Apple Watch’s 10th Anniversary – Three Questions
Apple provided me with a helpful series of facts and charts in the hopes that I would write something about the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch. It worked. However, there were three things missing from the PR outreach:
1. How much improvement do Apple Watch users see on key health metrics?
The Apple Watch has undoubtedly helped many people improve their overall health thanks to its enormous reach and simple health interface, but habits are hard to break, and tracking metrics on a watch doesn’t change intrinsic motivation, eating habits, or genetics. While skepticism is warranted, several U.S. healthcare companies and large corporations offer discounts on policies, Apple Fitness+ subscriptions, or Apple Watch hardware. I’m sure there’s some element of correlation (someone willing to wear a health-oriented smartwatch is likely to be committed to at least considering lifestyle changes), marketing, and maybe even some wishful thinking, but these are bottom-line-oriented organizations. Somebody clearly has data showing that the Apple Watch pays for itself with improvements in health, at least at the aggregate, organizational level. Where’s the data?
2. How many lives did Apple Watch save thanks to heart arrythmia, ECG, sleep apnea detection, emergency notifications, and other features?
Even if general health outcomes are tough to determine, it should be easier to quantify how many people used their Apple Watch to contact emergency services or saw a doctor after seeing concerning information flagged by the Watch. Apple certainly knows this; as part of the video at some Apple Events there has been a segment on people who were rescued thanks to their Apple Watch or were able to identify heart conditions. Sure someone at Apple is compiling these stories – how many are there?
3. How many people stay within the iOS ecosystem thanks to the Apple Watch?
OK, this one I don’t expect Apple to answer (at least not publicly), but the Apple Watch is an incredibly sticky product. Once a consumer gets an Apple Watch – which only works with iPhones – it is much less likely that they switch to Android. It took Google years to realize that underinvesting in WearOS was hurting Android overall. Then it had to get Samsung to move its excellent Galaxy Watch line over to WearOS and build its own premium Pixel smartwatches. It took three generations of those Pixel Watches to get reasonable battery life and multiple size options.
What Apple Watch Got Right
Apple leads the entire watch industry in sales value by a significant margin. It got there by getting many things right, quickly correcting what it got badly wrong, and then iterating, iterating, and iterating.
Apple had to pivot hard from the initial Apple Watch’s focus on computing and luxury/fashion to health, utility, and accessible fashion. It also took five full generations before the Apple Watch became a proper time-telling, always-on-display watch. However, Apple nailed much of the formula from the outset:
A distinctive, utilitarian design. While I prefer circular displays for analog time and traditional watch complications, a rectangular display allows for more dense digital complications – such as calendar appointments – and straightforward layout of text and notifications. The Apple Watch squircle is minimalist but is also recognizable from across the room. The design has been tweaked over the years but never changed because Apple got it right from the beginning.
Deep integration with iOS – to this day, Apple Watch only works with iPhones, and only Apple Watch has full access to capabilities like full message responses. Rival smartwatch vendors understandably complain about this, but secure integration also enables Apple to do things like use the Watch to unlock your phone.
Multiple sizes – for a while, it seemed like Apple uniquely understood that approximately half the population has smaller wrists. These consumers, lets call them “women,” were willing to trade off battery life and display size for something that didn’t look ridiculous on them.
Easy charging – The Apple Watch magnetic charging pad hasn’t changed since launch, and Apple licenses it to third parties, enabling an entire industry of nightstand and travel chargers built around the Apple Watch. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch chargers have mostly stayed the same but use a different magnet configuration than Apple does, so it can’t tap into that accessory ecosystem (unlike Qi wireless charging for phones). Google has changed the Pixel charger three times in the first three years, and if there’s a third party charging puck I haven’t seen it.
Fashion – Watches are wrist jewelry, and fashions and tastes change by the season or the outfit. Apple has kept the same lug and strap system remarkably consistent across Apple Watch generations, allowed a third-party accessory ecosystem to flourish, and refreshes its own strap offerings twice a year with new styles, materials, and colors. While Apple took the Apple-Watch-as-jewelry theme way too far at launch (did anybody actually buy those $17,000 gold versions?), it has offered more accessible versions with Hermes at launch and ever since. Apple also coopted Nike, which at one point was a watch competitor, for those whose fashion sense runs (sorry) more sporty than than formal.
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