Apple Watch - page 104

In the business world, Apple entering your product category is a little bit like a tsunami crashing into a home aquarium. What had previously seemed like a nice, small and self-contained ecosystem suddenly runs the risk of being obliterated by a giant wave-maker.

When Tim Cook announced the Apple Watch at Apple’s recent media event, the crowd went wild. But exciting as it was for consumers, it represents a seismic shift for the currently $330 million wearable tech industry.

Devices that can serve up smartphone notifications, track fitness goals and even advise us on health matters have the potential to be huge — but they’re not yet. That’s about to change, according to Juniper Research, which forecasts that wearable devices like smartwatches could hit sales of $19 billion by 2018.

What happens to Apple’s marketplace rivals as this sea change takes place? Cult of Mac did some digging to find out how companies like Jawbone and Fitbit plan to survive Apple’s smartwatch revolution.

Aside from the fact that it features a “flexible Retina display” and is capable of “reading” both soft and hard presses, Apple hasn’t let much out of the bag about the sapphire display for its eagerly-anticipated Apple Watch.

A new report from research firm NPD DisplaySearch has a bit more to say, however — including the price Apple is apparently paying for the sapphire laminate panels it’s using for its wearables debut.

From the iPhone to the iPad, immediate reactions are always mixed on new Apple products, as the public struggles to wrap its head around Cupertino’s next bold idea. And so we hear a lot of warrantless criticism until the product actually lands on shelves.

One refrain we’re hearing a lot from Apple Watch critics is that Jony Ive may have dropped the ball with the Apple Watch design. The problem? To these critics, the Apple Watch’s casing looks shockingly thick.

As it turns out, though, this is largely an optical illusion. The Apple Watch isn’t really any thicker than a Rolex.

The reviews are in! We’ll tell you what people love and don’t about the iPhone 6… Then, RIP, iPod Classic. We remember the humble beginnings of the device that built the new Apple. And finally, Apple announced a base price of $349 for the Apple Watch, sure, but the prices for the other editions might make even Rolex envious. All that plus the lesser known features of iOS 8; how to get U2 out of your iTunes; and a new social video app has us taking more selfies than ever.

Titter your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode! Squarespace is the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website, portfolio, and online store. For a free trial and 10% off, visit Squarespace.com and enter offer code “CultCast” at checkout.

Just 11 percent of respondees to a survey about new Apple products plan to buy an Apple Watch, according to 6,000 people quizzed by Canadian investment bank, RBC Capital Markets.

A further 24 percent said they were uncertain. Given that Apple Watch is Apple’s first major new product category since the iPad this is bad news if it carries through to the tech-buying customer base at large.

While it’s far from good for Apple, however, it’s also not entirely unsurprising. The smart watch/wearables industry has remained relatively niche up until now, with other rival products like the Samsung Galaxy Gear proving to be flops in the market place.

Apple Watch’s customization factor is going to be a huge sell to fashion-conscious, but for some would-be Apple Watch wearers wanting to stand out from the herd, Jony Ive’s simplistic design is a little too reserved.

Not satisfied with Apple’s band offerings, the fashion focused crew at High Snobiety has reimagine what the Apple would would look like if some of the most famous fashion brands in the world got a chance to redesign it. Can you match the fashion brand to the luxury Apple Watch concept?

Take a look at the gorgeous mockups below.

For a certain subset of Apple fans, the only thing more exciting than Cupertino unleashing a new device upon the world is the box they choose to unleash it in. Apple is famous for its sexy, minimalist packaging design, and when the Apple Watch hits the market in 2015, we are expecting it to come in a box worthy of its luxury watch status.

Of course, what that box will actually look like is anyone’s guess. But Evelio Mattos of Design Packaging has released a stunning Apple Watch concept that isn’t just sexy, but has a killer hidden feature: the box doubles as an iPhone dock!

CUPERTINO, California — I’m a sports photographer, not a tech blogger, so I felt out of place shooting Apple’s big iPhone 6 press event with my iPhone 5s.

Baseball is what I do — I’ve shot nine Sports Illustrated covers — but I swear it was easier getting field access to shoot a World Series game at Fenway Park than dealing with all the people and security at Apple’s event.

This thing was a free-for-all. It was crazy. The place was flooded with media types from all over the world, all standing in line to get into the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, where the event was held.

Apple is reportedly aiming to sell upwards of 50 million Apple Watches in 2015.

The news comes via a new report from Digitimes, which claims that Apple has placed orders for shipments of up to five million AMOLED panels per month throughout the year. These screens will be used as the innovative touch-sensitive display for Apple’s wearables debut.

The Apple Watch Sport may start at a mere $349, but the product line’s price point could well soar from there!

According to Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber, Apple’s 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition may sell for as much as $4,999.

“Most people think I’m joking when I say the gold ones are going to start at $5,000,” Gruber writes in a new blog post. “I couldn’t be more serious.”

Motoring experts in the UK have warned that individuals using their Apple Watch while driving will face the same penalties as those caught using a mobile phone.

The words of caution come from road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), reportedly backed up by the country’s Department of Transport.

In the United Kingdom, this would mean that a driver caught using their Apple Watch while driving faces a £100 ($163) fine and three penalty points on their license.

“An Apple Watch has the potential to be just as distracting as any other smartphone device, indeed more so if you have to take you hand off the wheel to interact with it,” an IAM spokesperson told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

While cellphones have come a long way in a very short time — from the Wall Street bricks of the 1980s, to the gorgeous iPhone 6 devices of today — a new article from Wired argues that innovation takes place much more slowly in watch land: something that could spell trouble for Apple.

With insights from watch and clock historian Alexis McCrossen, the article notes that attempts to reinvent the watch have historically proven difficult, with a key example being the world’s very first electronic watch: the $2,100 Pulsar 1 from 1972.

Despite there being “very similar hopes to those swirling around the Apple Watch” the article points out that “a decade later, most watch-buyers were still expecting the same kind of analog features they’d wanted for years.”

Tim Cook may have been on the receiving end of welcoming notes from other watchmakers now the Apple Watch has been announced, but not every note has been so friendly.

On Monday, the office of Connecticut attorney general George Jepsen revealed that he had sent an open letter to Tim Cook noting concerns about the privacy implications of Apple Watch, particularly related to the handling of health data.

Call alerts are all well and good but — even on the Apple Watch, when they’re being delivered directly to your wrist — it’s likely that there will be situations when users won’t be aware of them, and could miss important calls or alerts as a result.

Apple’s trying to crack that problem with a new patent published Tuesday, describing a “Self adapting alert device” that would vary the volume or style of user notifications to your iPhone or Apple Watch depending on where you are at the time.

Apple Watch and its revolutionary UI were in the making for three years, and even though it was revealed less than a week ago, it only took Android Wear four days to copy it.

Android Wear users who don’t want to wait until early 2015 to try Apple’s UI can get a taste of neutered version of it via a copycat watchface called Pear from UhrArt that imitates the bubbly homescreen of Apple Watch.

TAG Heuer is not the only watchmaker taking notice of the Apple Watch.

Cindy Livingston, CEO of Guess Watches, has written an open letter to Tim Cook about the Apple Watch. And like TAG Heuer, it appears that Livingston is more interested in the excitement and creativity that Apple brings to the watch world than scared and defensive, saying that Guess is looking forward to the “new challenge to remain relevant” that the Apple Watch presents them.

Now that Apple has entered the watch game, even the horological old guard is starting to take notice. Just a few days after Apple unveiled the Apple Watch, Swiss luxury watchmaker TAG Heuer has announced that it’s planning on making a smartwatch too … although they say they don’t just want to copy the Apple Watch.

It’s been a huge week for Apple news, with the special event this past Tuesday along with a few stories you may have missed. Watch Cult of Mac’s news roundup to see the latest on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the Apple Watch, U2’s latest album and another new product market Apple might be entering.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

Get your free seven-day trial of Lynda.com right here!

Apple fans will never revel in the glory of another Stevenote. But an essay that imagines how Steve Jobs would have introduced the Apple Watch just might be the next best thing.

Lesson No. 1: He wouldn’t have called it the “Apple Watch.”

The Apple Watch isn’t coming out for months, but that isn’t stopping rumors from surfacing about future hardware iterations. Apple has plans for tracking much more about your health than what its Watch can do currently.

Apple clearly wants its new watch to be more than just a cool gadget. It’s no coincidence that Tuesday’s event falls in line with New York Fashion Week, a time of the year when the world’s top designers look for new tech to accessorize their outfits.

Journalists and prominent figures in the fashion industry were invited alongside the usual tech press to the Apple Watch’s unveiling. The fashion world’s initial reactions are mostly positive, but some question the device’s appeal to women.

From books to phones, Apple’s named everything with the same “i” moniker since 1998. With the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, however, it looks like that convention is set to change. 

Cult of Mac reached out to Ken Segall — the former Apple employee who started the tradition with the original iMac — for his surprising reaction to Apple ditching his naming convention for new product categories.

Decision time: Which iPhone 6 is right for you? We’ll walk you though the features of both new iPhones to help you make that very decision in time for the Sept. 12th pre-order. Plus, will Apple Pay be replacing our wallets? We’ll tell you our thoughts and musings. And of course, the Apple Watch—we’ll review its features and reveal our initial impressions. And finally… he did it… Tim Cook brought back the One. More. Thing. Some of us are thrilled. Some of us aren’t. Hit play for all that and more.

Titter your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

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.

Hey, at least give Samsung credit for being quick off the mark.

Apple’s Tuesday keynote is only days old and already professional Apple spoofer Samsung has released a new series of ads skewering Cupertino’s latest developments — from its Apple Watch to its problematic live feed.

There are six ads in total, all designed to advertize the Galaxy Note 4, although barely any time is given to talking up Samsung’s own products, since the company clearly feels it’s better off trying to tear down its leading competitor.