Social Seen: The rise and demise of the wristwatch

This year has seen the unveiling of the biggest product launch for Apple since Steve Jobs unveiled the MAC 30 years ago. Not one, but two iPhones have been released as well as the first Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch, available in 3 versions, aims to change the way we communicate and is, according to Chief Executive Tim Cook, ‘the most personal product we’ve ever made’.

Only simpletons would assume that the Apple Watch would merely tell the time. Oh no. The Apple Watch does so much more than that. The watch can send and receive messages, answer calls made to your iPhone and ‘blurs the boundary between physical object and user interface,’ says Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of Design.

This is all very well and good but the question we want to know is who will wear it? Generation Y – those born between 1980 and 2000 – are unsurprisingly shaped by technology. Born somewhere between the demise of the Walkman and the birth of Google, Generation Y are considered by many to be the future for technological developments and as such the classic wristwatch has been in demise for the past few years. With the time conveniently blazoned across your phone, why the need for it ticking steadily on your person?

Wearable technology however is a growing area for retail and 48% of wearable tech owners are 18-34. For the generation brought up with the convenience of technology at their fingertips it’s no surprise that they want it on other joints as well. Apple, it would seem, were ahead of the game and although traditionalists will bemoan the vibrating stainless steel and anodized aluminium clamped to wrists nationwide, it is as Tim Cook says, pretty ‘amazing what you can do from your wrist’.