Artisans have been making watches for about 200 years, argues Craig Hockenberry. (Actually, he says they’ve been making them since the 15th century, but he’s wrong.) Does Apple really want to compete with them? Or does it have something else in mind?
Of course, there have been billions of bits spilled speculating on what the iWatch is going to look like and when it’s going to ship and what it’s going to cost and what it’s going to do. Hockenberry suggests that everything that’s been bruited about regarding an iWatch’s capabilities and the Healthbook software could really be accomplished as well — if not better — with a ring:
- A ring could perform notifications just fine. LEDs or vibrations could tell you that you have a call or text. With a small screen, a ring could even tell you details.
- A ring is better than a watch for the kind of monitoring that may be in the works. Monitoring your pulse, blood o, blood pressure all require close skin contact of a kind that may be uncomfortable with a watch. But we’re used to snug-fitting rings.
- A ring could be customized for fashion or elegance. Think of it as an extension of the phone case market.
- A ring could use wireless charging, something that the iPhone really needs, to cut that last wire. (They already sync over WiFi or into the cloud.)
And a ring would surprise the hell out of everyone who’s expecting a watch.
The idea of rings is in the air, though. Just the other day, at an RG/A Techstars accelerator demo, we saw Ringblingz, a notification ring/dongle aimed at the teenage market with an expected price in the $60 to $90 range. It’s pretty good. But an iRing would be much cooler.
