Apple’s Next Wearable Should Kill the Apple Watch As We Know It ⭐

When Microsoft was riding high atop the personal computing market with nary a viable competitor in sight, it was an easy target for complaints. Most were likely valid, but in Microsoft’s defense, the one thing I could say about them was that the company did democratize technology and bring it to the masses. This isn’t exactly innovation, of course. But it is, in its own way, right?

Looking at Apple today, its abuses are, if anything, worse than anything Microsoft inflicted on the world, in part because of its need for control and in part because the audience is so much bigger. But if there’s one thing I can say about this company that anyone should agree with, it’s that it has a history of picking its battles and entering established markets with new offerings that deliver major advantages over whatever was there to begin with. It did this most famously with MP3 players (iPod), phones (iPhone), and tablets (iPad), but there are other examples, like wired and then wireless headphones (Earbuds, AirPods) too.

This is not what happened when Apple announced and released the first Apple Watch. This first and maybe only successful major new product release under Tim Cook was all over the map and was marketed as an expensive accessory for the crowd that was still, at that time, buying a new iPhone every year or two. But it fell short of Fitbit wearables and smartwatches in health and fitness tracking, while being more expensive. It even fell short of the Microsoft Band that everyone forgets existed.

In time, Apple delivered a Watch experience that started to play off its historic strengths. Version 2 course-corrected with a major focus on health and fitness. And Apple corralled its popularity with consumers, celebrities, and sports stars to attract interest from the medical community. It began working with health and fitness organizations to improve and expand the tracking capabilities of Apple Watch. It introduced a Fitness+ service, and so on. Today, Apple Watch exceeds the competition in many ways, and not just through the valuable ecosystem benefits Apple always offers.

But it’s still a watch, a complex and somewhat large device with a battery-hungry screen and processor, something any dedicated user will charge at least once every day. As with the iPhone, one might sarcastically and yet accurately claim that the biggest success of this device was that it replaced devices that lasted much longer on a charge, often days, and consumers just ate it up regardless.

But the world is changing, as it will. Apple’s most successful wearable may be its AirPods line of wireless earbuds. And competitors have brought all kinds of health and fitness wearables to market that are not watches or, even more surprisingly, do not have displays. Oura and other smart rings, for example. And more recently, screenless fitness bands like Google’s Fitbit Air.

I like the idea of whatever device just sitting there on my wrist or finger, and maybe someday...