Thursday marks the tenth anniversary of the original Apple Watch’s ship date. (It was announced in September 2014 but didn’t ship until April the following year.)
As I wrote on Wednesday, I’ve integrated the Apple Watch into my life just as so many Six Colors readers have. While I might not be completely sold on wearing it when I sleep, I do rely on it to monitor my workouts (yes, including when I’m curling!), send me notifications, and to play podcasts or stream live shows when I’m out and about with my AirPods.
And Apple Pay! Almost all of my Apple Pay transactions are done via my watch. If I could pay for absolutely everything with a tap of my watch, I would be quite happy—and frankly, we’re pretty close to getting there now. I also use Apple Watch and Home Key to unlock my front door. It’s the best.
My Apple Watch dream was to be able to run unencumbered by an iPhone, and that dream was realized about six years ago. The cellular Apple Watch isn’t for everyone, but I love being able to leave home and know that I’m still connected if there’s an emergency. When I tripped on a curb and fell while running a few years back, I didn’t need to take advantage of the watch’s Fall Detection feature, but it offered! I still used it to call my wife and tell her I was walking home and driving myself to the ER.
What’s striking about reading my initial impressions of the first Apple watch as well as Dan’s first is how so much of the watch is pretty much the same as it was ten years ago. While the Apple Watch Ultra adds a new styling, I’m on a Series 10, and it’s just a differently-proportioned (thinner, bigger face, much larger screen) version of the original. Not that I’m complaining—I like the way the Apple Watch looks. I am a little surprised that, ten years later, all the bands I bought for the original model still fit my Series 10. (Surely that ride can’t last forever?)
In hindsight, the original watch was woefully underpowered and basically tethered to its iPhone, which it relied on for almost everything. But over the years, as it’s become more powerful and independent, it’s remained familiar. I think there are some advantages to that, but it’s also arguably a sign that the Apple Watch might need a more aggressive rethink. There are so many ways that it hasn’t changed in a decade.
Back in 2015, I complained that there weren’t enough watch face choices, and while there are many more now, it still feels like Apple has underperformed on this important aspect of the watch. Face development is slow, older faces rarely, if ever, get updated—leading to the embarrassing fact that older faces can’t use the second-by-second tick feature enabled by the most modern watch display—and many faces are severely limited in the placement of complications.
When the Apple Watch was announced, the fluoroelastomer Sport Band looked to be a weirdly cheap option when compared to a real leather watch band. I have bought a few leather watch bands over the years, but the truth is that I love the Sport Band, it doesn’t feel cheap, and only the more recently introduced Braided Loop comes close to matching it in my affections. (I love the Braided Loop, but they’re expensive and tend to stretch, and it’s a bummer to have to stop wearing a well-loved band because it’s gotten too loose.)
And oh yeah, remember the weird Friends interface (long since dispatched) and Digital Touch (which still exists)? New Apple products often come with some wild feature ideas that fall apart the moment they come into contact with customers. I’m glad they tried—but I’m also glad that they showed the grace to course correct when needed.
Back in 2014, a lot of pundits wrote silly stories about how Apple had to have a new hit product that could match the iPhone. It was a lot of pressure on the Apple Watch, which was never going to be anything but an iPhone accessory. But the truth is, from the perspective of a decade, the Apple Watch has been a successful addition to Apple’s product line. Nothing was going to be the “next iPhone.” But the Apple Watch has been quite good at being its own thing.
If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.