My Apps Wish List for the New Apple iWatch
Recent reports from both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed sources claiming Apple is in discussion with its primary manufacturing partner to come up with an “iWatch,” a real-life, wristwatch-type Dick Tracy gadget. Patrick May, in the Main Line Times adds:
While, for now, it’s anyone’s guess what Apple may or may not have up its sleeve, they could be looking at a far more sophisticated device (than wristwatch devices used currently) that could incorporate many of the same apps users now enjoy on their smartphones and tablets. Analyst Gene Munster projects “These devices could enable simple things like voice calls, texting, quick searches and navigation … and will be cheaper than an iPhone.”
My daughter will rejoice. She has lost or had stolen more iPhones than I can count, usually left on a bar, or in a cab, bus, airplane or restaurant. The thing is more important to her than her left kidney so you think she’d keep it safely in her purse or backpack, but then she wouldn’t hear it buzz every four seconds and she might miss an important text like “sup?” No, it’s precisely because the proximity of the thing to her five senses is so important that the iWatch will be a God-send, I’m sure. From a parent’s perspective, however, the iWatch just ups the anxiety level.
The CDC’s driver safety site reports that driver inattention, predominantly due to cell use and texting, was the leading cause of almost 6,000 traffic deaths last year and almost half a million injuries. Almost 50 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 admit to texting while driving. Great, now we’ll have the iWatch on the road to worry about.
Unless the thing is completely voice-activated, I can envision kids driving with their knee and texting on their iWatch with a free hand. First they gained amazing thumb dexterity, now teens will become masters of the one-knee-driving method, able to eat, apply lipstick and search the web, all at the same time.
Please, Apple, help assuage a mother’s anxiety. If you’re going to develop this thing, please make it fully voice-activated. Or wed it to the car speedometer somehow so that it shuts off at, say 10 miles an hour. Or how about as soon as the car is in any gear other than park? And, for God’s sake, don’t give the job to Siri. She either doesn’t understand, can’t help or is busy.
In fact, let me record my voice for the iWatch! There’s an idea. Daughter gets into the car, turns on her wristwatch and hears:
“Turn off the phone. Keep your eyes on the road and don’t be late.” Then that woooop sound indicating that it’s powering down. Now that’s my idea of a new app. Listening Apple?
