If you bought an Apple Watch that now collects dust on your dresser, you are not alone.
Web-based research firm Wristly, which found a 97 percent user satisfaction rate among early adopters, took equal interest in the unhappy 3 percent. What it found from 340 former Apple Watch users could provide valuable insights for Cupertino as it works on future generations of the smartwatch.
The reasons people gave up the watch include:
- 63 percent said they didn’t find enough value in wearing it.
- 47 percent said the watch is too limited.
- 37 percent said it was too slow.
- 30 percent were annoyed by the tilt gesture to see the time.
- 36 percent felt the battery life was too short.
Those were just the users who checked the box “extremely relevant.” In each category, there was a percentage of 23 to 33 percent who answered “somewhat relevant.”
Almost half gave up on the watch in less than two weeks, said Ben Bajarin who authors The Daily Techpinion blog and worked with Wristly on the survey.
Bajarin said the study also revealed a “bias” against the watch from users who work in the tech industry. These were the strongest critics; some 45 percent of those polled work in the tech field.
“The Apple Watch, in its current manifestation and because the concept is so new, (takes) time to truly understand its value,” Bajarin wrote on his blog Monday. “It certainly takes more than two weeks to realize how it fits into your life. But in the future, this will not be the case. This is simply due to the immaturity of the market and the product.”
Bajarin said he expects the Apple Watch to hit its stride sometime in 2017.
Apple is projected to sell as many as 6 million watches over the holidays.
Source: WatchAware and Fortune
David Pierini is a former newspaper writer and long-time photographer. Considered a luddite by most of his friends, they did not believe him when he broke the news that he would be writing for a technology website. He is fascinated by human nature and would love to cultivate stories about the people driving the tech bus. Reach out to him at [email protected].
7 responses to “Study examines Apple Watch quitters and their quibbles”
Two weeks is not really enough time to find out how everything works. It is not like one was playing with it for hours every day to figure everything out.
Maybe not to find out how *everything* works, but two weeks is a good amount of time to determine if you like it.
Wish I had given up on mine in 2 weeks, then I could have returned it. As it is I gave it a full month plus, and really decided that I don’t care for it. Now I’m having trouble selling it.
“i don’t like tilting my wrist to place the watch face in my line of sight.” Isn’t this how all watches work? i don’t understand how you can complain that lifting your wrist and rotating your forearm to bring the watch face into view is a negative….. As far as “Value” that is far too subjective. Did they break those results out by type of watch? How many unsatisfied, in regards to value, users had the most expensive non-gold version versus the entry level model? My watch has always been “fast”. it loads the photos app for instance, in the same amount of time that the phone does, about 1.5-2.5 seconds on average. I do however agree with the perceived limitation and battery life issues. I would LOVE to see just a GPS addition to the watch to allow for running without a phone!!!!! the battery, while 8-14 hours is plenty for me, could last twice as long to ensure you are covered under a long day. i almost ran out of juice during a 13.1 mile run and that was a 90% charged watch.
Use mine everyday. Not sure what this article is talking about. Charge every night. It last past 24hrs. Great watch oh and by the way it does a lot more. Not a phone substitute , never will be . No watch ever will be a phone replacement as output on the device is too hard. . So you either buy a piece of jewelry which also tells time or a buy a watch which an extension of your iPhone.
My wife knows I like my Apple gadgets and I was given a choice of a watch or the new Apple TV for my birthday. I love the idea of the watch but didn’t see it adding anything to my life at this time so I chose the TV box. If a second version comes out next year I will likely bite on it. I don’t feel the first version is lacking anything but the second generation is usually slicked up after seeing what may need work from the first version.
On a George Orwell tip, the Watch and wearable tech ‘wave’ is being pushed by “Big Brother” to phase out ‘money’ and to increase the civilian surveillance program they are presently rolling out, aided and abetted by planned so-called ‘events’ such as the recent ones in Paris, the bombs in London and the destruction of the WTC. I say resist. Do not use.