The latest podcast from John Gruber features John talking with a
very boring guest about all this watch stuff. It's nearly two-and-a-half hours long, so they cover a lot of ground. I only wish Gruber had a more vibrant or engaging (and engaged) guest - Jason Snell, John Moltz, Guy English, Joanna Stern, etc. (any of us his usual go-to crew of guests) - to talk about such a thing. I literally had to listen to it in smaller, 20-minute chunks because the guest was both boring and a bit too know-it-all hipster-smug in his tone at times.
But it's better than nothing. I guess.
Check it out. Stick a Dr. Pepper or espresso IV into your arm beforehand. You'll thank me.
Man, I don't know...nothing about this watch jumps out at me as "it's gonna be huge". I thought listening to the above would change that, or open my eyes about it. It kinda did the opposite, truth be told. Usually Gruber can almost work his own little RDF and sometimes lay things out in a way that I haven't considered and kinda change my mind on some stuff (the iPad mini springs to mind). But it didn't happen here. Even they don't sound particularly convinced or passionate. It almost seems like "well, we're big Apple guys so we should probably try and muster some enthusiasm about this for a couple of hours...".
Everything I felt about the iPod, iPhone and iPad when I first saw them unveiled just isn't present with this watch.
The cost? The
purpose? The limited-appeal? What problems is it solving? What situation is it improving? Too nice for casual use? Too casual/"techie" to make a play for the serious watch crowd?
All the above.
And despite having it drilled into my head for several weeks now - and Apple showing it off at some Paris fashion event this week - I don't find it particularly stylish or attractive. I'm sorry, but I don't. It kinda looks like the first-generation of something that nobody was asking for. Or that nobody really gives a shit about, big picture (and if they
do, I've yet to hear anyone truly articulate
why, beyond "it's something new and cool from Apple!"). Which, honestly, isn't really much of a reason.
But, because it's Apple, they're going to get a bit more leeway and room to run on this, I imagine. They've certainly earned it, but...I just don't know on this. This is going to be, hands-down, the most interesting thing to follow next year...just to see how such a thing - something brand-new, post-Jobs and with a questionable purpose/role - really fits into the world. And if it'll sell because it's truly amazing and does something nothing else does (or can), or if it's floated by "iMomentum" and reputation, to where thousands of people will lay down their money for one, just because it's something "new and cool from Apple", and then, three months later, not even know where they put it..."it's in one of those desk drawers over there, I think...it's kinda bulky, it doesn't really do all that much, I had to charge it much more than I imagined and it's really not all that easy or fun to use, after you get over that initial first-day joy/discovery. Oh, and one of my co-workers kept sending me his heartbeat and it was creeping me the hell out...".
I can see that happening, clear as a bell. Tech fatigue and "I was RDF'd from beyond the grave into getting this, and I don't really know WTF for! I had $500 laying around and thought 'what the hell...'"
