For me, it’s the burning question of 2015: “Should I buy an Apple Watch?”
As editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, everybody’s always asking me if Apple’s smartwatch is a must-buy. The simple answer is there’s no simple answer, for reasons that might surprise you.
Obviously I’m an Apple fan, but not everybody loves Cupertino products. The Apple Watch haters will tell you the device is not as flexible or innovative as Android Wear smartwatches. And the tech press seized upon a doom-and-gloom Apple Watch sales guesstimate to paint the wearable as a flop.
On the other side of the coin, Tim Cook remains bullish on the Apple Watch, but that’s not too big of a surprise — he’s a tireless Apple cheerleader.
Far more importantly, some forward-thinking app developers are going all-in on Apple Watch apps.
Evolutionary versus revolutionary
To my mind, the Apple Watch is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It’s a gadget that grows on you (or at least it did for me). It helps me out in many day-to-day situations, making life a bit simpler and better in a hundred different ways.
After just a few months of wearing my Apple Watch, if I happen to forget it, I feel naked without it.
But the question remains, should an average person — who’s perhaps not totally into trying out the latest, greatest new gadgets — strap an Apple Watch on his or her wrist? Get my take on the matter in this week’s edition of Kahney’s Korner.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
12 responses to “Kahney’s Korner: Why you should buy an Apple Watch”
Were it not for the timer on my Apple Watch, I’d have burnt every dinner and the house too.
Audio and Video out of sync!, like a bruce lee film!
is that an Apple Sport Watch or an Apple Watch Space black with a Black Sport band?
I’d love to get one, but the lack of sleep tracking as well as accurate tracking of running and weightlifting exercises make it a no-go for me.
That makes no sense. It is like saying I don’t want to get an iPhone because it doesn’t have a built in projector for my presentations. Or, I can’t get that drink because it doesn’t play music.
I was the same way when someone asked me if it’s worth it. I would hem and haw and say “I don’t know. It depends.” Now after a month i can agree that it is integral in my daily life. Timers, quick glances instead of pulling out my 6 plus, calorie tracking, etc. I wear it as much as possible for fitness tracking and it actually has motivated me (along with new running shoes and workout clothes) to get out and run. Another great Kahney’s Korner!
I use the timer to BBQ all the time. The more you wear the watch the more uses you will find in your daily life.
Are you aware that the first top budget watch do timer too?
Yes I know. My Rolex has a timer, but it has no flair. It doesn’t beep and vibrate and do cool stuff
So you pay $649 + another $1000 for iPhone for a beeping BBQ timer?
Yeah… thats what I did… Because the watch has no other uses!
what other uses does your Black wrist slab that’s an iPhone extension have? Why cheapen your wrist when you have a rolex?