Wearables are now a two-horse race and Google lost very badly

Smart Watch Expectation vs Reality

Let's start with the fact. There's no problem with the demand of smart watch. It is the problem with their expectation.

Apple after selling plenty of iPhone launched the Apple Watch. Apple and the media expectation was that it would sell just as well as the iPhone. That was their mistake. It isn't suppose to.

In reality, smart watch doesn't cover remotely what smart phone can give. Along with the fact that most smart watch need a smart phone to get their feature fully work, overlapped features becomes a non-benefit to smart watch. After you lineup the true additions of the smart watch to smart phone, then the market is left with only a small pool of consumers who wants a smart watch.

It's like high-grade expensive non-smart watch. It has a small pool of consumers who want it anyway, but that's not the same pool of consumers as the smart phone market.

As a result, the smart watch hype leaves only those manufactures who either copied Apple Watch for a smart watch but didn't put in as much investment, and those who manufacture watches from the start get a nice profit from the new smart watch trend, while those large brands like Apple and Google just don't get the returns they expected.

With a poor return on their expectation, it makes sense why they and the media no longer try to market the product since they've already wasted too much money on their initial incorrect marketing investment. If they had lower expectation from the start, they would have been doing much better.

Garmin?

What about Garmin? I felt sure they'd get a mention given how many folks use their tech. Slightly surprised. I guess the trouble with these things is that (like tablets and smartphones) they've not really moved on since they came out (with the exception of when GPS and heart rate became the norm). The test for me was always going to be watching (sorry) Rolex and Omega to see how they responded to the threat. Their answer seems to have been "our customers have two wrists".... Clearly not really seeing it as a threat?

Anything else missing?

"Did you notice anything else missing from Mobile World Congress this year? Apart from any interesting phones?"

Yes, the Catalan leadership, who are either in prison without trial, in exile, or refused to attend in protest as the Spanish king's presence who is accused of condoning acts of state violence against his own subjects.

"But Google saw which way the wind was blowing and began to target brands"

"and the {Fitbit Iconic's] stark design is a matter of taste. You either hate it, or... er... get used to it, it seems."

I think these two statements, in my mind, indicate a positive move for Google/AndroidWear ... they are getting watches made by companies who know what watches are meant to be like. I first got a Sony SW3 ... in many ways a good smartwatch but looks-wise it was a bit clunky (and also a bit like the AppleWatch) and had a key failing that, despite my buting the metal strap version, the watch housing was plastic so it cracked when I dropped it. Since then I've moved to a Fossil smartwatch - its great, it looks like a "proper" watch, its made of metal. In featuers its not quite on par with SW3 (don't think it has its own GPS) or other smartwatches (no HWM - SW3 didn't either) but these aren't things that are essemtial to me.

Another Pebble Fan here

From using the Pebble 2 since the Kickstarter days, I was gutted when I heard about the FitBit purchase.

However, the Ionic is a step in the right direction, and you can see where the Pebble dev team have had their influence. I think with a few software updates, we will be back in Pebble-ish territory.

relevant image

wake me when they get to the gold standard. <http://www.cartoonaday.com/images/cartoons/2014/10/dick-tracy-iphone-watch-598x426.jpg>

Handy lookup chart...

Apple Watch - Barista.

Apple Watch in ceramic - Coke dealer (ex barista).

Samsung - entirely missed the point.

Any other smart watch - North Face wearing saddo. May aspire to Superdry, but kids are so expensive aren't they?

Pebble wearer - Saddo. Clothes so generic as to be not worth commenting on.

Garmin - exercise bore. Has one of those stupid bikes with fold-up wheels. MAMIL.

Fitbit - Fat, middle aged. Getting fatter.

Fitbit blaze - 40-something woman. Soon to be 50-something. Member of book club which she thinks is ironic.

Tag Connected smart watch - more money than sense (which is generally a good place to be).

Seiko - North Face wearing saddo.

Casio - Could be anything really from idiot student to balding accountant.

Obligatory

What watch ? Apple watch.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Th0G8rkhBqg

Like the lady, all the girls I meet wear Apple watches.

Watch as standalone phone could be here but for telcos.

Now for some cognac ...

It's true that Google continues losing the game to its competitors. The typical complaints about Android Wear’s functionality didn’t disappear, even after the latest Wear OS updates: https://madappgang.com/blog/the-best-wear-os-apps-in-2019