The Smartwatch for Everyone

How the Apple Watch can Change Everyday Life.

In 2014, Apple presented to the world the Apple Watch, it’s first new device since the iPad in 2010, and the company’s first dive into the world of wearable technology. It presented an entirely new, top-down approach to what a smartwatch can do. Yes, there are smartwatches that run Android, and of course there’s devices like the Fitbit, but the Apple Watch has been seen as an object of obsessive hardware design and meticulous and thoughtful software.

However, there’s one issue that has been on everyone’s mind since the launch of the Apple Watch: What is this thing for?

The simple answer is that it’s for people who don’t want to pull out their smartphones during a meeting or during class time, but still want to be connected to what’s going on around them. For these people, having a device that can show text messages, calls, and important information during times when taking a smartphone out is inappropriate or even rude, may be dearly important to them for a variety of reasons, but try to think outside that box for a minute.

Think about all the things you carry in your pocket. You have a set of keys, a car remote, a wallet full of money, cards, and old receipts from Starbucks. If you’re a woman, you’ll also likely have some form of defense and protection device, whether it be a loud beeper or pepper spray. If you have a disability or are an older student, you might have an emergency card in your wallet in case you have a medical emergency for doctors and paramedics. Put all those things together with spare change, business cards, or notes you stuff away, your pockets are probably weighing you down by the time you walk in the door and get ready for dinner.

That’s where the Apple Watch can come in.

The user interface, with it’s ease of use and sophisticated ability to run apps (similar to the iPhone and other smartphones), have massive potential to replace everyday items that you would normally carry in your pocket. For example, if you own a car by Volkswagen, you can use the smartwatch to unlock and check on the engine. Need to pay for food? You can use Apple Pay at your local grocery store. But let’s look at some of the more important functions it can serve.
If you have disabilities, or are alone in the event of an emergency, you could be able to be able to push a button on the watch, and it will not only call Emergency Services, but send a text message and a map of your location to someone who will be able to get to you immediately. On top of tracking your sleep, exercise, and heart rate, a device like the Apple Watch could one day be able to aggregate that data and then show that data to a paramedic to determine if there was an irregularity with the heart during the emergency.

Devices like the Apple Watch could also have an impact in the workplace as well. For example, it could use the Smartphone to receive voice transmissions like a walkie-talkie on the wrist.You could talk to it and it could open the garage door and light up the living room as you walk into your home.

And this is just scratching the surface…