IDG Contributor Network: Smartwatch wars: Apple Watch vs. Fossil Sport Smartwatch
I believe the evolution of the PC/smartphone will pass through wearable devices on its way to surgically embedded technology (and maybe eventually bio-engineered technology). Currently, the Apple Watch leads the wearable segment, but it under-performs its potential both because Apple locks it to the iPhone (ignoring the other 2/3rds of the smartphone segment which might consider it) and because it sucks as a watch.
This doesn’t mean that the Apple Watch is a bad product. On the contrary — it’s pretty amazing. But the iPod wouldn’t have been as successful had it instead been called the Apple Walkman, because the Walkman was known as a CD player and the iPod certainly wasn’t that. (Remember: The Walkman was the dominant music player prior to the iPod, much like a watch was the dominant wrist worn device prior to the Apple Watch.)