Above Avalon Podcast Episode 184: Let's Talk WWDC 2021
In episode 184, Neil discusses the big themes found with this year’s WWDC. The episode then takes a deep dive into watchOS direction and what Neil sees as missed opportunities for unleashing more of Apple Watch’s potential.
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Apple's Missed Opportunity at WWDC
For the third year in a row, Apple held an impressive WWDC (worldwide developers conference). The breadth of announcements across various product categories speaks to how Apple is successfully pulling away from the competition. No other company is able to match Apple’s ability to push so many distinct platforms forward yet simultaneously keep an eye on ecosystem cohesiveness. It was this ecosystem focus that ended up being one of the major takeaways from Apple’s WWDC 2021, as outlined in my WWDC review (available here for Above Avalon members).
With that said, it was hard to shake the feeling that Apple missed a big opportunity at this year’s WWDC to push its most personal product even further than it already has. There were three specific instances in which Apple had the chance to add functionality to the Apple Watch but instead chose to puts its focus on less robust alternatives. It is in Apple’s best interest to expand Apple Watch functionality in order for the device to handle an increasing number of tasks currently given to smartphones and tablets.
Focus
Along with unveiling revamped notifications, Apple announced a new initiative aimed at helping users avoid unwanted distractions. With Focus, users can now match their device usage to activities and mindset. Positioned as a type of enhanced Do Not Disturb, setting up a Focus gives users more control over how involved they can become with their devices at any given time. The features sure seem to be a direct result of Apple employees struggling with work from home directives over the past 15 months during the pandemic.
While some people will undoubtedly benefit from Focus, Apple missed a big opportunity to position the Apple Watch as a solution for iPhone information overload. Apple Watch wearers are already able to put down their other Apple devices but still feel connected by receiving important notifications or reminders. It was odd how Apple didn’t draw attention to such utility and look to add new controls to Apple Watch that allow us to engage with our other devices without becoming overwhelmed. Instead, Apple went so far as to imply the Apple Watch contributes to information overload. The entire Focus segment of the keynote came off as not fully thought out.
Smart Home
The smart home remains the Wild West. It is simply too early to declare winners or losers in the space. Companies are now reconfiguring their smart home strategies to focus on verticals seeing some kind of traction (security in the form of video cameras and video entertainment in the form of streaming video boxes and speakers).
During WWDC, Apple unveiled a few updates to its smart home strategy. One of the more strategic changes involves expanding Siri support to third-party smart home devices. Voice queries will be run through a homeowner’s HomePod or HomePod mini. While the feature may become popular with some users, Apple missed another opportunity to position the Apple Watch as a key differentiator when it comes to grabbing territory in the home.
At one point during the WWDC keynote, Apple’s Yah Cason said the following: “We believe Siri is most powerful when it’s available throughout your house.” Apple is right in making such a claim - a digital voice assistant is indeed more powerful and valuable when not confined to a stationary device. However, is having more stationary devices in the home the best solution for always having Siri nearby? Apple seemingly ignored how nearly 110 million of its users already have Siri always on them when at home by wearing an Apple Watch. Having Siri always available on one’s wrist via the Apple Watch means there is no need to worry about where a Siri-integrated device may be found in and outside the home. In addition, Apple Watch wearers have a screen to display Siri answers which is useful for things like weather queries, sports scores, and seeing how much time is left on a timer. Apple could be giving the Apple Watch a much larger role to play in its smart home strategy. We saw hints of this potential when Apple unveiled an updated Home app for Apple Watch. Much more could have been done.
Siri Watch Face Forgotten
For the third year in a row, Apple acted as if the Siri watch face didn’t exist. While Apple can technically use its fall event for unveiling new Apple Watch hardware to also announce updates to the Siri watch face, such a scenario doesn’t seem likely.
Unveiled at WWDC 2017, the Siri watch face pushes snippets of information and data to an Apple Watch wearer throughout the day. This information is contained in “cards” that change based on the time of day, location, and upcoming schedule. Apple announced a major update to the Siri watch face in 2018 when third-party cards and Siri shortcuts were made available. In a disconcerting development, Apple hasn’t announced any updates to the Siri watch face since.
Interestingly, despite no updates to the Siri watch face, Apple did bring similar functionality to the iPhone in 2020 via the Smart Stack widget. Even the design of the Focus app shares some functionality with the Siri watch face. Given these developments, the lack of updates to the actual Siri watch face ends up being that much more of a head scratcher.
Why?
It’s easy to write a blog post or record a podcast / video about how Apple is making a mistake and needs to adjust strategy. The value is found in understanding the “why” behind a particular Apple decision, which involves weighing both sides of a decision.
Why didn’t Apple push Apple Watch more when it came to reducing notification overload on iPhones and helping Apple users throughout the home? Why does Apple continue to ignore the Siri watch face?
There are two possible explanations for Apple’s actions:
1) Apple believes wrapping the Apple Watch around health makes the device an easier sell with consumers. Some of the biggest watchOS announcements unveiled at this year’s WWDC were once again related to health. This follows Apple’s multi-year strategy of adding health sensors to the Apple Watch. While Apple management knows that most Apple Watch wearers use the device for more than health monitoring, those other use cases are not used to anchor Apple Watch marketing. As seen with the following images from Apple’s Apple Watch webpage, it’s all about heath. Even fitness, which is more niche than health, takes a secondary position to health when it comes to selling Apple Watch.
There may be a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality at play with Apple Watch product marketing. Apple’s current Apple Watch strategy involving health (and fitness) seems to be connecting with customers as seen by Apple Watch unit sales (the following are my estimates):
2018: 22 million units
2019: 26 million
2020: 31 million
Accordingly, Apple may be bypassing certain features for watchOS that would fundamentally move the Apple Watch away from being an intelligent health companion device.
2) Apple is close to announcing its entry into face wearables. Apple may not want to spend years positioning Apple Watch as a certain kind of device only to have it be surpassed by a pair of lightweight smart glasses (AR / mixed reality). Instead, Apple is focused on pushing Apple Watch in a direction that it is confident will complement a pair of smart glasses. This results in Apple making a notable push on the health front from both a hardware (sensors) and software perspective while other functionality is kept on the back burner with the intention of having it show up in face wearables.
A Different Approach
Just as it’s easy to say that Apple is doing something wrong, the claim is worthless if counter suggestions aren’t given. If Apple needs to make a change with Apple Watch, what should that change be?
One issue that is starting to become noticeable is Apple not expanding Apple Watch’s functionality fast enough. Using health to anchor Apple Watch marketing may indeed be a good way for Apple to grab new Apple Watch users. For some, the Apple Watch makes for a great health / fitness companion and nothing more. Those users should be able to continue using Apple Watch for health monitoring without needing to mess or deal with extraneous software or features.
However, Apple is not pushing Apple Watch enough from the perspective of being an iPhone alternative. The Siri watch face is a bridge to the future and yet all signs point to few people using the face. The lack of updates certainly hasn't helped in improving adoption. There are signs of deeper issues at play. According to Apple, Photos is the most popular watch face. That may seem innocent enough. However, Apple Watch watch faces were once positioned as apps. This turned to watch face complications. Why then are Apple Watch wearers using the most simplistic and data-free watch faces such as Photos? This may be a sign that Apple needs to reexamine the concept of watch faces as apps. Users likely don’t want to interact with various complications or even watch faces. This doesn’t mean that users do not want additional functionality from Apple Watch. A more likely answer is that users like the ease and simplicity found with the Photos watch face. (With this, they are still able to receive all of their notifications, messages, and alerts).
Instead of pushing increasingly complicated Watch faces, legacy watch faces, or bringing a version of multitasking to Apple Watch, the additional functionality given to Apple Watch would materialize in the form of machine learning pushing more information and context to the wearer throughout the day. The only information one would need to see on their wrist would be based on one’s:
Daily habit (provide the upcoming weather each morning at the same time given prior habits, give driving time information to the local coffee shop frequented each morning).
Current activity (push news alerts while seated at the coffee shop).
Location (suggest items that may be of importance to the wearer’s current location).
Schedule ( provide information that is relevant to an upcoming meeting, reminder, or event).
Notice how all of those items involve action verbs - provide, give, push, and suggest. That is Apple Watch’s future - an intelligent assistant that helps people get through their day.
With an Apple Watch installed base quickly approaching 125 million people, even if only a portion of Apple Watch users are interested in this additional functionality, we are still looking at tens of millions of people, and that number will prove to be conservative over time. It’s not enough to anchor watchOS releases around new health features, a new portrait photos watch face, and GIF support in messages.
The Apple Watch already has the pieces required for handling additional functionality:
An always-on screen with superb line of sight for the wearer.
A smart digital assistant that increasingly knows more about the wearer’s past, current, and future activity. (This is where having an ecosystem of devices that is also home to the digital assistant will help.)
A developer base that is increasingly embracing Apple Watch and watchOS.
As for the idea that an eventual Apple Glasses launch should dictate how Apple positions the Apple Watch in 2021, a pair of lightweight glasses from Apple is likely still a few years away. It’s odd for Apple to put the Apple Watch on the proverbial ice when it comes to non-health initiatives in response to a product that is still years away. Even in a world with Apple Glasses, it is not a given that Apple Watch will even be a competitor. Glasses may not be the best form factor to push information to the wearer throughout the day, even if it’s through peripheral vision. Instead, Apple Glasses would be aimed at helping the wearer navigate the world while the Apple Watch would be more of a digital assistant / monitor focused on providing granular information throughout the day. Also, the Apple Watch is well-positioned to help power a pair of Apple Glasses given the amount of real estate available on the wrist for storing technology and sensors.
Giving the Siri watch face a much-needed reboot in watchOS 9 would be a great start at unleashing a new layer of Apple Watch functionality. Such a reboot can be wrapped around a series of new Watch faces that amount to pushing different kinds of information to the user throughout the day while retaining much of the simplicity found with the Photos face. Apple can increase the number of available cards in the Siri watch face and push card development as a key priority for watch developers interested in getting in front of users. In addition, a more concentrated focus on selling Siri on your wrist and enhanced notifications control will go a long way. This could set Apple up for eventually including a front-facing camera on Apple Watch for FaceTime calls (with software that auto-centers the subject so that one can’t tell you are using an Apple Watch to make calls).
One lesson from this year’s WWDC is that Apple isn’t just pushing individual product categories forward but rather using devices and services to push an ecosystem forward. For a product like Apple Watch, Apple’s goal should be positioning the device as both taking advantage of its unique design attributes while also helping to add value to other Apple devices. The Apple Watch is the most popular watch in the world. It’s time for Apple to begin unleashing more of Apple Watch’s potential.
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For additional discussion on this topic, check out the Above Avalon daily update from June 24th.