on the next over-hyped technologies to fall over:
      - Personal Drones
      - VR
      - Tiny Video Cameras (GoPro-like's)

    I'm sure there's more, but these ones both seem to be well over-baked in tech press. That said, there isn't too much on the near horizon that seems fractionally interesting to the disruption smart phones have caused in the tech world.

    • You know how people love selfies? Yeah. VR is going to be a fad until it's completely physically immersive and you can really feel the NPC blow you, but personal drones and tiny video cameras are here to stay — often in one package.

  • So much hate (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ghazgkull ( 83434 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @07:06PM (#53143063)

    I didn't want one either. So much so that when my wife surprised me with an Apple watch for Christmas last year, I could hardly hide my disappointment. Thinking "I really didn't *want* one of these"...

    But having used a smart watch for a while now, I absolutely love it. Why?

    1. The haptic feedback. I run my phone on silent 24/7, which meant that I was constantly having to double-check that I didn't miss a message while walking around. There's no missing or mistaking the prominent tap from the watch so this problem is solved. No more missed messages and no more randomly checking my phone.
    2. The weather. I wouldn't have predicted this one, but having the current weather conditions plus the day's high/low temps on the watch face is super useful. I probably look at my watch for the weather conditions almost as often as I look at it for the time.
    3. The general freedom of not needing my phone in my hand. In lots of small ways throughout the day, a well-functioning smart watch is another one of those "living in the future" joys. Sending messages by voice without even pulling out your phone, pausing/resuming podcasts while mowing the lawn, getting haptic navigation directions while having an uninterrupted conversation... a good smart watch is clearly a step forward.

    As a former skeptic turned believer, it's a shame to see so many people dumping on these devices without having the chance to really see what they offer.

    • by hawguy ( 1600213 )

      2. The weather. I wouldn't have predicted this one, but having the current weather conditions plus the day's high/low temps on the watch face is super useful. I probably look at my watch for the weather conditions almost as often as I look at it for the time.

      How often does your weather chance? I check the weather in the morning to see if I need to wear a jacket or bring an umbrella and that's the last time I check it all day - I don't really need to know if it's 63 degrees or 67 degrees, the forecast said "mid 60's" and that's all I need.

      About the only time I check the weather on demand is to look at weather radar to see if I can go on a bike ride without getting caught in the rain, but a watch face seems a little small to see a moving radar map with enough de

      • Services like Dark Sky [darksky.net] can provide predictions that are accurate to the minute. If you're worried about rain or snow, getting a tap on your wrist alerting you to a change is that much nicer and more convenient than having to check your phone.

        That doesn't mean that weather apps will be the killer app for everyone. It's really a matter of finding out what simple, small conveniences you need more of in your life. And that (in part) makes it a lot harder to sell smartwatches: once you have them they can be g

    • You got something that turned out that you enjoy and has a killer app for you.

      A week or so ago, there was an article about GPS in cars being something that most people don't like - personally I love it and I would never own a car without it.

      Everybody loves something different and there is enough different things out there for everybody to find something that they can't live without. Without being ironic or facetious, it really is a great time to be alive.

      I think what the article is pointing out (and was no

    • As a former skeptic turned believer, it's a shame to see so many people dumping on these devices without having the chance to really see what they offer.

      Kinda like the Zune, eh?

    • I waited until Apple Series 2 and bought my first one. I love it. I use it for 2 things all the time that take away just a enough annoyance that it makes me smile every time I use it.

      It's not a must have item by any stretch, but like keyless entry on your car, if you make enough money to spoil yourself occasionally, it has its place. My 2 things: 1) Text messages...reply by voice is excellent and accurate for me; 2) Calendar...it's on my home screen and shows my next appointment...love it. Beyond that, I
    • by khchung ( 462899 )

      Same experience here. When I heard about the Apple Watch, especially the price, I thought "who would pay so much for it?! Maybe I'll consider when it is half the price." And I thought I would never want one... right until I played with one in an Apple Store, then I bought one immediately.

      Exactly the same general points as yours -

      1. Haptic feedback. You never needed it, until you used it, then you don't ever want to go without it. I have my phone on vibrate most of the time, so I most easily miss calls

  • Perhaps they can bundle smartphones with 3D TVs

  • I know the percentage of the population that works in classified areas is not that large, but none of my coworkers could use them. They can't even wear the "dumb" fitness trackers with very little interaction capability. On top of that, anyone doing physical labor probably will skip them. I'm happy with a nice Wenger mechanical chronograph because it looks nice, and even though it is expensive, I can wear it for decades and don't have to remove it in certain locations.
  • by plsuh ( 129598 ) <plsuh@@@goodeast...com> on Monday October 24, 2016 @07:18PM (#53143133) Homepage

    Folks, all of this is from numbers pulled out of some IDC analyst's rear end. Their estimates are no better than SWAG's. I should know, I've had to use their reports in a past life. Sometimes they're accurate, as companies will report otherwise confidential numbers so long as they can't be backed out of the reports. However, Apple doesn't play those games and in this case it's explicitly some analyst's best guess. Most analysts badly misunderstand Apple, and when you misunderstand the biggest player in the market your analysis is almost certain to be wrong.

    Also, Garmin's growth was from a very low base. It's easy to grow by 300+% if you start from almost zero.

  • Coincidentally, I've purchased a Garmin watch in the past year. I wanted a GPS + Heart rate monitor sports tracker for running and cycling, and didn't want one that requires that it be used with my phone. If I have to carry my phone along, then I'd just use it for sports tracking instead of the watch.... I don't see why I'd want to have a "smart watch" that's only smart when it's tethered to my phone. If I get a phone or text message when I'm too busy to take my phone out of my pocket to see who it is, I'm

  • by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @07:30PM (#53143197) Journal

    We still don't have the display technology to make a proper smartwatch. Until we have a watch with a display that is continuously on and active (such as a full-color e-ink display that's at least 30 FPS) that can operate for a minimum of 24 hours continuously on one charge, smart watches are going to be a severe compromise from existing watches (digital or analog). Only those that have use cases that really require them, or that want to bend over backwards to integrate them into their lives, will find them useful enough to bother with.

    Look at digital watches. The first generation were LED with red glowing numbers, and they only displayed the time when you pushed a button, otherwise the battery would be dead within an hour. Does that sound familiar? Digital watches did not explode onto the scene until LCD displays matured, which were capable of actively displaying real-time data continuously for months on a single battery. That will be the technology that drives smartwatches - whatever display advancements need to take place to allow continuous full-color, real-time data display with a battery life measured in days. Until then, companies like Apple are putting the cart before the horse and using gimmicks like gestures and the like to try and switch the display on intermittently (and hopefully) when the user is needing to see it.

    • The Pebble has an always on display that is perfectly readable under normal room lighting levels and also bright sunlight. In darker rooms and night-time a simple flick of your wrist is all it takes to turn on the back-light to display the time, or navigate a dark house. I had a basic Pebble, but have upgraded to the Pebble Time Steel, with colour e-ink display and metal band. The standard watch faces are fine for some people, but I wanted a little more. I've some fairly basic programming skills (20 years
  • by ghoul ( 157158 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @07:32PM (#53143203)

    I knew the Apple Watch was not going to work out when Apple offered a 50% discount to their employees and my friend who works at Apple offered me to use his discount to get one. If Apple employees are not willing to buy it at 50% why would the public buy it at full price?

  • I used to think Smartwatches were completely superfluous and stupid. Then I started doing a lot of athletic training and running triathalons. My wife got me a Garmin fitness watch for that and it has been essential. After getting it - I still thought the Apple Watch was stupid. Why? *EVERYONE* in my triathlon training groups had the Garmins. They had on-board GPS and would work in the water (to get data for swmimming). Apple watches could do neither. Now - Apple comes out with their second-generation wat
  • by plopez ( 54068 )

    I'm not sure why but sooner or later someone will come up with a reason ;)

  • While smart watches do have their uses, it is still a niche market. Many smart phone users do not want or need a smart watch. Most of the people I know stopped wearing a watch when they started carrying a smart phone because it is pretty easy to check the time on their phone. Fitness trackers existed before smart watches and are a simple alternative at a lower cost, for a segment of the market that might consider purchasing a smart watch. There are plenty of people that still like to wear the more tradi

  • Once 99.999% of people realized that smartwatches were useless over-hyped bullshit, the word got out and even the gadget-whores stopped buying them.

    Smartwatches were a 'solution' in search of a problem that didn't exist. Virtually all of them are gathering dust in drawers, forgotten and forsaken.

  • by aklinux ( 1318095 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @09:23PM (#53143749) Homepage
    The market for everything else looks pretty healthy.

    I think Apple just has itself priced out of that particular market,
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • A solution in search of a problem, nobody's buying. Huh.
  • That's too bad. This will probably slow research in this area. I was looking forward to someday having a watch with as much power/space/battery-life as a high end smartphone that could be paired with a keyboard and screen when needed.

  • ...and that is you have to wear a watch.

  • I was tempted to try a smart watch just to satisfy my techie curiosity, I'm still tempted to get one.
    I don't need one, I'd just like to have one to play with and perhaps even dabble in writing an applet or two.
    Saw this post and thought I'd go check the 2nd hand market for an Apple Sport 42mm.
    Surprisingly I find that there's very little to be saved in purchasing a year old smart watch.
    I'd have expected them to be going for 1/2 to 75% of their original price. Not so it seems.
    So either I'm looking too soon or

  • i grew up in a time before cell phones — im used to a watch, and after 10+ years of living without one (because of having the time on a phone) — it is rather pleasant having one again. i wouldnt say it replaces the phone, but is a good supplement — i find i dont have to pull out my phone as often, and love the way i can just glance over to see what's coming in without having to haul out a brick.

    most of all — its just got to be a good watch — and it still doesnt beat my movado

  • by antdude ( 79039 ) on Monday October 24, 2016 @11:16PM (#53144123) Homepage Journal

    ... but their battery lives suck, require mobile phones, etc. I will stick with the old school Casio Data Bank watches.

  • Remember how smartwatches were supposed to be the next big thing?

    Mostly what I remember is myself and almost everyone on Slashdot mocking them, on account of being inferior to a phone on most "smart" attributes such as size, battery life, price, and processing power, and inferior to a watch on most "watch" attributes, particularly size, battery life, and price. Certainly they would have a few use cases that would make them worth wearing, but for the majority it would be at best a cool but impractical gadget.

  • Apple did themselves a disservice by releasing the updated watches after only 1 year. They signaled to the market that the watch you buy will be best supported for only a short period of time. You're paying hefty prices for an adjunct to your phone. App developers will follow the performance and capabilities, and the supplanted devices will soon become hobbled in what apps they can run and how well they can run them.

    If they slow down their product life-cycle, I'd pay their ask. For buyers like myself, they

  • It started right away with "big budget" devices. Devices that were hard to program and had to sell huge numbers to recover their investments. Those devices were then aimed at the "fitness tracker" market and nothing else. Not even displaying the time was a priority any more. Also screens have been to small compared to their sci-fi counterparts and nobody bothered about the input problem. In fact in order to use (=program) all of those computers you had to use a separate computer with a special development e

  • by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Tuesday October 25, 2016 @03:39AM (#53144685)

    The main problem that killed (is killing?) smartwatches is not only the limited use scenarios for them - is that battery times sucks. 24-48hs is already miserable for a phone, let alone a device you are supposed to attach to your wrist. My watch is a Citizen EcoDrive: rugged, accurate and never ever needs recharging.

    I have several acquaintances who stopped using their iWatches or 360s just because it is annoying to put it to charge every night next to their phones. Been thinking about buying a 360 from one of them because there're some interesting apps for pilots out there but, in the end, its more a novelty than anything else.

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