This is the part I don't really understand, unless this app was completely developed out-of-house. How large an arena is this really? Are there really that many potential customers who are both divers and haven't bought an Apple watch? Is there some angle from the business side I'm missing here?
It helps the brand (if they can do that, my mundane daily life will be easy), it sells to wealthy enthusiasts and aspirational consumers, it brings people in to showrooms, and it challenges internal teams.
And in the Apple case, their ecosystem is strong. Recreational divers are Apple’s target market, and this should convert a bunch of them to Apple.
Imagining the pitch, it was probably something like limited incremental costs, supports long term ecosystem strategy, reduces revenue from cash cows for competing fitness watch companies.
Is there some angle from the business side I'm missing here?
We see this in all kinds of products, right? Among watch collectors, 200M diver style watches (from the Casio MDV106 all the way up to Rolex Submariners and beyond) are probably the most popular single style.
We see it in autos, with people buying vehicles with rugged capabilities they don't need. Or in shoes, with people buying athletic shoes for activities they don't partake in. A laptop with more CPU and RAM than they probably need. Etc.
From a purely logical standpoint this is silly, of course. And for some kinds of products like autos this level of excess is deeply wasteful.
However, I think what people are really buying is peace of mind and we all engage in this to some extent! It's simply nice to have a bit of gear so robust you don't have to worry about it!