7 million Apple Watches just buried the competition – Canalys Apple has shipped nearly seven million of its Watches since Cupertino launched the device in April this year. According to Canalys, Apple has hugely outstripped all of its smartwatch competition. The seven million figure, the analyst house noted, was "in excess of all other vendors' combined shipments over the previous five …
Meanwhile at the other end of the market originator Pebble continues to grow doubling its sales in the last year according to their CEO here: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/04/apple-watch-having-no-material-impact-on-competitors.html
I guess no El Reg hack would ever dream of getting change from a ton for something you can leave on your wrist for more than a few hours ... and tells the time all the time.
Fossil have already entered the fray; some of their Q line of smartwatches went on sale late October.
Of their line-up, only one is an Android-wear model, the others have conventional analogue watch faces, and using little LEDs in the buckle to distinguish different types on notification (call, sms, email etc) on the connected phone. Far fewer functions than an Apple Watch or Android Wear, but a valid balance of form and function.
How they perform 'in the wild', I don't know.
>The web site is all marketing and no substance,
I hadn't bothered to look at their website, but at another technology review website. Of course there are different potentially viable points on the function / form factor / battery life graph, and Fossil are aiming at a couple of them.
EDIT: And yeah, Fossil watches are a bit too gaudy for my tastes.
You say "shipments" not sales so lets say every Apple Store and Warehouse have a nice stock of these on the shelves plus others sent on to re-sellers etc then how many actually sold and are on customers wrists and how many are waiting to be sold ?
Add to that Apple may have shipped a shed load just for the number one spot where others only shipped what the sellers expected could be shifted based on experience over those last 5 quarters.
Until we get sales figures then these don't mean anything other than Apple hope to shift a lot of kit which is on all OS's still looking for a killer app to make them more than a fashion accessory. Fitness bands at least have a defined purpose beyond what the phone can do already.
I have actually seen a few in the wild and got to play with the heartbeat sensor a week ago.
I am sort of surprised it works, but I have no idea how well (compared to my Polar chest strap).
Unfortunately, as gorgeous as Apple Kit usually is (price notwithstanding), I am still looking for an Android with proper HR measurement. The chest strap is waterproof.
Most watches however, are not which seems an oversight on all the manufacturers.
It's not as if you can change the battery!!!!
P.
Agreed, it means nothing. This is based on my own path through life, but I have seen 0 of these anywhere. I also have a family full of Apple fanbois, about 35 that no other tech exists but istuff, and 0 of them even want this, let alone have one. I have seen more pebbles and AW watches.
Apple Always portray themselves as a premium brand, and users are prepared to shell out more money to buy into this idea.
TAG, however, is a proper premium manufacturer. So if the 'premium' argument Apple owners claim to motivate their purchase, TAG should be able to significantly bite into their iWatch market.
And then thre's the really big guns that could enter the fray. I don't really expect companies Audemars or Piaget to get into this,but Breitling, IWC or Panerai might.
>TAG should be able to significantly bite into their iWatch market.
TAG have stated that their smartwatch 'will be upgradable', and teaser images suggest it will look similar to a sports chronograph - circular with numbers around the bezel.
TAG watches, like all their rivals at various prices levels, are nicely made. Details, such as the clasp being machined (not stamped) and then deburred, do make a difference. Apple too though, even according to watch nerd sites like Hodinkee, have the quality of finish and tolerances spot on.
That is all good. However, at the moment every smartwatch with a colour screen* incurs a massive penalty in battery life, so it will be for the individual consumer to weigh the pros against the cons. Some people may find the Apple ecosystem offers them more.
* As opposed to watches from Citizen and G-Shock which give phone notifications and not much else - they last a couple of years on one battery, or indefinitely on kinetic energy.
Quick note on charging and the Apple Watch; It's on it's cradle for approximately half an hour a day while I'm in the shower and getting ready for work, having breakfast etc. I've found that during normal use, it rarely gets below 50% charge and 30 minutes will top it up to 100% or thereabouts. Battery life, so far, simply has not been an issue.
Yep, similar to my use. I got my watch for free as I would never have bought it else as I was fairly dubious about it. But overall, I find it really good for the encouraging me to get off my ever fattening arse and, amazingly, it tells the time. Sometimes I scan my endless tide of incoming mails and read my messages on it but the battery life is easilly 50% does a day and 50% charge takes about 30-40 mins. If I turn it off at night, it'll do me 2 days just fine. Has definitely boosted the life of my iphone too (no screen illumination with each new notification) and again I can easilly get 2 days of use on a single charge.
Not as shit as I expected and I didn't dump it to ebay as I thought I would. Tag lives in a drawer now.
So assuming a 50% recharge daily and the 300-500 full recharge cycle life of the battery it seems reasonable to assume you'll get 600-1000 days, so 2-3 years, before it needs replacement. Given the price that means the lowest cost model works out to about $.50 per day for just the watch. I can see some people making that choice but not those of us who throw pennies about like manhole covers.
That the battery would die in 2-3 years reflects none of my observations. My 2007 (original) iPhone lasted a full 7 years through 2014 before the battery started swelling. My 2009 iPhone 3GS is still my mother-in-laws phone, working fine in 2015 with its original battery. Certainly I haven't noticed in failures in newer ones. No reason why an Apple Watch wouldn't live for 7 years without changing the battery.
So keep in mind that while batteries *may* fail in shorter time than the ones I've observed - Apple does replace batteries of their old devices - unlike most of their competitors.
TAG are very similar to Apple. Both useless as a time keeper.
From their own site:
"The accuracy of TAG Heuer watches depends on several factors, including the type of movement and conditions of use. The following list shows TAG Heuer average tolerance given by the Swiss movement suppliers (based on normal conditions, and full power reserve for automatics):
Quartz movement: between -1 and +11 seconds per month
Standard automatic: between -5 and +20 seconds per day
Chronometer: between -4 and +6 seconds per day"
-5 to +20 seconds per day???? FFS
>TAG are very similar to Apple. Both useless as a time keeper.
TAG quartz are on a par with any quartz movement that isn't updated over the airwaves. TAG automatics, likewise, are on a par with their automatic peers.
Apple Watch are updated over the airwaves (via the iPhone) so will be accurate to within the second. Which makes your assertion bollocks.
> TAG, however, is a proper premium manufacturer
Like when they bought an existing chrono movement from Seiko, put their own name on it and pretended that it was one of theirs (Cal 1887)?
Like when they put the ETA 2824 movement in a watch costing nearly £2000?
Sounds like a 'proper premium manufacturer' to me.
Hardly an unbiased survey. This site is (largely) frequented by people who know and understand technology, and appreciate tech that does exactly what its supposed to.
Hardly fertile ground to find lovers lovers of Apple's non-waterproof, less-than-a-day battery life, blank-display, techno-bling.
The display of my analogue watch is, arguably, 'data'. I prefer to think of it as the time and the date, with an ever-so convenient (rotate bezel) reminder of when I bought my parking ticket.
Your comment seems to have been written in ignorance of offerings other than Apple, Android and Pebble efforts. That's fine, but don't condemn a category unless you know what it consists of.
Are you suggesting some quantum leap in overcoming form-factor limitations is waiting in the wings? Direct display in the cerebral cortex perhaps? Or just a projected display to be thrown against any nearby surface large enough to serve as an input/output medium, like that ThinkGeek laser keyboard?
Because, in a world where phones are getting bigger a watch face is too f*cking small to be of use as a touchscreen for anything but the most rudimentary functions.
Like telling the time, setting an alarm and so on.
All of which work better on a trad watch.
>Are you suggesting some quantum leap in overcoming form-factor limitations is waiting in the wings? Direct display in the cerebral cortex perhaps?
Don't be a pillock.
Stevie, you seem to have stuck in your head that a 'smartwatch' is a battery-guzzling colour-screened lump. The definition isn't set in stone. For a couple of years now both Casio and Citizen have offered smartwatches without said display, and they look like normal watches and each boast year + battery lives.
Basically, there are a few points on the functionality / form-factor / battery life graph. Clear?
So you believe the answer is changing the definition of "smartwatch" to fit the product you can make. Just like they did with "Artificial Intelligence" about fifteen years ago, and "nanotechnology" about five years before that.
But gosh, how will I be able to tell the smartwatch that offers me a full interface and is therefore useful in and of itself from the smartwatch that needs me to supply another device before I can use it as anything but an expensive Timex? Won't we just end up with a proliferation of marketing blither?
My PAG240 has a microprocessor in the core of its design. Does that make it a smartwatch?
> The iPhone is a success because a lot of customers replace iPhones with iPhones. We've yet to see how many people will buy a second Watch.
The Apple Watch's battery will have an approximately 3 year battery lifespan, just like the iPhone. When the battery dies people will buy a new Watch for the same reason they buy a new iPhone. If they thought the price/performance was OK the first time, likely they will think the same next time. Just like with the iPhone.
I searched all the different makers for a wrist gadget to suit me.
None of the android watches focus enough on the fitness part for me, and the apple watch is more bling than useful.
Finally settled on the MS Band 2. Waiting for it to get here, but from what I see it really does what I want it to, integrates well with Android and has a purpose that I don't currently have a gadget for.
I can see fitness bands outselling watches by a large margin, not sure why they aren't considered in statistics.
I still have yet to see an apple watch on anyone's wrist. Forget that, I still have yet to see an actual physical apple watch.
I'm glad I got my Apple Watch and see my self getting another one when they are refreshed . Apple Pay is my favourite thing with it, so useful when using London Underground , ands it's quicker than using traditional plastic . Found it handy answering calls when my hands are messy like when cooking in the kitchen. Notifications are handy on it , and the Apple Music + AirPlay integration is handy. Add on the fact I can now keep track of how active I am too, I'd feel lost without an Apple Watch now. But I understand not everyone is me, I only know 7 people with the Apple Watch , but it's early days.
Apple Pay is my favourite thing with it, so useful when using London Underground , ands it's quicker than using traditional plastic
You should buy a bike or a car, it's quicker than anything
Found it handy answering calls when my hands are messy like when cooking in the kitchen
And how do you hold the phone with messy hands after you answer?
Add on the fact I can now keep track of how active I am too, I'd feel lost without an Apple Watch now
Keep track of how active you are? Lost without an Apple Watch? Alzheimer? :d
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