Your next smartphone is a watch
When iPad first launched, the most biting critique was that it was fine for watching and reading, but you couldn’t make anything with it.
That hit Steve Jobs hard. He felt Apple should build products that unlock creativity, not turn people into passive couch potatoes.
Over time, of course, iPad got better and the critics were proved wrong. Today Apple takes every opportunity to show off iPad’s ability to create songs and edit movies. More and more people use iPad or other tablets as their primary device at home, while travelling, and, increasingly, at work.
The extraordinary pace with which technology changes people’s approach to work and play is one of the reasons last week’s Apple event was the subject of such overwhelming anticipation. If iPhone changed the world in its first ten years, what did the kids in Cupertino dream up to rock our lives in the next ten?
Behold iPhone. Beware Watch.
The answer, at least at first blush, turned out to be iPhone X. A stunning new device that will bring sophisticated face recognition, Augmented Reality, and machine learning to the masses.
But Apple also launched something else last week: a device that may turn out to be the better indicator of the future of the smartphone. It was Apple Watch Series 3 — now with its own independent cellular connection.
Apple Watch hasn’t exactly taken the world by storm. It may be the world’s highest-selling watch, but it’s still comparatively rare to see one in the wild. That’s partly because, well, it doesn’t really do anything. Notifications — meh. Heart rate monitor — thanks a bunch. Exercise rings — maybe they care in Cupertino.
Until now. Because now your watch… can be your phone.
And that’s a big deal. Of all the amazing apps that the smartphone revolution has unleashed, the raddest app of all is the good old-fashioned telephone. It’s the one reason we absolutely definitely can’t leave our house without it.
Of course, telephony is hardly the only reason we can’t live without our luminescent bricks. Calendars, maps, messaging services, social media, and web browsing are also deeply compelling tools. They’re just tools that Watch already had in the box, even before last week’s unveiling.
Leaving the house naked
Still, Watch is a watch and a smartphone is a 5-inch plus screen with a functioning keyboard, camera and speaker system. Could Watch with cellular really allow us to walk out the door without that comforting piece of polished aluminium rubbing against our jeans?
Not yet — but soon.
Just look at iPad. A device once seen as a small screen TV is now the only computer used by many households. The growing desire of professionals to use their tablet for work has led to a re-think of what the different elements of work actually are and how they can be increasingly performed as effectively or more on a tablet device.
Similarly, today we look at consumer behaviour and find it hard to imagine that the functions performed by the almighty smartphone might be split up into specific use cases for which other form factors are better suited.
Sport and exercise is the obvious starting point, which is why Apple focuses its Watch marketing so intensely on fitness fanatics. What runner wouldn’t want to go out in pocketless shorts with just a watch to keep track of their pace and stay digitally connected?
Many more scenarios like these will emerge. While it’s hard to imagine dictating texts on a packed London tube train, it’s far easier to see how frequent car users could rely on a smart watch and a connected car to do everything they need without an oblong block to lug around as well.
The same goes for homebodies who will talk to their Alexa or Google Home assistant instead of searching for their phone to play music, check the web, or chat to friends. And this is all before we have the first high-quality AR-enabled glasses or contact lenses. Once the world becomes a screen, all bets are off.
A smartphone-less future
iPhone X is an incredible advance that puts stunning new technologies in the hands of ordinary consumers.
But in pushing the bar so high, Apple has essentially admitted that the core smartphone offer is a commodity. We are moving to an era where the smartphone is the high-powered computer designed for pros and gamers. Your teenage cousin may need to beam AR dinosaurs onto the local basketball court to play with his friends. You just need Facebook.
Enter Apple Watch Series 3. The first salvo in a new war. A war that will push all the functionality we now take for granted into an ever more expansive set of devices and form factors.
Ten years ago, the phone became smart. In the next ten, everything else will follow.
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