Under the Radar 9: State of the Apple Watch
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welcome to under the radar a show about
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independent iOS development I'm Marco
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Arment and I'm David Smith under the
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radar is never longer than 30 minutes so
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let's get started so today I think what
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we wanted to dive into and talk a bit
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about is the sort of the state of the
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Apple watch as an app platform and we're
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going to talk a little bit about my own
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experience recently doing a lot of watch
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OS work essentially the last quarter of
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2015 all I did was work on watch apps a
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little bit my experience there and then
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also kind of looking forward to what we
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think could make the Apple watch a
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better platform than it is today for
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apps and app developers my big app that
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I launched last year was sleepless plus
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which is a watch app we're not gonna
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talk too much about it but it was all
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about the watch it's a sleep tracker and
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motion tracker and then after I got that
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out the door I spent a lot of time
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working on pedometer plus plus for Apple
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watch which was pedometer plus plus is a
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step counter sort of fitness tracker
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that had mostly been on the on the
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phones for a long time and I had
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originally done a watch OS 1 app for it
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but it was very limited because at that
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time watch OS 1 apps run on your Renick
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all entirely ran on the phone and so
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there was no way to get the watch's data
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actually to just be displayed on the
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watch which is a little bit weird so
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like you if you only wore the watch all
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day long and you then you like start the
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watch app it would be only be showing
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you data from your phone's activity
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which was weird
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watch rest whoo I could finally fix that
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and so I spent what I thought would be a
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few weeks turned out to be a few months
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getting the data sync portion of that
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together so that the watch app now
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displays like this merged set of data
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between the watch and the phone and that
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took a lot longer than I think mostly
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because like sync is as I was always
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like sync is hard there's a lot of
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really complicated things here and it's
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not even like regular user data sync
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where there's some basic rules about it
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it's is like it's it's trying I have to
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analyze your activity through the day
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and work out what number to show for
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your step count as you go through it but
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I got through all that and you know ship
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of December in 2015 and one thing that I
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did that I was very glad I did is I
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included a bunch of little analytics
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about the watch apps use because I
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wanted to see how it's actually being
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used in practice and initially when I
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launched looked like something right
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around eleven percent of people who were
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using pedometer plus plus had Apple
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watches that's pretty good yeah which is
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pretty good it's better than I thought
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it was I was expecting the number
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probably to be liked like four or five
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maybe so 11 is pretty good and after
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Christmas it's now up to about 13 and a
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half percent of phenomenal plus plus
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users you know have an Apple watch
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paired it's kind of interesting like
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it's building something for a relatively
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narrow group of my users but I think was
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still valuable to do and hopefully that
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percentage will grow over time and of
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course it's funny like of that you know
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over the 13 and 1/2 percent people who
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have watches something like 80% of them
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have the watch app installed and then
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20% of them are using the complication
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which was probably the most employed the
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for my perspective is like the coolest
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part of the app was the complication so
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you can see your step counts grow but
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only 20% of people who have watches use
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it which is something like 2% overall so
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that's a bit mixed but that's sort of
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the way these things go I think yeah
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that that part is interesting I mean you
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know you talk about like like how how do
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you decide how whether to whether to do
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a feature like this that's gonna require
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tons and tons of work you know because
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you're really you know building this
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whole thing from scratch really on this
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different platform and everything and
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then it ends up that you know 2% of your
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user base will ever use it is is that is
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that worth doing or when is it worth
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doing yeah and so it's I've definitely
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gone through like several phases with
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this we're like when I first saw that
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number I was like like crying inside is
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so much it took so much and like I loved
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it like it's I use it all the time it's
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a I think it's a great feature and so I
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like in some ways like I'm I'm I can
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remind myself that
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if it's a feature that I personally use
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and it takes some time to build like at
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least I'll use it I'll enjoy it and so
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and like these things will get better
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but it's definitely what if I'd known
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that number up front I'm not sure it
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would have been as easy to justify
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development on this because overall I
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wouldn't say adding watch support to the
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app has had a significant impact in its
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sales there's a very small bump in sales
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when I released the update just as you
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sort of normally get from like little
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press outlets picking it up or it's like
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slightly new and slightly noteworthy but
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beyond that like the app wasn't featured
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which kind of surprised me which is
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weird thing to say like I don't be like
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stuck up oh they should have featured me
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but like because as far as I'm concern
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in terms of new apps on the watch I was
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kind of more hopeful than I would
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normally get my hopes up for for getting
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featured and that didn't happen so it's
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like from a sales perspective it didn't
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really add too much and so when I look
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at it it's like I'm glad I did it but
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mostly not for like right now I think
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it's more better if it's more important
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as a get it like keeping the app
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relevant keeping the app current and not
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creating a big gap between like where
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the state of the art would be and where
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the app is and like that's a good and
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important thing because pedometer plus
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plus is like it's my biggest earning app
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and so it's important to me that it's
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like well taken care of but the actual
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details and when you see things like
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yeah like a pretty small percentage of
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people are actually using it it's a hard
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thing to say that's interesting I mean
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and and I wonder how much of it is like
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being even being featured and and having
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this kind of like you know any kind of
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like app store prominence I wonder what
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the value of being featured really is
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for watch apps because not only of
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course do fewer people have Apple
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watches which you know would be a
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separate issue but even as somebody who
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uses using Apple watch for like you know
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seven or eight months or were however
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long it's been
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I never browsed the App Store for new
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watch apps and I wonder like it just
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took the pattern of using the watch and
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being a watch owner
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how often do you go browsing the app
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store for new watch apps compared to how
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often you go for the phone link in the
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phone you launch the app store Apple you
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know if you're kind of bored looking for
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new stuff you launch the app store a
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browser and you see what's featured to
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see the top lists on the watch I mean
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you like as an Apple watch user do you
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how often do you open the the watch app
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store if ever is there I mean I guess
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you look you launch the companion app
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and you can go in there and browse the
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apps there but does anybody actually do
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that I don't know like it's like people
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are definitely finding the apps
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somewhere because like sleep us+ is only
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a watch app like without a lot I've had
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on Apple watch it's completely useless
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and it's had a pretty strong uptick in
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terms of people finding it so I don't
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know exactly where they're finding it
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from I don't it's word of mouth if it's
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just like people finding it online or
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whatever but they're deafening it's
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somewhere like mostly when I go into the
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companion app and it has like the two
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tabs or you think you can search and
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there's a featured area there like I go
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in there mostly just to kind of see if
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there's anything new and interesting but
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not as much for myself and there is
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certainly something aspect to it that
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the nature of the watch and the way that
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it's kind of more of a like a glancing
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interaction model where you're not gonna
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be just like sitting down and if you're
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bored like browsing around on thing or
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like you know with your phone like if
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you're you're bored you have some time
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you're on a train or something like
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you're gonna spend a lot of time you
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could quite easily be like oh let me go
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see if there's a new game or something
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new - interesting - go or you know look
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on the internet and you know read reddit
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or RSS or Twitter or slack or whatever
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it is like whereas on the watch once you
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kind of have your use case that you are
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comfortable with like whatever it's
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doing like and so for this case it's
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like it's unless you're really look like
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looking - how could I make my watch a
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better fitness tracker for me beyond
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like the built-in activity app for
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example like I don't know if you're
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really gonna go looking for that in the
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same way because like there's no app
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store on the watch itself like there's
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no little watch icon that you know you
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go to the honeycomb screen and then hit
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App Store and it shows you a bunch of
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apps and I mean I think it's probably
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for the best like I'm not sure if that
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would actually be a good interaction but
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but with the lack of that like I don't
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know how you would find good watch apps
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other than just going to the companion
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app which is a really odd place to go
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anyway cuz it's not part of the App
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Store like in some ways it seems like it
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should be in the App Store like you
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could replace that middle was it the
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what's it now the Explorer tab the one
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that's changed like 10 times it's like
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if if you have a watch it should be like
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maybe that should be like you know a
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watch or TV OS or like all the different
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like all these other secondary platforms
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that are harder to find apps for then
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like maybe it should be fine there but
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yeah I don't know it's it's a weird
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thing to to think how people actually
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find watch apps these days I really
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don't know I mean to some degree the
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value of having a watch app is political
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with Apple in the sense that Apple is
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more likely to promote apps that take
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better advantage of all their platforms
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and all their features so Apple is
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probably happier to promote an iOS app
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that has a nice companion watch app than
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they would be to promote a similar iOS
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app that has no watch app and so it you
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know in some ways the the reason to have
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a watch app and to take advantage of new
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watch features is to increase the
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likelihood of Apple featuring your your
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iPhone you know but that doesn't really
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help you if you're trying to figure out
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like how much time to put into your
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Apple watch app and and how to make it
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more useful and I wonder I mean I was
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kind of expecting that you mentioned
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that the the percentage of pedometer
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plus plus users with the Apple watch
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before and after Christmas did increase
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but it's increases because I would have
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expected you said it went from like 11
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to about 13% is that right yeah went up
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two and a half percent from 11 to 13 and
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a half yeah so that I would have
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expected a bigger jump from that
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honestly and and I've heard from a few
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people here and there I've picked up a
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few other little tidbits of like app
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sales for watch people and almost all of
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them reportedly noticeable jump like on
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Christmas Day and the day after compared
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to what it was previously so I think
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it's clear that there are a lot of
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watches out there and and that there are
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a lot that were given as gifts for
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Christmas this year but I I would have
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expected the jump to be bigger
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so in terms of like absolute numbers
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here I mean obviously nothing's gonna be
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as big as the iPhone install base on day
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one or even in year one or even in year
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five for that matter but I wonder are
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there enough watch owners out there to
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to make this worth doing yet maybe the
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best thing to answer to that is I don't
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I can't think of anyone who I'm aware of
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who has had like a runaway success on
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the watch with most promotions like new
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platforms I mean we have a little bit of
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this problem the TV as well but like
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there is with the iPhone and certainly
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with the iPad there were you know
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stories of people who put a lot of time
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and effort like really made a good app
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and there was enough uptick from the
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customer side and a strong and a fine
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financial part of that that it was like
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wow you know like they have like the
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overnight success and I'm not aware of
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static of that on the watch at this
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point like so it's I think it's a good
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thing to do from in terms if you want to
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build a fully featured robust or a fully
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rounded app like it's part part of like
00:12:14
◼
►
part of that bar now probably includes a
00:12:16
◼
►
watch app but I D I don't want sure if
00:12:19
◼
►
there's a strong direct incentive for it
00:12:22
◼
►
that like if you build a watch what
00:12:24
◼
►
watch app your app will be more
00:12:26
◼
►
successful it's a bit more soft than
00:12:29
◼
►
that and like if anything honestly for
00:12:31
◼
►
me like part of why I got into watch
00:12:33
◼
►
apps is it was an area that I think is
00:12:36
◼
►
growing I don't think it has grown yet
00:12:40
◼
►
and so part of me was like I just want
00:12:42
◼
►
to be an expert at this platform that I
00:12:46
◼
►
think in two or three years which is a
00:12:50
◼
►
bit of a long game to be playing but
00:12:52
◼
►
like in several years will be more
00:12:54
◼
►
increasingly relevant I'd rather be an
00:12:57
◼
►
expert on it like the only way you can
00:13:00
◼
►
have you know five years experience in
00:13:02
◼
►
five years is to have started now and I
00:13:05
◼
►
didn't want to describe so like you know
00:13:06
◼
►
the old joke when you've people who want
00:13:08
◼
►
like eight years Swift experience now or
00:13:11
◼
►
something like it's like well you can't
00:13:12
◼
►
really do that but if you start on day
00:13:14
◼
►
one at the very least you can have as
00:13:16
◼
►
mote them the most that you can and so
00:13:18
◼
►
like since watch OS or watch kit back
00:13:20
◼
►
watchkit one was out like it's just
00:13:23
◼
►
something that I think is important for
00:13:25
◼
►
my fur life I think that I enjoy and
00:13:27
◼
►
it's an important for my business down
00:13:29
◼
►
the road to continue to be good at but
00:13:31
◼
►
in like in then here and now it's a much
00:13:34
◼
►
squishy or like it's like a baby it's
00:13:37
◼
►
maybe it'll increase slightly the chance
00:13:39
◼
►
that someone will download it or that
00:13:41
◼
►
Apple will feature it or something like
00:13:44
◼
►
that but it's a much it's not a direct
00:13:46
◼
►
like cause and effect like this will
00:13:48
◼
►
help make your app more successful I
00:13:50
◼
►
think at this point anyway III think
00:13:53
◼
►
though it is you know making it more
00:13:54
◼
►
more likely that Apple will feature it
00:13:56
◼
►
and I think it also it also plays into
00:13:58
◼
►
like for the chances of your iOS app
00:14:00
◼
►
succeeding it also plays into like first
00:14:02
◼
►
of all like the people who have watches
00:14:04
◼
►
even though it's a small percentage of
00:14:06
◼
►
iPhone users it's not a random percent
00:14:08
◼
►
it isn't a random subset it is like it
00:14:11
◼
►
is it is kind of like the the early
00:14:12
◼
►
adopters the people who are willing to
00:14:15
◼
►
spend spend more money probably and able
00:14:17
◼
►
to spend more money so like it is it is
00:14:19
◼
►
a market that I think is it has outsized
00:14:22
◼
►
relevance compared to its actual numbers
00:14:24
◼
►
and also it it can be used as as a
00:14:28
◼
►
feature comparison so like if I'm
00:14:29
◼
►
looking to two different pedometer apps
00:14:30
◼
►
in the App Store and I have an Apple
00:14:32
◼
►
watch and one of them has a watch app
00:14:34
◼
►
and one doesn't then even if I don't
00:14:37
◼
►
intend to use that watch app or even if
00:14:39
◼
►
I think I'll use it and in reality never
00:14:41
◼
►
would and therefore wouldn't show up in
00:14:42
◼
►
those numbers I think I'm more likely to
00:14:44
◼
►
pick the one with the watch app because
00:14:46
◼
►
you know it's like people who buy like a
00:14:50
◼
►
giant SUV because they might someday go
00:14:53
◼
►
off-road with it yeah even if they never
00:14:55
◼
►
do which most never do that's still it
00:14:57
◼
►
that that is a selling point to them up
00:14:59
◼
►
front where like they might choose like
00:15:01
◼
►
so people might choose your app even if
00:15:03
◼
►
they have never planned even if they
00:15:05
◼
►
have no plans to ever use the watch if
00:15:06
◼
►
they might choose your app simply
00:15:08
◼
►
because it has a watch app over someone
00:15:10
◼
►
else's that doesn't so it there is more
00:15:12
◼
►
value to it I think up front for an i/o
00:15:14
◼
►
site but that that argument becomes less
00:15:17
◼
►
relevant when you're talking about apps
00:15:18
◼
►
that run only or primarily on the watch
00:15:21
◼
►
like sleep plus plus you know like you
00:15:23
◼
►
know apps where like the iPhone app is
00:15:25
◼
►
basically non-existent or unimportant
00:15:27
◼
►
and so I think it's it's hard to argue
00:15:30
◼
►
today for spending a ton of time with a
00:15:33
◼
►
watch I bet it's it's easy to
00:15:34
◼
►
argue for having a watch app for a
00:15:38
◼
►
four-year Iowa for your existing iOS app
00:15:40
◼
►
if it's relevant to have one but it's
00:15:42
◼
►
harder to argue for spending a whole lot
00:15:44
◼
►
of time on it does that make sense yeah
00:15:47
◼
►
I think so and it's also probably
00:15:49
◼
►
keeping in mind that a really good watch
00:15:52
◼
►
app is by its nature very simple and so
00:15:58
◼
►
on the like one thing that if it's like
00:16:01
◼
►
it's probably it's important to make
00:16:03
◼
►
sure that you don't think of a watch app
00:16:05
◼
►
as a fully-fledged like really
00:16:08
◼
►
complicated sophisticated thing like
00:16:09
◼
►
it's for to do well it should really
00:16:12
◼
►
only probably have like one or two
00:16:14
◼
►
actions that you can take or like what
00:16:17
◼
►
like sleep loss plus for example like
00:16:19
◼
►
has one button that in the entire app
00:16:21
◼
►
and that's it and I think that works
00:16:24
◼
►
well for it because all it does is you
00:16:26
◼
►
say like I'm going to sleep I'm waking
00:16:27
◼
►
up from sleep and it's just you know so
00:16:29
◼
►
like a toggle button on and off and like
00:16:33
◼
►
pedometer plus plus is the only from an
00:16:35
◼
►
action perspective is the same thing
00:16:36
◼
►
like you can say like I'm going for a
00:16:37
◼
►
walk and it'll start you know I would
00:16:39
◼
►
work out where it tracks your heart rate
00:16:41
◼
►
and all kinds of other stuff and then
00:16:42
◼
►
you get to the end of your workout and
00:16:43
◼
►
you hit stop and so like it's it's nice
00:16:46
◼
►
in that sense of like having a basic
00:16:48
◼
►
watch app is a good thing
00:16:50
◼
►
beyond rather than being like a
00:16:52
◼
►
detriment it's actually probably a plus
00:16:53
◼
►
and so trying to hit that basic level is
00:16:57
◼
►
easier than it would be like if you
00:16:59
◼
►
compared to say the same way to like I'm
00:17:01
◼
►
having an iPad app like making your app
00:17:03
◼
►
Universal having a iPad app that is
00:17:07
◼
►
useful and fits on the platform is
00:17:09
◼
►
probably a lot more work than a watch
00:17:11
◼
►
app and so if you're looking for
00:17:13
◼
►
something to like extend out your app a
00:17:15
◼
►
little bit like you've got that basic
00:17:16
◼
►
feature set lock down and you're like oh
00:17:18
◼
►
what we know how could I make like add
00:17:20
◼
►
that little like 5 percent boost like
00:17:22
◼
►
you might be easier to add it on the
00:17:24
◼
►
watch then it would be to like go to the
00:17:26
◼
►
iPad or a platform like that that it
00:17:28
◼
►
just would require a lot more of you
00:17:30
◼
►
yeah all right this episode of under the
00:17:33
◼
►
radar is brought to you by igloo the
00:17:36
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internet you will actually like with
00:17:38
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igloo you don't have to be stuck at your
00:17:39
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desk to do your work you can manage your
00:17:41
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task list from your laptop during a
00:17:43
◼
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meeting share a status updates from your
00:17:44
◼
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phone as you're leaving the client site
00:17:46
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and access the latest version of a file
00:17:48
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home you can even do this in your
00:17:49
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pajamas and nobody will know pants are
00:17:51
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optional these days everything is mobile
00:17:53
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your work should be - and it shouldn't
00:17:55
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require pants now if you're looking at
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your internet and your and you've ever
00:17:58
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thought whoever designed this must truly
00:18:01
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hate me and everyone I know those days
00:18:03
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can be over by switching to a glue a
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glue allows you to make your internet
00:18:07
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feel like a place you actually want to
00:18:08
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be it's surprisingly configurable and
00:18:11
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you can completely rebrand it to give it
00:18:12
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the look and feel of your team thanks to
00:18:14
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group spaces role-based access
00:18:16
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permissions an easy drag-and-drop widget
00:18:18
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editor you can reorganize the whole
00:18:19
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platform to fit exactly how your team's
00:18:21
◼
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work with our mobile lives people are
00:18:23
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increasingly bringing in outside apps
00:18:25
◼
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into companies and sensitive documents
00:18:27
◼
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are getting scattered across different
00:18:28
◼
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platforms this can cause some big
00:18:30
◼
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problems for you and your company but
00:18:32
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not if you use a glue a glue will allows
00:18:34
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you to integrate services like box
00:18:36
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Google Drive and Dropbox into one Big
00:18:38
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Easy to secure a platform if you know
00:18:41
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terms like 256 bit encryption single
00:18:44
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sign-on and Active Directory
00:18:44
◼
►
integrations the first of all sorry but
00:18:48
◼
►
then you will know how just how safe and
00:18:50
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►
secure a glue is with a glue you can
00:18:52
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share files with your coworkers for all
00:18:54
◼
►
of you to collaborate on you can also
00:18:56
◼
►
track who's read them with read receipts
00:18:58
◼
►
this can be super useful for making sure
00:18:59
◼
►
that critical information has been seen
00:19:01
◼
►
keeping everyone on the same page it's
00:19:04
◼
►
time to break away from the internet
00:19:06
◼
►
that you hate that was designed in 1997
00:19:08
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go and sign up for igloo right now and
00:19:10
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00:19:12
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00:19:17
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radar thank you so much to igloo for
00:19:19
◼
►
supporting under the radar and all of
00:19:21
◼
►
relay fm so I wanted to spend the second
00:19:24
◼
►
half of this now you know we talked in
00:19:26
◼
►
the first half about the Apple watch
00:19:28
◼
►
kind of the reality of being an Apple
00:19:31
◼
►
watch developer today from your
00:19:33
◼
►
perspective and you really are like one
00:19:35
◼
►
of the world's most prominent Apple
00:19:37
◼
►
watch developers honestly the Apple
00:19:39
◼
►
watch today I think I think we've
00:19:41
◼
►
figured out is not a great app
00:19:44
◼
►
development platform yet what do you
00:19:46
◼
►
think could make it a great app
00:19:48
◼
►
development platform there's two aspects
00:19:52
◼
►
to that like there's the hardware side
00:19:53
◼
►
and the software side and like on the
00:19:56
◼
►
hardware side like obviously the watch
00:19:58
◼
►
will get better and
00:19:59
◼
►
better and better and the more it gets
00:20:02
◼
►
better the more easy like their the more
00:20:05
◼
►
capable it will be like there'll be more
00:20:06
◼
►
things that it will be able to do
00:20:08
◼
►
because as it is right now like the
00:20:10
◼
►
watch is kind of it's pretty slow it
00:20:13
◼
►
doesn't have a lot of memory it's as a
00:20:15
◼
►
result some of the way like the apps are
00:20:16
◼
►
structured has to be kind of funny and
00:20:19
◼
►
different than what you might like and
00:20:21
◼
►
like those types of things will just
00:20:23
◼
►
come and I would when I look at those
00:20:25
◼
►
like I'm less worried about the choices
00:20:28
◼
►
Apple will make there because I imagine
00:20:29
◼
►
like just by Moore's law and the their
00:20:32
◼
►
history like it'll keep getting faster
00:20:34
◼
►
better have longer battery life like
00:20:37
◼
►
battery life is a big one I think for me
00:20:39
◼
►
because like one of the hardest things I
00:20:41
◼
►
have come you know like for like C++ is
00:20:44
◼
►
like keep telling people like oh you
00:20:45
◼
►
wear it overnight so you don't charge it
00:20:47
◼
►
overnight and like things like that or
00:20:49
◼
►
much we much easier cells if the watch
00:20:51
◼
►
had I don't even know like like a week
00:20:53
◼
►
battery just like to be able to run all
00:20:55
◼
►
the time or things like that and
00:20:57
◼
►
hopefully over time also like as the
00:20:59
◼
►
hardware gets better and it's more
00:21:00
◼
►
compelling and there's just it's been
00:21:02
◼
►
out for longer it'll be a bigger more
00:21:04
◼
►
people with it and like that's a helpful
00:21:06
◼
►
thing from a marketing perspective but I
00:21:10
◼
►
think the biggest and more interesting
00:21:11
◼
►
things are assuming that basic level of
00:21:14
◼
►
like the hardware each year will get
00:21:16
◼
►
better and like you know the Apple watch
00:21:18
◼
►
that we have now is fairly old insofar
00:21:23
◼
►
as like they announced it was it's
00:21:25
◼
►
September of 2014 yeah it's it's like a
00:21:29
◼
►
year and change old already yeah because
00:21:32
◼
►
like that's what else it didn't ship
00:21:34
◼
►
until you know April 2015
00:21:37
◼
►
but like the hardware from at least what
00:21:39
◼
►
they were showing and what its feature
00:21:41
◼
►
set was and how capable it was was
00:21:43
◼
►
locked down way back then and so I'm
00:21:47
◼
►
hopeful the next one which who knows
00:21:49
◼
►
maybe it'll come out in the spring I
00:21:51
◼
►
think seems to be like where the most
00:21:52
◼
►
sort of the best that like that they
00:21:54
◼
►
even the best money right now would be
00:21:55
◼
►
like sometime in spring there'll be a
00:21:57
◼
►
new one like it could have a disparate
00:21:59
◼
►
unlike a one year performance gain so
00:22:02
◼
►
like assuming those like that be great I
00:22:04
◼
►
really hope that we see a lot of changes
00:22:08
◼
►
around just making it more capable which
00:22:11
◼
►
is a weird thing to say but like they
00:22:12
◼
►
like complications for example which I
00:22:14
◼
►
think are like the watch face in general
00:22:17
◼
►
like most in my own personal use almost
00:22:20
◼
►
all of my use happens on that watch face
00:22:22
◼
►
and that I would love to see that just
00:22:26
◼
►
get better and better and better and
00:22:27
◼
►
like the way it's structured now is very
00:22:30
◼
►
much designed around battery life that
00:22:32
◼
►
you know the watch face is only visible
00:22:35
◼
►
when you flip your wrist up for example
00:22:37
◼
►
which is frustrating sometimes like an
00:22:40
◼
►
obviously oh no you can't have it on all
00:22:42
◼
►
the time but even having something there
00:22:45
◼
►
more persistently or being able to be
00:22:48
◼
►
more aggressive about lighting up the
00:22:49
◼
►
screen things like that could be really
00:22:51
◼
►
helpful and as a result like
00:22:53
◼
►
complications don't update very
00:22:55
◼
►
frequently which I think you can from my
00:22:58
◼
►
own test it's like you can update a
00:22:59
◼
►
complication at most maybe about 40
00:23:03
◼
►
times a day that's interesting like for
00:23:07
◼
►
pedometer is a bit you know it's like a
00:23:08
◼
►
case where I know that the most because
00:23:10
◼
►
you can it's not like the data is
00:23:13
◼
►
real-time so you know every time you
00:23:15
◼
►
take a step your step count goes up by
00:23:17
◼
►
one but I can only update the
00:23:19
◼
►
complication you know whatever like
00:23:21
◼
►
forty four th times a day maybe about
00:23:24
◼
►
every half hour say and like I'd love to
00:23:27
◼
►
see that get better to be more frequent
00:23:29
◼
►
to be more semi real-time that obviously
00:23:33
◼
►
there's timing things like part of why
00:23:35
◼
►
Apple has the complication structured
00:23:37
◼
►
such that you like send data and it's
00:23:39
◼
►
like baked in for a particular period of
00:23:42
◼
►
time is so that it's instantaneous when
00:23:44
◼
►
you raise your wrist the data's are
00:23:45
◼
►
ready there rather than like raising
00:23:47
◼
►
your wrist and then loading the data I
00:23:49
◼
►
think that's fair enough but making that
00:23:52
◼
►
much more frequent and that's that's
00:23:54
◼
►
kind of how like the entire the entire
00:23:56
◼
►
watch OS is kind of developed that way
00:23:58
◼
►
it kind of feels like the old Mac os10
00:24:01
◼
►
dashboard where like everything is kind
00:24:04
◼
►
of in the state of suspended animation
00:24:05
◼
►
until you go and look at it at which
00:24:07
◼
►
point you see old data and then a few
00:24:10
◼
►
seconds later new data flashes in and or
00:24:14
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or you go in and you see nothing and
00:24:16
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then if you take and you did it so it's
00:24:17
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like either way I don't love that as a
00:24:19
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user or a developer and I recognize why
00:24:22
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I have to do it because it does save a
00:24:24
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whole lot of power
00:24:25
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and this is really a very power and
00:24:28
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especially CPU constrained device where
00:24:32
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in memory so like they can't keep all
00:24:34
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the stuff in memory they can't keep
00:24:35
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refreshing it constantly but over time I
00:24:39
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hope they can with with Hardware
00:24:41
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improvements because the the idea of
00:24:44
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like of having to go to a glance and
00:24:46
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then wait a second or two for it to
00:24:48
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update and then seeing new stuff pop in
00:24:50
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its clunky and it's better than nothing
00:24:53
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so like you know if that's what they had
00:24:54
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to do to get this product at the door
00:24:55
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this year with today's technology that's
00:24:58
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great I'd rather have it than not have
00:24:59
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it but it is really clunky and so once
00:25:03
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it becomes possible to have basically
00:25:05
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real-time updates and and to have things
00:25:08
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always be running and being updated you
00:25:10
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know on a much more frequent basis I
00:25:12
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hope they choose to take advantage of
00:25:15
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that and to allow that rather than to
00:25:18
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just kind of Bank the power savings and
00:25:21
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keep making this thing thinner you know
00:25:23
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►
or something like that you know because
00:25:25
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that would it would totally transform
00:25:27
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the usefulness of apps and using apps on
00:25:30
◼
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this platform if we could have things be
00:25:33
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refreshed more frequently and have
00:25:34
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things be more real-time yeah and
00:25:36
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there's certainly a limit to it in like
00:25:38
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in the positive way that I think Apple
00:25:40
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could probably get there is there's
00:25:41
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obviously it doesn't have to be like
00:25:42
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update every 30 seconds like there's a
00:25:46
◼
►
probably some functional limit that
00:25:48
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►
below which like once they're if they
00:25:50
◼
►
can get rather than being updated every
00:25:52
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►
30 minutes if I could update every I
00:25:55
◼
►
don't know five minutes three minutes
00:25:57
◼
►
like at a certain point it's it's good
00:25:59
◼
►
enough and that kind of an improvement
00:26:02
◼
►
it makes me more hopeful that we'll get
00:26:04
◼
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there because that kind of like the
00:26:07
◼
►
battery life improvement that you would
00:26:09
◼
►
imagine you'd have to have to get from
00:26:11
◼
►
that like to compress it just that much
00:26:13
◼
►
is more likely than if it was something
00:26:17
◼
►
where you know you have a constantly
00:26:18
◼
►
running socket connection from your
00:26:21
◼
►
watch is probably not realistic but
00:26:25
◼
►
hopefully we can get something like that
00:26:27
◼
►
and then also I just hope that we can do
00:26:30
◼
►
so much okay wait we can do custom watch
00:26:33
◼
►
faces is something that I'd love to see
00:26:36
◼
►
as well see that I would love custom
00:26:39
◼
►
but I'm not sure they'll ever actually
00:26:40
◼
►
offer it that it's really the ADA that
00:26:42
◼
►
is not a given but they will that Apple
00:26:44
◼
►
will ever allow that but I would love
00:26:46
◼
►
that I would that would get me very
00:26:49
◼
►
interested in watch development if I
00:26:51
◼
►
could make my own face for it and right
00:26:52
◼
►
now all the faces and all the
00:26:55
◼
►
complications they all have pretty
00:26:57
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►
annoying limitations and pretty big
00:27:00
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►
limitations or shortcomings in my
00:27:02
◼
►
opinion or just just difference of
00:27:03
◼
►
differences of opinion of how I would do
00:27:05
◼
►
things and it's it's kind of a baseline
00:27:07
◼
►
level of frustration I have at the watch
00:27:09
◼
►
third party faces I think are a really
00:27:12
◼
►
big challenge for Apple to enable in a
00:27:14
◼
►
way that is compatible with power goals
00:27:18
◼
►
and everything else and security goals
00:27:20
◼
►
and and just branding and consistency
00:27:23
◼
►
goals it is challenging for them to
00:27:24
◼
►
offer that but I think the the benefits
00:27:27
◼
►
of offering that would transform the
00:27:29
◼
►
watch as a platform so much that I think
00:27:32
◼
►
that's a challenge they should undertake
00:27:33
◼
►
and I think that's that's a line they
00:27:35
◼
►
should cross whether they will is a very
00:27:37
◼
►
different story and honestly I'm not
00:27:38
◼
►
that hopeful sure I mean even if it was
00:27:41
◼
►
like like in some part of me it's like
00:27:42
◼
►
if we don't get custom watch faces at
00:27:44
◼
►
least I won't like more like if they
00:27:48
◼
►
have Apple wants to make all of them
00:27:50
◼
►
then they need to make more than they
00:27:51
◼
►
have now in terms of like the only one
00:27:53
◼
►
that like you have the modular face
00:27:55
◼
►
which is that's like it's like the
00:27:57
◼
►
kitchens like the Swiss Army knife well
00:27:58
◼
►
face but what if I want something like
00:28:02
◼
►
sort of in-between that like I think for
00:28:04
◼
►
me what I would love is a watch face
00:28:06
◼
►
that was big time on there like firm for
00:28:10
◼
►
like two-thirds of the display and then
00:28:11
◼
►
like the three modular complications on
00:28:13
◼
►
the bottom like I think for me that's
00:28:15
◼
►
what I would love but like such a thing
00:28:17
◼
►
doesn't exist like the time is always
00:28:18
◼
►
this small quote the small thing in the
00:28:20
◼
►
top right corner and like so if they you
00:28:22
◼
►
don't give them to us as custom
00:28:23
◼
►
developers at least they could give us
00:28:24
◼
►
thousands more and or dozens more and
00:28:27
◼
►
then I think I'd I'd be a lot happier
00:28:29
◼
►
yeah but see there's always it's it's
00:28:31
◼
►
like the 80% problem there's always
00:28:32
◼
►
gonna be something about whatever they
00:28:34
◼
►
offer us in the built-in faces that
00:28:36
◼
►
isn't what we would actually want and
00:28:38
◼
►
they're gonna be blind to certain things
00:28:41
◼
►
where there's gonna be things they would
00:28:42
◼
►
never do that there is a strong market
00:28:44
◼
►
for that if a third-party developer did
00:28:47
◼
►
it could really you know expand the
00:28:49
◼
►
platform and make it more useful for
00:28:51
◼
►
people and and reach into new ideas and
00:28:53
◼
►
I guess that Apple didn't or wouldn't
00:28:54
◼
►
consider and I think third party watch
00:28:57
◼
►
faces are like that is the software
00:29:00
◼
►
unicorn for me on this platform like I
00:29:02
◼
►
don't know if Apple will ever do it as I
00:29:05
◼
►
said I would bet against it honestly but
00:29:07
◼
►
if they ever do I'd be very excited
00:29:09
◼
►
about that and I think that's a good
00:29:12
◼
►
place to stop but I think we'll see
00:29:14
◼
►
hopefully in the next couple weeks or a
00:29:16
◼
►
couple months we'll have some more
00:29:17
◼
►
information from Apple on this and then
00:29:18
◼
►
hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised
00:29:20
◼
►
yeah this is this is a product that I
00:29:22
◼
►
really look forward to wherever it is
00:29:24
◼
►
two to five years from now and and I
00:29:27
◼
►
hope I hope in the meantime we can we
00:29:29
◼
►
can get some good use out of it as well
00:29:30
◼
►
so thanks a lot to our sponsor a glue
00:29:32
◼
►
thanks for everyone to listening for
00:29:34
◼
►
listening and we will talk to you next