My 2 cents on Apple Watch 2015

Apple is going to offer it's first smart watch, Apple Watch for their employee at 50 percent discount. May be Apple don't expect the Apple Watch sell very good in the market.

I am not too worried about the sales figure, Apple always has a group of fans and buyers. Let's wait till the next Apple event for the sales report.

I am going to talk about 2 things that I feel not right for Apple Watch.

I do not have an Apple Watch to try out, I just base on what I saw on the web.

1. Target Audience

Apple designer Jonathan Ive claimed that, "The Swiss watch industry is in trouble." (read here). Look at Apple Watch price range from USD400 to USD15,000 (here).

For lower price range Apple Watch, it may affected those quartz and electronic watch, especially those with some sport features like Suunto, Casio etc.

For the high price market, Apple has Apple Watch Edition series which cost more than USD10k. Since most people are not going to wear 2 watches at the same time, I don't think they will dumped their Rolex watch for Apple smart watch.

For a smart watch with additional function, the older smart watch will be outdated very soon, after Apple came out with new hardware and software.

2. The Watch Face

For me, the watch face is the biggest design flaw. The watch face must be round, not other shape. There are square, rectangle or diamond shape watches out there, but majority are still round in shape.

The moto360 looks like a better design in this category.

Conclusion

Apple Watch could be a fashion, but it will not be a classic, for now.

Reference:
Apple to offer Watch to employees at half price, CNet

iPod nano came with touch interface

What do we have for this annual Apple fall event?

iTunes (10) get social network with Ping. iOS 4.1 coming soon, and iOS 4.2 in this November. iOS 4.2 will enable multi-tasking on iPad.

Let's look at iPod and Apple TV:

iPod Shuffle (4th generation) back with wheel control design. 2Gb iPod Shuffle selling at USD $49.

iPod nano 6th generation with touch interface, is compact and small like a iPod shuffle. For sure you can fit into the small pocket on jeans.

Movie playback is not mention, I suppose it was removed from this iPod nano. I don't really need a touch interface to control the menu with just a few selections, but the new iPod nano look nice with a plain touch screen and no hardware control button.

iPod Touch (4th generation) with camera. The new iPod Touch 4G came with cameras now, front and rear (back). Not surprise it has FaceTime, geo tag (through WiFi) and photo, you will have more fun with LBS application like Gowalla. The back camera is not the 5 megapixels camera on iPhone 4, lower in resolution and not sure about the picture quality.

iPod Touch came with retina and higher resolution display like the iPhone 4. It is using the A4 cpu, that means it will perform better.

Apple TV 3rd generation. I can not confirm this is 3rd or 2nd generation, because the earlier Apple TV was introduced as Apple TV take 2. Now they take two again.

It is a black color box, rather the earlier white or silver color. Smaller in size, but without internal storage for video, it playback through network streaming. I prefer it to be bigger, since it will just sit inside the living room and not for portable.

It stream Netflix (alternative choice to Google Youtube?), stream from desktop or even iPad, though wireless AirPlay (earlier call AirTunes) technology. Support up to 720p and not 1080p. Is cheaper, selling at USD $99. It is using A4 cpu too.

Conclusion

If I don't have an iPod Touch and I have no plan to buy iPhone 4, I may buy the new iPod Touch. A 8G version is good enough, if need more storage, just get an iPhone 4.

I don't really need video call, but FaceTime means you can call your friend (who have FiceTime enable device) for free (through Wifi). The new A4 cpu is a big deal, it will last a few years before Apple came out with new system.

A media (video/movie) player without internal storage is still not my choice. May be the 4th generation will be better.

Continue reading:
Apple TV: Still a hobby after all these years, by CNet.
Event picture gallery, from Mercury News
Apple announces iOS 4.1 Features, Previews 4.2 Update, by pcworld.

Apple special event September 2010

Just another one more day to Apple special (music?) event 2010.

MacRumors predicted that new iPod nano will be released, it will be a square like rather than the existing candy bar iPod nano.

I Like the iPod nano 3rd generation form factor, but apple change the iPod nano to candy bar for the 4th and 5th generation. Refer how to identifying iPod models.

The 6th generation nano may be it will be a touch screen nano, smaller in size but still retain the original 30-pin I/O connector.

There are rumors expecting revamp Apple TV and new iPod Touch with camera.