Apple Watch At 1: How It's Changed
The Apple Watch debuted one year ago this month. How has the wearable changed over the year, and what's coming in the future?
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Following months of rumors, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch at an event on March 9, 2015. It has been about one year since we first saw the wearable, and much has happened since then.
With the debut of Apple Watch, Cupertino was catering to a rapidly growing market of smartwatch adopters. IDC predicts smartwatch shipments will reach record-high numbers over the next year, hitting 111 million units by the end of 2016 and doubling by the end of 2019.
When it first shipped in late April 2015, the Apple Watch was considered an accessory for the iPhone, which needed to be nearby for many of the apps to function. This generated user demands for the Watch to be more independent.
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While its limitations were addressed in later builds of watchOS, the initial version of Apple Watch proved popular. Apple touted the health and communications features in the Watch, which experienced a wave of preorders when it was first released in April.
Despite the privacy concerns associated with wearable devices, mobility management vendors are preparing for the smartwatch boom among business customers. The demand for wearables like Apple Watch within the enterprise may be driven by C-Level executives who want their emails and calendar notifications on their wrists.
As the popularity of smartwatches continues to escalate, we take a look back at the Apple Watch, what has happened over the past year, and speculate about new features in the Apple Watch 2. Will the Watch continue to be successful among Apple fans, who are already satisfied with the device, or will we see competing wearables steal the spotlight?
Would you consider an Apple Watch? Are you more inclined to wait for future models? Why or why not? We'd like to learn your thoughts in the comments.
Apple made the Apple Watch available for preorder on April 10, 2015. About one million people took advantage of the offer, analysts projected. Slice Intelligence estimated about 957,000 customers in the United States ordered the Watch, which was also available to customers in China, Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Germany, and the UK.
Most models sold out for the April 24 delivery date, leaving many customers waiting until June or July 2015 to receive their Apple Watch. The majority of customers (62%) chose the Apple Watch Sport, which is the least expensive version. Data indicates 40% chose the space gray aluminum case, 34% picked stainless steel, 23% selected silver aluminum, and 3% chose the space black steel model.
The favorite Apple Watch feature among owners is the ability to send and receive notifications, which was followed by health and fitness monitoring. Aesthetics and design of the watch came in third, as indicated in a survey from 451 Research.
When asked about least-favorite features, 37% of survey respondents mentioned battery life. Others complained about the Watch's reliance on the iPhone for much of its functionality, a lack of waterproofing, a lack of applications, and the learning curve needed to use the Apple Watch.
About six months after it initially announced Apple Watch, Apple released watchOS 2. The OS missed its projected September launch date due to a bug found at the last minute, but it launched a few days after.
WatchOS 2 introduced a few new features and fixed some problems found in the original version. It brought native apps to the Apple Watch and let apps run independently. In the first release, apps needed a phone nearby in order to function because they were mirroring operations on the iPhone. Apps also opened and ran faster on watchOS 2.
Apple Watch users also received a new feature called Time Travel, which enables them to turn the Digital Crown to scroll backwards and forwards through their calendar to view appointments in the past and future. WatchOS 2 also introduced Activation Lock, a theft prevention measure.
Around the time it released watchOS 2, Apple broadened the availability of Apple Watch to several additional outlets. Best Buy began to carry a limited selection of the Watch in stores and offered a broader range of models for online purchase.
Carriers also began to offer Apple's wearable for purchase. Sprint began to sell the Apple Watch on Sept. 25, 2015 alongside the newly released iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. T-Mobile jumped in and also began selling the Watch in stores.
In August 2015, Microsoft announced a new batch of productivity apps in its Office suite would be released for both Apple Watch and Android Wear. At the time, apps including OneDrive, PowerPoint, and Skype had already been released for both wearable devices.
Additional apps included Outlook, Wunderlist, Yammer, and Microsoft Translator. The Outlook app enabled wearers to read emails; archive, flag, and delete messages; and schedule emails to appear later. Users could also respond by entering pre-written messages or using voice dictation to write them.
Since then, Microsoft has also updated Outlook so Apple Watch users can view incoming emails and important details about upcoming appointments. Through the Time Travel tool, they can turn the Digital Crown on Apple Watch to view Outlook calendar appointments for later in the day or the following day.
Apple has kept quiet about the specific sales numbers for Apple Watch, but Canalys numbers indicate they reached 7 million units in November 2015.
At the time, Canalys stated Apple's sizable lead in Q2 made it the dominant leader in the smartwatch market. In the time Apple Watch had been on the market, Apple shipped more units than all other vendors combined.
In January 2016, Apple released test versions of watchOS 2.2, iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4, and tvOS 9.2 to developers.
A highlight of this build was the ability to use one iPhone to pair with multiple Apple Watches. Aside from Apple Maps, it does not contain any major user-facing changes, but it does pack a few bug fixes and performance improvements.
As part of this release, the company noted watchOS 2.2 beta 2 had to be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app built into the iPhone, and the iPhone must be running the beta version of iOS 9.3.
With Apple Watch officially at the one-year mark, industry watchers have begun to speculate what's next. One rumor indicates Apple is taking its wearable beyond fitness to have a stronger influence on the healthcare industry.
The US Patent & Trademark Office recently released a "Care Event Detection and Alerts" patent from Apple. The document depicts a wearable device designed to communicate with a user's smartphone in order to keep track of their vital signs and overall health. It would detect health problems like a heart attack and send an alert via smartphone notification, which would inform emergency contacts.
While the patent notes any "electronic device" could be used for this purpose, it wouldn't be a stretch to assume the company is referring to the Apple Watch in its description. Last year Apple reportedly decided to pass on including health tools like a blood pressure monitor in the Watch because of regulatory concerns. Could 2016 be the year we see more medical features in the Apple Watch?
Apple is predicted to unveil the latest iPad and a new iPhone SE at an event March 21, but we likely won't see an update to its wearable until later this year. While Apple may release a few new options for Apple Watch straps, a report from 9to5Mac claims the company began early production runs for Apple Watch 2 in late January.
When Apple Watch 2 is eventually released, what can we expect to see? Macworld reports Apple is considering adding new Apple Watch models beyond the Sports, Steel, and Edition versions currently available.
Other predicted features include an ARM Cortex A32 processor for longer battery life and faster performance, FaceTime Camera, and as previously mentioned, additional health sensors.
Apple is predicted to unveil the latest iPad and a new iPhone SE at an event March 21, but we likely won't see an update to its wearable until later this year. While Apple may release a few new options for Apple Watch straps, a report from 9to5Mac claims the company began early production runs for Apple Watch 2 in late January.
When Apple Watch 2 is eventually released, what can we expect to see? Macworld reports Apple is considering adding new Apple Watch models beyond the Sports, Steel, and Edition versions currently available.
Other predicted features include an ARM Cortex A32 processor for longer battery life and faster performance, FaceTime Camera, and as previously mentioned, additional health sensors.
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