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Thursday marks the tenth anniversary of the original Apple Watch\u2019s ship date. (It was announced in September 2014 but didn\u2019t ship until April the following year.)<\/p>\n
As I wrote on Wednesday<\/a>, I\u2019ve 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\u2019m curling!), send me notifications, and to play podcasts or stream live shows when I\u2019m out and about with my AirPods.<\/p>\n 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\u2014and frankly, we\u2019re pretty close to getting there now. I also use Apple Watch and Home Key<\/a> to unlock my front door. It\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n My Apple Watch dream was to be able to run unencumbered by an iPhone<\/a>, and that dream was realized about six years ago. The cellular Apple Watch isn\u2019t for everyone, but I love being able to leave home and know that I\u2019m still connected if there\u2019s an emergency. When I tripped on a curb and fell while running a few years back, I didn\u2019t need to take advantage of the watch\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n What\u2019s striking about reading my initial impressions of the first Apple watch<\/a> as well as Dan\u2019s first<\/a> 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\u2019m on a Series 10, and it\u2019s just a differently-proportioned (thinner, bigger face, much larger screen) version of the original. Not that I\u2019m complaining\u2014I 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\u2019t last forever?)<\/p>\n 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\u2019s become more powerful and independent, it\u2019s remained familiar. I think there are some advantages to that, but it\u2019s also arguably a sign that the Apple Watch might need a more aggressive rethink. There are so many ways that it hasn\u2019t changed in a decade.<\/p>\n Back in 2015, I complained that there weren\u2019t 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\u2014leading to the embarrassing fact that older faces can\u2019t use the second-by-second tick feature enabled by the most modern watch display\u2014and many faces are severely limited in the placement of complications.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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\u2019re expensive and tend to stretch, and it\u2019s a bummer to have to stop wearing a well-loved band because it\u2019s gotten too loose.)<\/p>\n 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\u2019m glad they tried\u2014but I\u2019m also glad that they showed the grace to course correct when needed.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s product line. Nothing was going to be the \u201cnext iPhone.\u201d But the Apple Watch has been quite good at being its own thing.<\/p>\n