MACFORMAT INVESTIGATES
the apple watch has brushed aside its rivals and now dominates the smartwatch world. we take a look at how it ascended to the throne of wearable royalty.
How the Apple Watch took over the world
Apple fans are used to divided, even hostile receptions from the tech press whenever a new Apple product comes along. But even so, the reaction to the Apple Watch in its early days took us by surprise. It was declared a disaster from the moment it went on sale, with the public repeatedly being told by news outlets that no one wanted to buy an Apple Watch. It was too expensive, not innovative enough, lacking a purpose; if you can imagine an accusation, it was probably levelled at the Watch at some point. It was also the first new Apple product category developed under Tim Cook’s leadership, conveniently allowing the people to continue the belated hagiography of Steve Jobs and peddle the idea that Cook was an unworthy successor.
Yet through all this, Apple remained steadfast in its claims that the Watch was doing more than fine. In fact, in September 2017 Tim Cook revealed it was the best-selling watch in the world – not just the best-selling smartwatch, but the best-selling watch full stop, smart or otherwise. Since then it’s powered on, taking the lion’s share of the smartwatch industry and taking an almost unassailable lead over its rivals.
So how did Apple overcome such a hostile press corps to outsell traditional watchmaking giants like Rolex and Swatch, as well as smartwatch competitors such as Fitbit and Samsung? We decided to investigate.
Fitness first
We last took a detailed look at the Apple Watch in our Autumn 2017 issue (MF #318). Back then, the Watch was in the ascendancy; 2016’s Series 2 had added GPS functionality and pivoted the device more towards the fitness world than the fashion sphere. The Series 3 had only just launched, but it was clear even then that it would be another important step in the right direction for Apple’s wearable.
These days, the Watch is on top of the world. Strategy Analytics reported in August 2019 that
Apple had gobbled up almost half the global smartwatch market, with the Watch taking a massive 46.4% share. Apple sold 5.7 million smartwatches in the second quarter of 2019, the analytics firm said, placing it a long way ahead of its rivals. Apple’s closest rival, Samsung, languished far behind in second place, making up a mere 15.9% of the market.
One thing that has helped ensure this dominance is Apple’s aforementioned turn towards fitness. When the original Watch launched, the focus was very much on fashion. It was originally stocked in high-end outlets like Selfridges in London and Maxfield in Los Angeles, with a gold Apple Watch Edition starting at an eye-popping £8,000.
However, Apple quickly realised that health and fitness was where the Watch’s future lay. A year after the Watch’s debut, Apple launched the sport-oriented Apple Watch Nike+ and added GPS functionality and deeper water resistance, both of which were aimed at users who wanted to better understand their health when using a Watch.
The results were tangible. In January 2017, just a few months after the Watch Series 2 launched, Apple announced that the Apple Watch had set an all-time revenue record for the company during the previous quarter. Although Apple remained tight-lipped about the exact numbers sold and revenue made, analytics firm Canalys estimated that the company raked in $2.6 billion from Apple Watch sales during this time, taking 80% of the entire smartwatch industry’s total revenue. The benefits of the new fitness focus and the features that came with it were obvious.
Apple quickly realised that health and fitness was where the Watch’s future lay
These days, Apple maintains a high-end Hermès version of the Watch, but it barely gets a mention at Apple’s events compared to the fitness features being touted in the latest version. And it’s pushing ahead in health by adding tools like an ECG monitor and falldetection features to the Watch, thereby helping to cement the device’s position as the health and fitness wearable to own.
Magical freedom
The next big step for the Watch came with the launch of the Series 3 model, which added cellular functionality. This meant that for the first time you didn’t need to bring your iPhone with you when you went out with your Watch. You could stream podcasts, reply to texts and even take calls on the go, all while your phone stayed at home. Gizmodo’s Alex Cranz described it as “magical”, adding that it made her feel she was “living in some cool dream.” That magical feeling is something Apple is so good at conjuring up, and removing the fetters tying your Watch to your iPhone helped to do exactly that.
The most important element of this change, though, may not have been the practical side – it may have been the change in thinking that it allowed. Now, the Apple Watch was able to break free from the iPhone and be a separate device in its own right. It meant we could no longer just think of it as an extension of the iPhone, hobbled without it and enhanced with it. Instead, it was now something independent that could stand on its own two feet.
What makes this interesting is that Apple has achieved this while still making the Watch a firm family member in the Apple ecosystem. These days you don’t need to have any other Apple device alongside the Watch when you take it out (although you’ll need an iPhone to set it up), but your experience is absolutely enhanced if you do.
For example, your Watch can unlock your Mac automatically when you sit down at your desk. You can control your Apple TV by using your Watch as a remote. And it all ties in with Apple’s services, like Apple Pay and Apple Music. Apple has seamlessly integrated the Watch into its ecosystem in such a way as to make it make sense to buy a Watch if you already have other Apple devices.
That’s something Apple’s rivals have been singularly unable to do. Most other smartwatch companies make wearables and nothing else, so their devices are only tangentially connected to the rest of your life. A Fitbit is useful when you go on a run, but it won’t do much for you when you’re sat on your computer.
The one exception is Samsung, which is able to integrate its smartwatches with its range of phones, but even then its ecosystem is limited because Samsung doesn’t make computers. Apple, on the other hand, has been able to integrate the Watch into almost all of its other devices – not just the iPhone, but the Apple TV and HomePod too, not to mention AirPods.
Some people may complain about the ‘locked-down’ Apple ecosystem, but if you buy into it you get a system where everything works together almost seamlessly, and that’s been a major contributor to the Apple Watch taking off where its rivals have stumbled.
That, combined with Apple’s more recent stance of allowing the Watch to gain its own independence, has allowed the Apple Watch to become the most dominant wearable in the world in the last couple of years. And it shows no signs of slowing down now.
With Series 3… the Apple Watch was able to break free from the iPhone