The Apple Watch is the next big thing in tech. All the app developers are tracking its performance, all the consumers are watching on with interest to see if, or when, they need to get on board. Given Apple's track record of success, there's some expectation that, despite an overall sense of hesitancy, the Apple Watch will become the next must-have tech item. And now we have the first indication of how, exactly, the Apple Watch is being received - for their first ever Apple Watch Customer Satisfaction report, Apple Watch research group Wristly surveyed 800 Apple Watch users to get their thoughts and opinions on the device. And the results, particularly in comparison to other Apple products, certainly reveal some interesting perspectives.
Satisfying Curiosity
After just under three months of use, 97% of Apple Watch users indicated that they were satisfied with the device, with 66% saying they were "very satisfied/delighted".
This is interesting result, and goes some way towards confirming the potential of the device - though what's of particular interest in this case is that Wristly has provided comparative results for other Apple devices at around the same time in their life cycle.
While Wristly doesn't qualify that those satisfaction stats are from the same, three-months after introduction period (saying only that the figures are based on "first generation versions"), the figures do show a lot of promise. If they're indicative, as suggested, the Apple Watch will most certainly become a major player in the tech landscape, and a major platform to factor in for marketers. What's more, such an endorsement will no doubt further spur social networks like Facebook to develop Apple Watch-specific offerings, something they're not working on right now. If these ratings hold true, you can expect to see a lot more activity in the Apple Watch development space in the very near future.
Qualifying Sentiment
To take their data a step further, Wristly has provided additional insight into the types of people included in the survey pool to get a comparative idea of how users in different industries felt about the Apple Watch. In anecdotal research, they'd found that those in the tech industry often had lower opinions of the device than the average - as noted by report co-author Ben Bajarin:
"Those whose job it was to think about the Apple Watch or who were early adopters who thought deeply about tech and the tech products they buy, were all much more critical of the watch. You could tell they evaluated it and thought about it deeply from every angle by their responses. Then I talked with teachers, firefighters, insurance agents, and those not in the tech industry and not hard-core techies. These groups of people couldn't stop raving about the Apple Watch and how much they loved the product. It was almost as if the farther away people were from tech or the tech industry, the more they liked the Apple Watch."
This finding was supported by their data, with those further removed from the tech industry far more satisfied, overall, with the Apple Watch experience:
What's more, the majority of users in the survey group considered themselves to be in the "non-tech" user group, so the results skewing towards higher satisfaction among non-tech related users was not anomalous.
Such a finding certainly bodes well for the future of the device - if everyday users are reporting such high levels of satisfaction, that goes some way towards endorsing the device's usability and utility, away from the judgements based on technological limitations or restrictions.
That said, the highest levels of satisfaction with the Apple Watch among respondents related to its build quality and aesthetics, with "Ease of Use" and "Features/Functionality" coming in third and fourth place, respectively.
Performance (with battery life specifically noted) came in with the worst satisfaction rating, though such issues have tended to be particularly problematic in first generation devices like this - so while not surprising, it's still, no doubt, an area of concern to be addressed.
Watching On
The Wristly data comes at the same time as The New York Times has reported that many app makers - including Facebook, Google and Snapchat - are taking a wait and see approach with the Apple Watch while considering how they can adapt their apps to the smaller Apple Watch screen. Analysts estimate that Apple has sold between three and five million Apple Watches for the quarter, numbers that will likely be clarified when Apple reports its third quarter earnings this week. If sales are in the higher end of that bracket, they'd surpass sales of iPads and iPhones in their comparative first quarters, meaning there'll be a heap of user data available to assess and ascertain whether those developers should get involved. If Wristly's number's prove indicative, that's a huge market of active and satisfied users for them to tap into, and you can bet that the major players won't be letting such an opportunity pass them by.
However it plays out, the Apple Watch is something that all developers, marketers and advertisers need to be keeping tabs on. The device has the potential to change the game in many respects, and along with the wider influx of wearable devices, it looks set to open up a whole new battleground for attention, and whole new shift in consumer data gathering and behavior. If nothing else, Wristly's figures reinforce that the Apple Watch is functional, is being well-received by many, and has huge potential, comparative to that of other transformative devices developed by Apple. The bottom line - watch this space. Closely.