Apple has become a major force by shaping entire categories of electronics. It defined media players with the iPod. It defined tablets with the iPad. It defined all-in-one computers with the iMac. And now it's looking to define smartwatches with the Apple Watch.
The key word is "define," not "invent." None of these things were new when Apple jumped into the market, but Apple managed to completely take them over. The same might happen with Apple Watch, which still doesn't seem to offer anything particularly new or revolutionary.
Smartwatches aren't new. We've been looking at them seriously for the last few years, and major brands like Samsung, LG, and Motorola have made admirable attempts. None of them have really clicked with consumers, though. They're all technically fascinating, expensive accessories with varying degrees of functionality. Fitness trackers are arguably smartwatches, but they're of such a specific purpose that they aren't considered to be in the same neighborhood as "full" smartwatches. And let's not forget the Pebble, arguably the first major smartwatch and a fairly popular, if limited, device.
The Apple Watch doesn't seem to offer anything significant that Samsung, Motorola, LG, Fitbit, Razer, Misfit, or Pebble haven't already made available to users. Other smartwatches have tracked activity. Other smartwatches have used apps. Other smartwatches have displayed messages. Other smartwatches have used force feedback (and "Taptic" is a pretentiously branded term for making your device vibrate). Digital Touch seems new, but sending other people your heartbeat over your Apple Watch is one of the creepiest technologies I've seen in years.
Still, the Apple Watch might define smartwatches as we know it. It might transform the entire category from a tech toy for early adopters into a must-have accessory for everyone (who can afford it). That's because, while Apple isn't introducing anything new in function with the Apple Watch, it's pouring everything it can into the form of the device. It's the same Apple polish that made iPods, iPads, and iMacs explode in popularity.
Before the iPod, there were MP3 players by Creative and Archos. They did a lot more than the iPod at launch, but were clunky and difficult to use. The iPod took off not because it was new, but because it was accessible and elegant. Anyone could use it easily.
Before the iPad, there were tablet computers, but they were either hilariously large, Windows-based devices, or PalmPilots. The personal digital assistant (PDA) is the ancestor of the tablet, but it was always held as a badge of tech nerdery rather than a simple way for anyone to put all of their media and information on one slab. Again, Apple didn't introduce something new, but it presented an already established type of device in an accessible and elegant way.
With Apple Watch, the features are the same as smartwatches that have come before, and it will ultimately be the same as Android Wear smartwatches that come after. It could take off, and Apple Watch could become synonymous with smartwatch like iPad has become synonymous with tablet, but it'll all be in the presentation and design. Apple is offering nothing new, except maybe creepy wrist-tapping.
Of course, if the Apple Watch takes off, be prepared for Apple, Apple's fans, and the non-technical media to hail it as the first and greatest smartwatch ever. It won't be an incremental upgrade over previous designs that works out because of a superior user interface. It will be this new and wonderous thing that has clearly never existed before today. Because it's just easier to forget early, clunky technology than to recognize a device's roots.
For more, check out PCMag's hands on with the Apple Watch, as well as Who Will Buy the $10,000 Apple Watch?