A new report says that Apple was working on making the Apple Watch and Health app compatible with Android before canceling the project.
  • floorshitter69@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    My older relative bought an Apple watch to assist in maintaining their health conditions. They literally bought the watch first and then went and bought a compatible iPhone.

  • Manson2612@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    It’s very easy to see a person who owns an Apple Watch switching and trying Android just coz he could. Now folks who loves the Apple Watch experience will never change ship.

  • ChemicalDaniel@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Am I the only one that doesn’t see how Apple Watch drives iPhone sales? Surely it’s the other way around, right? Like who would switch to an iPhone just to use an Apple Watch when alternatives for Android exist?

    I feel like this was a mistake. Steve Jobs once said releasing iTunes on Windows was like giving “a glass of water to someone in hell”. He was obviously joking, but if they managed to get android support with the Apple Watch as good as it is on iOS, I could definitely see people switching to iPhone just because their experience with their Apple Watch is a lot better than anything they’ve used before.

    I hope that technical reasons were also behind this decision, because I don’t see how this effects iPhone sales long term

    • CM_gogo@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I purchased an iPhone because i wanted an Apple Watch. Fitbits just didn’t seem accurate to me.

    • ManuelKoegler@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      My ownership of an Apple Watch & other Apple products makes it so I’m very disincentivized to replace my iPhone with an Android.

      So the Watch might not be a key reason I get the phone in the first place, but it’s part of what makes it so hard to leave the ecosystem once you’ve partaken in it.

    • Mookafff@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Part of me wanting to switch back to iOS was to try using an Apple Watch. At the time Android Wear was limited to bad Qualcomm processors. Samsung and Google hadn’t committed to work together again.

    • Randolf_the_cray@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Smart watch comparisons almost always favor Apple Watch. For customers who want one, they have to get an iPhone. Plenty of consumers don’t give a shit about Android vs iOS and will switch the next time they’re due for an upgrade if it means they can also be able to use that fancy Apple Watch for the wellness watchers.

    • mikolv2@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      You need to take one look at Android watches and WearOS to understand, just like the tablet market, android “alternatives” (if you can call them that) to Apple Watch are years and years behind.

    • digitalpencil@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      It’s because it further cements the user into their ecosystem.

      Imagine you have only an iPhone, and you want a watch, you obviously go for the Apple Watch because it works so well with your phone. Next year Google announce a shiny new Pixel.

      In the world where Apple Watch works only with iOS, you have an anchor keeping you in that ecosystem (you can switch, but you’d lose your watch), but if your watch worked with Android too…? now you’ve an out. You can dabble your toes in the Android waters, maybe you like it, maybe a couple more years down the line you switch to a Pixel watch.

      Apple don’t monetise user data, they make appealing products that work cohesively together. The continued purchase of which, further bricks the user behind their walled garden. The trick of it is the user does it voluntarily, because they like the products. Start making things intercompatible though, that strategy becomes much weaker.

    • colin_staples@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Like who would switch to an iPhone just to use an Apple Watch when alternatives for Android exist?

      Enough people that Apple think it’s better to keep the watch as an iPhone-only accessory

      It makes some people switch to iPhone so that they can have an Apple Watch

      And it makes plenty of people stay with iPhone because they want to keep their Apple Watch.

      You are in one ecosystem or the other, not both.

  • hopefulatwhatido@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    They could still do what they do with Beats for android for earbuds. If it enhances android user experience then it is going to increase watch sales and ultimately more adopters to the iPhone than the other way around, I don’t have anything to base this on but people don’t stay in Apple ecosystem because they feel locked in and can’t move to anything else. If you are not in Apple ecosystem you are in Google/android ecosystem anyway, Samsung is even bigger with home appliances.

  • firewire_9000@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’ve seen people buying an iPhone just to be able to use an Apple Watch so I would say good move, Apple.

    • rizombie@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      This is the only reason I have a 14PM. The experience has been nice but I miss android more than I like iOS.

      Nothing can beat my experience on Apple watch/Airpods, though, and until they do apple will be keeping me with them.

      • c0rruptioN@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I’m roughly in the same boat, 14P, but I don’t really mind iOS over android after all these years. Big thing I miss is the proper swipe/back function. Android seemed much more easier to navigate for that alone.

        But I’d been android since the beginning and every phone I had seemed to have some issue. Never quite well rounded. And support for any issue you’d have would be abysmal/non existent.

        Also, I’m gonna be mad about this until the day I die, we all had pebble wearables and those were incredible! They worked great and had a week long battery. They were even starting to physically look half great for the time being. But no, we couldn’t have nice things. Fuck Fitbit.

      • ThePillsburyPlougher@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I have both but tbh I don’t think either are all that. Even AirPods noise cancellation is comparable to a good seal and I find id still rather take them off than use transparency mode when talking to someone. Controls are nice though I guess.

        The watch is great but the single day battery life can make me miss my garmin

    • colin_staples@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      That’s the whole point. It’s an accessory to iPhone, and only to iPhone.

      You want the watch? You gotta get the phone. (A used one is fine, of course. But the majority of people would buy a new iPhone)

      If Apple released a watch that worked with Android phones it would hit sales of iPhones.

  • vmbient@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Shame. If they actually pulled through I might’ve considered it over the Galaxy Watch.

  • greginorl@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Keep Apple Watch iPhone, create a health band that syncs with Apple health on iOS or android

  • vuplusuno@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    They only need to make an app for the existing ones to work in android…and eventually they will need to, because EU will require to Apple Watch to work in Android!