Did Apple Do it Again?
The Apple Watch received its share of attention and press on Monday, and our team pitched in with commentary of our own. The announcement of the watch was a home run, but the challenge now begins. Once the buzz dies down, the real questions will be asked.
A few pundits are comparing this to the iPod launch, but for the wrong reasons. Our design-enamored times make us forget that it was not its looks that made the iPod a success, it was the fact that it made living around music so much more manageable. The iPod’s game-changing value was that it was useful and solved consumers’ challenges in buying, saving, sharing, and every other aspect of managing music.
In a similar fashion, Uber’s success has nothing to do with providing a better car experience. Uber transforms how we make choices about getting from point a to point b and makes it simpler and easier to fit transportation into our day.
And so while its fun to gawk at the $10,000 price tag, don’t get caught up in the emotional manipulation. We shouldn’t be distracted by the lure of Apple’s newest shiny object. The long-term success of the Apple Watch will be dictated by whether it helps people live the 1,440 minutes of each day. As our very own Andrew Holland told CNBC: “The big challenge is in offering something that is truly valuable to the consumer, rather than just a trivial distraction. For this, marketers will need a continuous stream of quality data about the wearer’s behaviors. The areas where it is more obviously relevant are retail, travel and fitness.”