Apple has already aced in the three divisions of tech products, in the consumer market, namely; iPod, iPhone and iPad. For its fourth venture, a team was put in to place with the task of creating a revolutionary technology that can be worn on the wrist. This team worked under the leadership of JonyIve, the Senior Vice President of Design. After satiating the consumer demands with various stupendous electronic gadgets for fifteen years, Apple came up with the idea of designing a wrist watch that can be paired up with the iPhone. It was a big step for the team especially because it was not carried out under the guidance of Steve Jobs.
The man who gave the idea its existence as a product, is Kevin Lynch. He was a chief technology officer at Adobe. After working there for eight years, Kevin was hired by Apple for a position which even he was not aware of at the time, due to Apple’s strict secrecy policy. On the very first day of his joining, Kevin was asked to be part of a project which had its deadline just around the corner. He was asked to review two design ideas without any previous prototypes or software. There were just ideas and experiments which he had to analyze in two days’ time and turn it into a product.
The idea was to create a device that can be worn on the wrist, and not just any product would meet the prospect. The product had to live up to Apple’s impossibly high expectations. Apple wanted to create a technology that would not only look great on the wrist, but also perform other functions besides telling time. In order to determine the success rate of this technology, Apple referred to its Chief of Human Interface Group, Alan Dye. He is in charge of coming up with creative ways of interacting with Apple devices. All the awesome icons that appear on any Apple device, like, iPhone or iPad, which move on the users’ command, are because of the ingenious works of the human interface team. In a statement Dye said that he started dreaming of the Apple wrist watch shortly after the sad demise of Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
After much deliberation Apple’s entire creative team, Dye, Ive, Lynch, etc. came up with something that would prove to be a reverse of all its current products. Especially the ever invasive product iPhone, that used to keep peoples’ noses buried in it for hours. Apple wanted to give its users a device that would filter all the excess information and present only the necessary stuff. Something on which users can’t spend hours at a time. Even at the dinner table people absent mindedly start using their phones to check messages, mails, etc. Apple recognizes peoples’ requirement for that level of engagement but it was thinking of providing a more human way of doing that.
In its quest to rid people of their phones Lynch created a prototype of a full size iPhone fitted with a Velcro strap. It required several kick starts before an actual watch prototype was created. The team started testing the device’s core functions. Finally, the brilliant fully functional piece of technology came into existence which had features, such as, Quickboard to expedite users’ texting experience, microphone for voice messaging through Siri, speed was mastered after reengineering the watch software twice, etc. The coolest feature of all is, The Short Look, which detects user’s pulse and with the flick of the wrist it displays notifications instantly.
According to Dye, when users put something on their wrist, it has to be aesthetically attractive as well as smart in functionality. Hence, the watch was introduced in different sizes, bands and materials. Apple watch became a cool way to make phone calls and receive notifications, all in one.