With Apple’s announcement of the Apple Watch this week, it feels as though the “war for your wrist” is finally beginning. Up until now, we have seen releases from other tech juggernauts such as Samsung and Motorola to mixed reviews – er, actually to largely negative reviews. Though each review would point out the technical and practical (more on that later) shortcomings of the device, almost every review would end on the same chord: “just wait until the iWatch comes out…” We have heard this mantra for months. We have sat through the raw speculation about what Apple may or may do in this category. Overall, the sentiment has been hopeful – we don’t know what exactly we want in a smartwatch, but leave it to Apple to release the product we are all waiting for. After all, history speaks for itself – the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Clearly, Apple has tech’s most desired ability: to push new technologies to the mainstream and build a new product category.

So this week, the long awaited announcement finally arrived. Since the internet is full of techies pouring over the specs of this device (are we seriously comparing screen pixels on a 1 inch screen?!), I will save myself (and you) the detail on everything Apple announced – the specs, “use” cases, and cool videos. Rather, I want to give my take on the most important question at hand, the elephant in the room that everyone is slowly seeing, which is, “Why the hell do I need to buy a smartwatch?” Once I establish my view on the smartwatch’s purpose, I will comment on the 3 key areas that companies need to prioritize in order to convince us that a smartwatch is worth our time (hehe I crack myself up).

So far, it seems as though tech companies have been attempting to take the functionality and user interface (UI) of our smartphones and bring them to our wrists. A sure sign of this is when a smartwatch feature description ends with “…just like on your smartphone.” This is a red flag. This is all wrong. This is the core problem with smartwatches to date: a smartwatch is not a smartphone. It never will be. It’s not supposed to be.

A smartwatch is a smartphone accessory. The purpose of an accessory is to perform a specific function(s) better than the product it is accessorizing.

In this sense, the true measure of value for smartwatches, in my eyes, is not how many features it has, but rather 1) what things can it do better than my smartphone, and if applicable, 2) what functions can it do above and beyond my smartphone? To this end, I don’t have all of the answers yet. Nobody does. If we did, these futuristic time pieces would be flying off the shelves faster than it takes you to check the time on your Fossil.

Nonetheless, I will offer three pieces of advice regarding functionality that can convince attract customers:

1) Notifications – Make them seamless. Make them subtle.
Like it or not, the physical motion of reaching into your pocket/purse, retrieving your phone, checking for notifications, and placing your phone back in your pocket, is actually a pain. It is distracting to the person we may be interacting with. It is a hassle if we are doing things with our hands. And it all may be for nothing – we often don’t know if that vibration/sound alert even matters to us at that moment. By enabling our smartwatch to feed us relevant information when we need it, with minimal interaction required on our part, would demonstrate immense value. The watch should utilize your calendar and location to push information that is relevant to you. For example – leaving for work? Here is the weather outside, traffic along your commute, meetings for the day, etc. You decide what you want to see and the watch will give you this info when you need it. Even better – don’t make me swipe the watch or turn any knob to navigate between pieces of information – make this possible with a turn outward/inward of my wrist. Look Ma! No Hands! Oh, and speaking of Mom, seamless notifications would eliminate the excuse (and I like to believe her in this case) that “I missed your call because my phone was in my purse!” Boom, never again. Time to come up with a new excuse to ignore me 🙂

2) Navigation – Discover a destination on your phone. Travel there on your wrist.
We have all seen it. A person walking along city streets, face down, glued at their phone, obviously lost, when suddenly…BOOM! They run into a street sign, trip over an increase/decrease in elevation, or bulldoze an unfortunate victim in opposing traffic. Such are the first world problems (this whole article can be classified first world problems) we face. But imagine this. Before I leave for a destination I find it on my phone and start the navigation. Then, wait for it, I put my phone away. What next? I look at my wrist and there is the first piece of instruction “walk 500m on X road”. Once I have this info, I can actually walk while enjoying the world around me. When I approach the action point (turn, etc.) my watch buzzes slightly to notify me to check my wrist. I perform the turn. Then repeat the process again until I arrive. This is great for walking, but even works for driving. Even better for driving, it could have a low quality speaker for voice instruction. Lastly for navigation, the 3rd party app potential is amazing. Picture this you avid runners: based on any location, your watch can push you running routes in the area, then with one click, you begin your run and your watch keeps time, distance, heart rate – all at the same time that it subtly gives you directions.

3) Voice messaging – translate voice to text for quick communication
With a small screen size, I do not want to try to formulate messages by texting via using swipes, scrolls, or button pushing. Rather, voice commands should dominate any communication on the smartwatch. However, as playing voice messages are awkward for many people, since playing them aloud in public places may prove problematic, I think voice messages should be accurately translated to texts. In this case, we can respond to texts with a quick voice command that is then converted to text. Much quicker response channel to messages. No texting needed.

The above three examples demonstrate things a smartwatch can perform better than a smartphone. However, there are a couple other factors to consider if this product is to be a success:

1) Battery life
Current Smartwatch models have battery lives of about a single day. The main complaint against this is twofold: 1) this is just another device we need to worry about charging each night, and 2) If I don’t return home at night, I’m stuck with a dead object on my wrist. These two points are valid. Ideally, I believe the smartwatch should last at least two days. Unfortunately, battery advancements have progressed much slower than chip processing power advancements, so this may not be achievable. Nonetheless, if my smartwatch can last 24 hrs, I think that’s enough. Why? I am already accustomed to charging my smartphone on a nightly basis, so one more outlet won’t hurt. Also, if I stay somewhere unexpectedly, my smartphone will likely be dead anyways, and if so, my smartwatch would be rendered useless. Thus, as the smartwatch functions as a smartphone accessory, I believe it only needs to have the battery power of the smartphone.
2) Design
One of the biggest criticisms of the smartwatch has been from traditional watch enthusiasts in that traditional watches offer the design, status, and craftsmanship that smartwatches can’t compare to. Thus, there will always be a place for smartwatches. However, I feel as though this opinion is shortsighted, and fear that watches may go the route of cameras in a decade. Sure, enthusiasts will still buy them, but the masses will opt to purchase smartwatches. As a result, I encourage watch designers to accept this shift sooner rather than later, and work with smartwatch manufacturers (namely Apple due to its high end brand) to produce specialized bands and faces for smartwatches. This can add a degree of personalization to the smartwatch category, not to mention a large amount of status. The watch can say profound things about the owner’s personality. Watch owners do not want the same watch as the next guy/gal. Thus, Apple needs to bring in designers to make the smartwatch just as personal as regular luxury watches.

In the end, the smartwatch has a long way to go. Rather than preach about the number of features smartwatches have in common with smartphones, tech companies need to focus on the true value proposition of smartwatches: what can they do better than smartphones? To do this, these companies need to position the smartwatch as a smartphone companion – a device that enhances the functionality of your phone. If companies focus on selling the purpose of the watch, they can begin to change consumer’s mind regarding the purpose of the watch. From there, we can begin to approach a legitimate new product category. We all know that wearables are inevitable. However, the jury is still out as to who will get the product right. And this is exactly why I love technology – it’s anyone’s game.