The Amazingly Underwhelming Apple Watch ⇥ 500ish.com

M.G. Siegler:

Believe me, I too am full of Apple Watch gripes. The main issue, in my view, is that I simply never use the apps. And wasn’t that supposed to be the point of the thing? Instead, I use the device almost solely for push notifications, which, don’t get me wrong, are still useful. In fact, some, like the notification you get when an Uber is arriving, are extremely useful. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in terms of overall experience thus far.

And yet, one year later, I’m still wearing the thing every day.

Maybe I’m delusional. But I don’t think so. I feel like I still see a ton of people wearing them around as well. And actually, increasingly so. Yes, I live in San Francisco, so maybe I’m in a bubble (but not the Bubble).

Calgary is in the middle of a recession, but I have also seen a lot more Apple Watches lately while on my commute, on the pathway system, or on the streets. There’s a lot that I’m hoping for, both in software and in hardware, but as far as “failures” or “flops” are concerned, the Watch is a long way off, and the potential is huge.

If apps loaded in a few seconds instead of the 15–30 that they take today and the side button could be reprogrammed — almost any other function would be better than the contacts wheel — that would go a long way towards making the Watch more predictable and useful.