Why Apple's iWatch Might Work

Rumors that Apple will release an iWatch in 2013 are escalating. We've even heard Apple is buying small displays.

There has been much discussion about the idea and a lot of speculation as to what it will do. For one thing, it will give the time. For another, it will be a phone. Specifically, it will have to sync with an Apple earpiece via Bluetooth. This is now the Dick Tracy watch of 2013.

What else would the watch do? Stream music, of course. But since you'd wear the watch on your wrist, it seems unlikely that you'd plug earbuds into it for fear of tangled wires. For that reason, any such iWatch must be accompanied by a set of Bluetooth headphones. Sure it'll take some effort, but because the phone will require Bluetooth there is no reason not to make the wireless earbuds with a mic somehow incorporated.

Can you visualize all this? Do you think anyone except the most ardent fanboy would actually buy and wear one? I sure don't, but I also didn't expect half of the San Francisco Bay Area to become dweebified by Google Glass. When you see someone with the Google Glass on, ask them the time.

And in case you were unaware, there are already numerous phone watches out there but nobody has repackaged any of them for the U.S. market as far as I know. Still, the technology is there but the designs are mostly are thick, clunky, and very un-Apple.

The problem with a smartwatch is that they are mostly irrelevant in a world where people can check the time on their cell phone. And the cell phone is more than just a phone. More than half of all smartphone users run a browser on the thing to surf the Web. This is not possible on a wristwatch and that's why the watch seems like a non-starter to me.

Apple does need some new items to sell in its stores, however, and a watch would draw in customers. But it would not have a tenth of the draw that a 4K Apple TV would have. I might go look at the wristwatch if I was walking right past an Apple Store but I would not go out of my way like I would for the TV set.

Apple needs new products and it needs to think big. An iWatch is certainly not thinking big. It's time for an Apple TV.