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Comment by randomsearch | Hacker News Reader

Why Apple Watch sucks:

- ugly design - overpriced - no clear killer app

Why smart watches are inevitable:

- payments - swiping through subways, doors, hotels, airports - effortless exchanges between individuals (replacing business cards and cash transactions) - absorbing the fitness market Fitbit etc

Recently I've been getting very annoyed at Apple's terrible software quality. I've also had an opportunity to use Android, and I've found it a far _inferior_ experience (unfortunately).

I want to leave Apple but it's still the best option, even after a year of tanking quality.

Conclusion: we need a new Apple.

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So, let me get this straight.

You're unhappy with the two dominant players in consumer electronics. Given the vast number of things we need/expect software for, neither of the two dominant players satisfy your requirements.

And you're conclusion is that we need a third, new dominant, player that will also try to satisfy your vast, disperse needs?

See, I reach the opposition conclusion. We need less "this only works with that" type of devices/services. We need more interoperability. We need to be able to choose the best watch / phone / calendar service / office suite without worrying about the other things.

I wasn't really referring to the type of ecosystem Apple had, more that we need a new company who can design brilliant products in the way that Old Apple (Jobs Apple?) repeatedly did.

I was actually doubting Pebble would survive given the last product (Pebble Round) and the way they were marketing themselves (like a kid's toy) BUT then they pulled these new products out of nowhere and now I'm left with my jaw on the floor. And not just because of how quick they recovered and improved on the last product flaws, but also at the GENIUS and potential of what Core could be. Have to hand it to Eric and the rest of the Pebble team. They're doing great work.

Also, how cool is it that Pebble stems from that Steve Jobs story about him polishing pebbles? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Yv-UdsmSo

Curious, what do you see as the major flaws of the Pebble Round? My brother bought me one for my birthday a few months ago, and it's been fantastic. For me it's the perfect size (no larger than a normal watch), amount of functionality (get/dismiss phone notifications, control music, track steps) and battery life (days).

IMHO, the HUGE bezzle. It detracts in all manner of way to the appeal and of course, surface visibility of the device.

Fair aesthetic criticism. I don't find it to be an issue or distraction for my uses.

If you get a new Apple to create your perfect smartwatch, what is that killer app that they should create? That's an odd & very unspecific feature to ask for.

Sorry if it wasn't entirely clear, but the second list were the killer apps I was referring to.

> swiping through subways, doors, hotels, airports

This is not going to happen. We already had a technology that was meant to be this - RFID. But instead of one RFID that you tie to all devices and services, the lack of standards caused your wallet and key ring to be crammed with unique tags for each utility. And the tech industry now is even more wall graded and alienated to standards then 15 years ago.

Swiping through subways is already happening. You can pay your fares with Apple Watch on the tube (London subway). See https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless/other-meth...

Also pebble has a documented interface that people can build things that physically connect to the watch and add new features. Using this is Pagaré: https://www.pagare.me/

> Pagaré is the simplest, fastest and most secure way to add contactless payments to your Pebble smartwatch.

Things are converging around various standards now, which is good, although further progress on that kind of thing would be great. Whenever something needs to tie some information to me, it'd be nice if I could just present any device/card that conforms to a particular standard for NFC and register that (hotel entry, train tickets around the rest of the UK, work pass card, all loyalty cards, gym entry...)

I know, but that's just using it as a debit card, not an Oyster card.

Using it as a proper travel pass is far more interesting, because that will be an instance of using a watch as a custom access card, which will lead to the popularisation of the idea for everything from workplace security to hotels to boarding passes. It would be a gateway app in terms of normal people seeing the utility of a smart watch.

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