If there’s one thing Apple seems to have nailed down as well as anyone else in the industry, it’s how to make an introduction. We still have plenty of questions about the practicality of the Apple Watch, but very few of us doubt that Apple is going to find a way to sell its first wearable device when it launches next year. In fact, the most vocal detractor of Apple’s smartwatch so far appears to be one of its former employees.
CITEworld reports that Andy Grignon, a former senior manager and one of the original iPhone designers, spoke at a Wearable Wednesday event called “Rise of the Smart Watch” earlier this week, theorizing that the Apple Watch might be subjected to the same challenges as the iPhone.
Shortly after the iPhone launched, making phone calls began a swift descent down the list of most wanted features of a smartphone. Earlier this month, Apple spent a great deal of time discussing how the Apple Watch would be able to track time, but the “watch” feature of the device is one of the last things a potential customer will be interested in.
“We don’t know, based on what we wear, what we’re going to want in the future,” Grignon noted.
An even bigger issue, in Grignon’s eyes, is that Apple isn’t going to find a worthwhile way to make use of all the health data it will be collecting. He thinks you’d need sensors all over in order to gather enough data to fully comprehend the human body. Grignon doesn’t think Apple is up to the challenge. When it comes to putting large amounts of data to good use, “they’re terrible,” Grignon says.
