Apple Watch - page 100

The Apple Watch might have been four years in the making and the most Jony Ive-centric Apple product yet — but the company didn’t get everything it was wishing for from the device.

According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple originally wanted its smartwatch to focus far more prominently on health-related innovations, only to be forced to go in another direction midway through the project.

If Apple had had its way, the Apple Watch would have boasted smart sensors capable of tracking blood pressure, heart rate and even stress levels — but despite hiring top people from the biosensor industry, the technology didn’t work quite as well as had been hoped.

People are calling The New Yorker profile of Jony Ive the most important thing written about Apple in quite a while, and I’d have to concur.

Not only is it full of fascinating details, it puts Ive at the center of Apple, where he belongs. As the piece’s author, Ian Parker, writes: “More than ever, Ive is the company.”

This is something that’s been true for a couple decades, but still isn’t apparent to most people — even veteran Apple watchers. Such is the company’s secrecy, and the tendency of the public to equate everything Apple does with Steve Jobs, that the true story has yet to be told. Ive has not gotten the credit he deserves.

If there’s one thing today’s New Yorker profile of Jony Ive hammers home, it’s how important the Apple Watch is to Apple’s design guru. The 16,000-word story reveals how Ive pushed the Apple Watch as a project, shortly after Steve Jobs’ death, when Apple was under pressure to come up with its next insanely great idea.

Here’s all the ways

As rumors of an Apple car start to gain speed, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has run the figures to find out what kind of business proposition automobiles could be for a company that tends to steer clear of small or low-margin markets.

His verdict? If Apple cars were even a “moderate success,” Tim Cook and pals could be looking at an extra $50 billion per year in revenues. To put that figure in context, it would be an increase of 23 percent on top of the already impressive cash-generating machine that was Apple in 2015.

Remind us to remortgage our homes to buy AAPL stock!

Based on what Steve Wozniak has said in the past, it would be very easy to come to the conclusion that the Apple co-founder is far from excited about the Apple Watch. In an interview with CNNMoney late last year, Woz seemingly dismissed it as a “luxury fitness band,” and said that he had gotten “real negative on smartwatches.”

What a difference a few months makes. In a new interview for the BBC, Wozniak touches on everything from the new Steve Jobs movie, to rumors about an Apple car, to — yes — his thoughts on the Apple Watch.

And if he wasn’t enthusiastic before, he certainly is now!

If Apple really is working on a car, what would it look like? And what would we want it to look like and do?

The growing chorus of rumors about Apple’s possible automotive ambitions — and the hard facts about the car designers it’s already recruited — don’t prove Cupertino is working on a car. But if Apple is staffing up to transform the transportation industry, what features might it deliver in its human-transport device?

Here’s what we’d like to see in the very first iCar.

We still don’t know the exact date the Apple Watch will ship, but a new rumor claims you won’t be able to pick one up at BestBuy, Walmart, or other non-Apple Stores at launch.

Apple plans to make its timepiece an Apple Store exclusive, according to German distribution sources who claim resellers will be shut out so Cupertino can suck up as much Apple Watch profits in the first year as possible.

Becoming a supplier for an Apple product is big competition among Asia Pacific suppliers, but Apple will rely on just one supplier to make all of its Apple Watch displays this year, reports J.P. Morgan analyst J.J. Park.

LG Display will be the sole supplier of the p-OLED display for the Apple Watch, according to Park’s recent note to investors. His firm also predicts LG’s stock could jump as much as 25% because of the new deal.

Apple Watch will borrow a lot of tech from the iPhone when it ships in April, but according to a new rumor from supply chain sources in China, Apple is planning to bring one of its wearable’s coolest features to the next iPhone.

The Economic Daily News has reported that Apple is considering adding ‘3D touch’ technology to the iPhone 6s, similar to Apple Watch’s Force Touch. According to the sources, Apple’s is planning to tap US-based Avago Tech as the main supplier for the iPhone 6S 3D touch technology.

We still don’t know the exact launch date of the Apple Watch, but if you just can’t wait to load up on accessories for your Apple wearable, the first Apple Watch dock is already available on Kickstarter.

ChronosDock, a “luxury” bedside dock, is the first Apple Watch accessory we’ve seen launch so far. Its makers, Kickshark, say it’s “the most indulgent, opulent piece of docking jewelry” they could imagine. It only costs $99, but they insist it’s “excessive in the extreme” to satisfy all you high-end fashionistas.

We think it looks kind of boring, but take a look for yourself:

One of the big selling points of wearable devices is that they will be able to help us keep track of various fitness metrics.

However, a new report claims smartphones are just as good (if not slightly better) at tracking physical activity as the most popular wearables on the market.

I can’t wait to get my hands on an Apple Watch, but there are a few people out there who are less than excited by the prospect of a miniature computer you can wear on your wrist. Case in point: exam moderators.

Ahead of the Apple Watch going on sale, universities in the U.K. are beginning to issue blanket bans on students wearing any kind of watch in the exam hall — based on the fact that those teachers charged with overseeing exams aren’t able to discern the difference between a smartwatch, which could be potentially used to help cheat, and a regular, dumb, tells-the-time watch.

This week: A curiously equipped mystery van has us wondering if Apple’s working on self-driving autos. Plus, we review everything that Apple Watch apps can’t do, Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic gets a cast and not everyone is thrilled, Apple’s plans for a global “data command center,” and Macho Man Randy Savage helps us answer listener questions in an all-new Get to Know Your Cultist.

Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode. Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

Full show notes ahead!

Swatch Group AG isn’t planning to just roll over dead now that Apple is entering the timepiece market. Swatch announced today that it’s preparing its own smartwatch to take on Apple Watch, and it’ll be ready to launch in just three months.

Swatch CEO Nick Hayek was originally skeptical of the smartwatch revolution two years ago, but in an interview with Bloomberg, Hayek said his company is ready to throw its numerous patents into a smartwatch that won’t need daily recharging.

Apple has been working on iOS 8.2 for a while now. Just yesterday, they released iOS 8.2 beta 5 to developers, introducing new changes to WatchKit, the new API for Apple Watch developers.

Given how many betas of iOS 8.2 have come out so far, you might expect that its public release is right around the corner. But a new report suggests we have a long way to go, and the release of iOS 8.2 will be accompanied by an official Apple event — as well as the new MacBook Air.

Today Apple seeded the fifth beta of iOS 8.2 to developers. While nothing too significant seems to have been added, there are some updates to WatchKit.

When the first iPhone came out in 2007, third-party apps were limited affairs: glorified web apps without a lot of access to the iPhone’s more advanced functionality. According to a new blog post from Eleks Labs, a developer working on an Apple Wacth Tesla app, the same could be true of third-party Apple Watch apps when the wearable launches in April.

This week: Apple has its best quarter ever, Apple Watch is coming in April and the best parts of the iOS 8.1.3 and Yosemite 10.10.2 updates. Plus, Disney considers a reboot of the beloved Indiana Jones movies, and then things really go off the rails in Facts of Life, a new game where we mix real facts with fake ones, then guess which is which!

Our thanks to Varidesk for supporting this episode. With models starting at just $275, Varidesk is a high-quality, inexpensive way to get started with a standing desk. And you should absolutely check them out, because moving to a standing desk will change your life.

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I’ll admit it: I don’t think I want an Apple Watch. I don’t need another screen to notify me about what’s happening on another screen.

That’s what I think now. But I’m not arrogant enough to believe Apple might not prove me wrong. They’ve certainly proven me wrong before.

Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you think the Apple Watch isn’t something you want, but you’re worried that the second you see one, you’ll want one. You’re right to be worried. Apple Watches are starting to be spotted in the wild. And the people who see them are immediately turning into believers.

China’s elite class overwhelmingly prefers Apple products for gift giving, even more so than luxury fashion brands like Gucci and Chanel.

An interesting survey conducted by Hurun asked 376 Mainland Chinese millionaires about their buying habits, and their responses also bode quite favorably for the forthcoming Apple Watch.

At least one of the big boys is planning on developing an app for the Apple Watch. eBay has posted an ad listing, looking for a developer to help them come up with a bidding app for Cupertino’s new smartwatch.

Apple closed its earnings call this afternoon after announcing an unprecedented 74.5 million iPhone sales to go along with $74.6 billion in revenue and $18 billion in profits. It broke the record for the most money made by a corporation in history.

While breaking down the Q1 2015 numbers, Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri also gave us some juicy details about what’s in store for 2015 by hinting at new products in the pipeline, as well as subtly dropping the Apple Watch’s release date.

We’ve combed through the numbers and the conference call and found seven huge new revelations every Apple fan needs to know:

During today’s historic Apple earnings call, Tim Cook dropped a subtle bomb on Apple fans by revealing that the Apple Watch is slated to launch in April.

“I’m using it every day and I love it and I can’t live without it,” Cook said.

While he didn’t give a specific release date for the wearable, it’s the first time Apple’s narrowed down the launch beyond “early 2015.” Cook said Apple considers “early” to be sometime within the first four months of the year, so the Apple Watch is right on target.

This week: Why Apple Watch will win the wrist war, we snap a pic with Patrick Stewart but he’s not amused, the good and bad of a George Lucas-free Star Wars 7, Microsoft’s new HoloLens looks incredible, and we reveal some of our favorite apps and gear on an all-new Under Review.

Our thanks to Automatic for supporting this episode. Plug Automatic into your car’s data port, and their beautiful app will show you where you parked, learn how to save fuel with tips based on your actual driving, and even diagnose and turn off your car’s check engine light.

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