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Stop Trying to Make Smartwatches Happen

As long as smartphones are around, forget the rise of the smartwatch.

August 30, 2017
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From my perspective, the first modern smartwatch was 1994's Timex Datalink watch co-developed by Microsoft. You uploaded data like address book and calendar via a screwball kludge mechanism that sent data optically.

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I had a couple of these watches; they were very handy. Back then, mobile phones were scarce, so it made sense to put your info on one of these watches. These days, of course, if you want to know the time (or anything else), you look at your phone.

For reasons beyond my comprehension, smartwatch development has continued, from 2000's IBM watch that ran Linux, the 2004 Microsoft SPOT watch, a 2009 Samsung watch phone, the 2012 Pebble, right on up to 2015's Apple Watch.

But why? By 2007—the advent of the iPhone era—smartwatches were effectively dead. Until the Apple Watch, enthusiasm was always negligible. Cupertino probably sold more watches than every smartwatch maker that came before it. Now, however, it is apparent that this entire idea is going nowhere. Again.

As long as we are carrying the ubiquitous mobile phone, which seems to always be out for texting and photos, there is no real reason to ever have a watch of any kind except to accessorize.

Making the modern smartwatch even less desirable is the ludicrous need to charge the thing constantly, which bucks the long-term trend regarding watches and timepieces. Even the battery-powered Timex-Microsoft watch lasted about three years.

There is always some wishful thinking about a Dick Tracy "two-way radio" phone watch, but they have long been available, at least since 2009 or before, especially in Asia. As long as smartphones are around, forget the rise of the smartwatch.

One writer claimed recently that the reason for the moribund market for these devices is that fact that they should have been marketed to enterprise customers, not consumers. But why? Just one more thing to check at work.

I have seen more than a few Silicon Valley types sporting an Apple Watch. But anyone with serious money is wearing a gold Rolex. No charge or upgrade necessary.

For most people, the mobile phone serves as a fine pocket watch, negating the need for anything else. This has been the case to an extreme since 2007, and there is no reason to think that trend is ending anytime soon.

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About John C. Dvorak

Columnist, PCMag.com

John C. Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the co-host of the twice weekly podcast, the No Agenda Show. His work is licensed around the world. Previously a columnist for Forbes, PC/Computing, Computer Shopper, MacUser, Barrons, the DEC Professional as well as other newspapers and magazines. Former editor and consulting editor for InfoWorld, he also appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, SF Examiner, and the Vancouver Sun. He was on the start-up team for C/Net as well as ZDTV. At ZDTV (and TechTV) he hosted Silicon Spin for four years doing 1000 live and live-to-tape TV shows. His Internet show Cranky Geeks was considered a classic. John was on public radio for 8 years and has written over 5000 articles and columns as well as authoring or co-authoring 14 books. He's the 2004 Award winner of the American Business Editors Association's national gold award for best online column of 2003. That was followed up by an unprecedented second national gold award from the ABEA in 2005, again for the best online column (for 2004). He also won the Silver National Award for best magazine column in 2006 as well as other awards. Follow him on Twitter @therealdvorak.

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