Ever since Apple’s big announcements, people have been asking me “Greg, are you going to buy the Apple Watch?” My wallet, and my conscious have two completely different answers. I have an issue, which I consider “Apple-itis”. Whenever Apple sells me on a new product, they sell me … until I realize I haven’t exactly hit the powerball yet.
If you are like me and read plenty of sites and looked at all the clips reviewing and giving first-looks of the Apple Watch, then yes.. you’re an addict. You want it, and you honestly cannot deny it. And after reading about thirty different “Five reasons you should not buy an apple watch”, I wanted to give TEN reasons why I want to. Now, you’re welcome to disagree, but these are all personal opinion:
- So What If I Have To Charge It Daily: A lot of people have this idea “hey my watch should last 7 days, because my fitness band did”. Well hey, I had a Jawbone Up that only had one job, telling me to take steps, and it did, and still needed to be charged in seven days. I’d like to think if I take my phone out of my hand to charge it at night, why can’t I do the same for my phone? I’m not exactly breaking routine by adding a watch to the mix.
- “It’s a First Gen Device, Don’t get it”: My mother used to say to me “You never want to be the first to do something”, but I like to think I use my devices the way a consumer would use them, and not just a reviewer. If I buy the second model of it over the 2nd, it’ll just be slight upgrades, like we know Apple to do anyway, so why not try it out?
- Apple Pay: Looking at the keynote portion where it simply waving the watch near the paying kiosk did the trick, helps eliminate me having to pull the phone out of my pocket, and opening it to the Passbook app, to pay. Crisis averted if I don’t have my phone with me when I run out to grab lunch. Which brings me to:
- Not Having to Carry My Phone: This should be self-explanatory, but a lot of people’s arguments have been “your phone can do that”. These same people were the same people saying “
I don’t need access everywhere I go”. Sometimes you don’t need the access, but having it, but not necessarily having “complete” access, albeit sending a complete text, or being able to respond to every comment on Facebook could be a good thing. - OMG The Price!: Yes, we get it, the watch is a hunk of change. I weighed my options of other watches in the competition, but they simply did not have what I needed, and that’s seamless access between my iPhone and my Apple Watch. I’m a firm believer in getting what you pay for, and I see it as a good investment.
- The Sports Edition: At $399, the Sports edition is a great fit for me. I live a somewhat healthy lifestyle, and going to the gym daily, it’s nice to be able to have my music on my watch available to play (8GB storage), as well as the fact the Sports edition coming with two bands, this is in my price range versus the other, (admittedly) overpriced Rose Gold version I wanted so much.
- A lot of people are Focused on the watch they WANT — Not the one they can afford: At $349, and for what the watch does, the Apple Watch Sport ($349) and the Apple Watch ($549) are good prices… if you can afford it. I’m not saying go out and dig into your savings for it, but the money you spend will go a long way, versus buying yourself a competitors “smart watch” because it does “almost” the same things. Refer to: Getting what you pay for. $1000 for a stainless steel watch is too much, for ANY first gen, second gen, or ninth gen for that matter.
- Apple Products Hold Value: For example you buy the $999 version this you, I’m willing to bet you could buy the $550 stainless with sport band next year, and slide the sport band into your year old version and cutting your upgrade price down. People use this method when they upgrade new versions of their iPhone, yearly.
- The Waiting Process: In what may not be an actual “reasoning” in getting the Apple Watch, I will say, having that extra month to think about it bodes well for me. I’ve talked to fellow writers here at Gear Diary, as well as friends of mine, and the inability to pre-order for another month, and the watch not shipping until April 24th gives me a NICE long time to justify the purchase.
- People Simply Want Every First To Fail: Apple has had plenty of failures in the 90’s (Ping, Maps, 64 Cube, iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen, etc) and as much as I want the Apple Watch to succeed, a lot of people are waiting for the opposite. Just like the iPad, and the iPhone, and the Macbook, and you can even add the 50 Shades of Grey movie (although that was terrible, and yes, I did see that). If the industry deems Apples venture into smart watches a failure, the best thing Apple will do is come to their senses and lower prices, or offer an alternative for a margin of the price. Not seeing a loss there.
Now do not get me wrong, I have my doubts, but I like to see the glass half fool when it comes to things I can potentially spend money on. That or I simply sit and watch the slow decline for myself (Ahem, Fuelband?). Don’t get me wrong, Spending close to $500 is a LOT of money, but it’s certainly not taboo. Like many others, I know resell value plays a role, as well as people wanting possibly an “upgrade policy” that would allow buyers to have the latest version of the watch every year or two, kind of like a phone contract.
An admitted Apple fanboy I may be, but I also enjoy technology of all kinds. I’ve had success as well as failures with smart watches, fitness bands, and wrist wear in general, but this Apple Watch, although being a 1.0 product, seems to be a perfect fit for me. And I’m almost certain if it matched competitors prices, a lot of the “why I won’t buy” would simply be “comparison” writeups.
I would LOVE to have one, but I can’t even justify the $349 for something that is just a fun convenience. Maybe if I worked out more, but it would really be a phone accessory for me.