Apple Watch: Great Steps for the Mobile Office & Wearables

So I bought an Apple Watch recently. I haven’t worn a watch for several years. Ever since I began toting around a smart phone I found the need for a watch to be redundant. However, when the Apple Watch was introduced that changed. Despite the naysayers – friends, family and some tech review pundits - I have found it to be incredibly useful. One of the most common critiques from people, who don’t have one, is that it is duplicitous and has many of the same functions as a mobile phone. While this is true, it also enhances the functionality. Here are the top functions I have been using so far:

• Texting – No longer do I have to dig for my iPhone in my pocket when I receive a text. Now all I have to do is tilt my wrist and glance down. Replying to a text is very easy. I just dictate to Siri in my watch and she cranks out a text. I then have the option to send it as a text or an audio file. If you need to check an incoming text at a meeting it is much more discreet to tilt your wrist and glance down briefly than to start fumbling with your mobile phone.
• Email – Checking email on the watch is very convenient. It is useful for a quick scan to see if there is something critical that requires your response right away. From the watch you can delete, flag or mark an email as unread.
• Apple Pay – In the short time I have had the watch I’ve used Apple Pay on my watch at both Whole Foods and Walgreens. It’s very convenient and set up is easy – you simply add a credit card to your iPhone. To use Apple Pay on your watch, you double click a button on the watch which pulls up your credit card on file. You then turn your watch face toward the merchant’s payment reader for a few seconds and the payment is made.
• Siri as a Digital Personal Assistant – Good and getting better. Today for instance, I was walking seven dogs at one time on leash. I was using the countdown timer function on the watch to time the walk. I wanted to know how much time I had left in the walk. Rather than fumbling with my iPhone or pressing buttons on the watch, I raised my wrist and said, ‘Hey Siri, show me the countdown timer’. Moments later the countdown timer was displayed on the watch face. Other useful commands – ‘Hey Siri, show me my location’ or ‘Hey Siri, show me the weather by hour’.

Mobile Calls – I have also found the watch useful for short calls. You place calls, answer calls and talk through your watch. For longer calls, I’d rather switch over to my phone.
Keep in mind this is the first generation and it is already a great product. I am sure that the app developers will be adding more useful functionality and that in subsequent generations of the watch it will become even more impressive. Apple Watch is a great step forward in wearables, the mobile office, and the digital personal assistant. It wouldn’t surprise me if sometime in the not too distant future we are talking to Siri on a button on our shirt or jacket like a Star Trek communicator badge. Imagine you get up after finishing dinner out at a nice restaurant, you speak to your communicator badge on your shirt and say ‘Hey Siri, bring me my car’.