iWatch Made of "Curved Glass"? iStill Doubt it. But iCould be Convinced.

I wrote a post, about a week or so ago, expressing skepticism about the Apple iWatch rumors. 

Basically, my thought process boiled down to "People wouldn't want to show off an iWatch, so Apple shouldn't make one". And still the rumors continue to build....

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Apple was experimenting with some sort of curved-glass wristwatch, which would have some iOS functionality. I still didn't get it, and wrote it off as an "Apple HDTV" type of wish-rumor. 

After all, it's been a few years since Steve Jobs wowed us all with the iPad. Tablets are mainstream now. We want to be astounded by Apple again. So we look around our houses and try to figure out what products Apple could improve upon. And for the moment, the idea is wristwatches. 

For all of the reasons I laid out last week, I'm not seeing a wristwatch as the Next Big Thing from Apple. I would much rather see an iRemote platform, which could massively simplify our electronic lives, while giving the iPad mini a true raison d'etre.

I could still be convinced. 

But the watch will have to have incredibly long battery life - if I have to plug the watch in every night, I'm unlikely to stick with it. In fact, even if it needs to be charged every third day, I'm unlikely to wear it. 

In order to provide that long battery life, the iWatch would have to be a "companion" device - relying on a linked iPhone for heavy lifting, and just displaying information from the iPhone. 

And honestly, for me, personally... I don't know if a "curved glass" watch is something I'd want to wear. Any way this tech can be crammed into a standard metal casing?

Fitness Tracking

Last fall, I wore a Nike FuelBand for a few months, as a part of a "most steps" fitness contest that I lost by, seemingly, hundreds of miles. I was so far out of the running that I sold the FuelBand on eBay before the contest was even over. But it was still an impressive product. 

The most impressive feature was the integration with an iOS app via Bluetooth. The steps I'd take would show up in the iOS app in almost real-time - but it was still simpler to glance at the FuelBand for my stats. 

An iWatch could provide that functionality - literally, it could be a Nike FuelBand / FitBit type of pedometer product. Still, I had to recharge that FuelBand almost every night. Apple would have to do better. 

Siri 

This is one aspect I hadn't considered. If the iWatch is capable of working as a Siri iPhone "companion", it could be very helpful. 

It probably couldn't handle Siri functions natively - it would have no cellular radio, not enough processor, and not enough battery - but if it could relay Siri commands to an iPhone via Bluetooth, and provide responses via a speaker/headset.... well, that functionality alone could sell a few million watches. 

Security

This is one aspect I hadn't considered, but that AskTOG really brought to the forefront. An iWatch could be used to ensure that your iPhone is only usable by you - if the iPhone is removed from the iWatch's range, it's perma-locked. If it's within range of the iWatch, you don't even need a passcode to unlock. 

This could theoretically carry over to website logins and passwords - if the watch is within range, the iWatch automatically populates password forms for you on your iPhone. 

And if an iWatch is removed from the user's wrist, it would lose all of that functionality, until it was re-authenticated, put back on, and re-paired with the iPhone.

Bottom Line

I still don't think this is likely. I'm still going to focus my hopes on Apple producing software and hardware that can centralize our home theaters and home automation. 

But today, I can accept that a world exists in which Apple can produce a wrist device that I'd want to buy.