Apple Watch might not be 'flopping', but there are plenty of things wrong with it

Apple Pay is one possible "killer app", and it's been pushed front and centre of the Watch experience: not only no more wallets or fishing around in your pocket, but also no firing up of the correct app: just hold your wrist out and pay.

Plenty of other compelling uses for smartwatches must exist beyond time keeping, notifications, payment and Maps directions, but it's up to Apple and the developer community to not only figure them out but make them work almost without the wearer having to think about it.

Adding a camera to the Watch, by contrast, seems to make little sense at first glance: the iPhone already has a strong camera that will by definition be far superior to whatever sensor Apple could cram into a Watch 2.

Viewed through the light of expanding the Watch's feature set, it makes far more sense, though. The camera could be used for quickly snapping shots that would have otherwise been missed or for showing a perspective that could not be seen by an iPhone, like a wrist-mounted GoPro.

In my view, it's a weak idea that Apple will probably drop, but if it has tested such a feature it again shows they know that selling a device that just makes it easier to read notifications is not a winning path.

One major criticism levelled at the Watch in its early reviews was one of an over dependence on the iPhone. It's been to cut the reins with Watch OS2, but it needs to do more. Android Wear devices can now, at least in theory pull info from a phone miles away.

It's inconceivable Apple would allow that, but it needs to make more features available without an iPhone.

Another key thing Apple needs to focus on is Siri, the virtual assistant built into iOS. Compared to the voice control offered on Google Now, it's poor: less responsive, a worse listener and less useful.

During WWDC 2015 Apple unveiled a more "proactive" Siri which seeks to become more independent, serving up information before you ask. If this sounds familiar it's because it is: Google has been working on this ever since they launched Now.

This would be a bigger bonus for Watch users than iPhone and iPad owners. WatchOS relies heavily on the virtual assistant because, for obvious reasons, it's no use for typing on.

If, for example, you are walking and you glance down at your wrist to find Siri has given directions to places you may want to walk based off calendar, text and other information then the Watch transforms into a more useful product. This should be a key area of interest for Apple in version two.

Apple will continue on a familiar path of improving through iteration, but the stakes are higher this time. Enough people were knocked out by the innovations of iPhone and iPad to ignore their shortcomings. Watch hasn't knocked anyone out, it's just made them go, "Yeah, that's cool. But whatever."

As the hardware becomes more sophisticated the Watch will become more independent as a standalone device rather than a glorified (and expensive) iPhone accessory that can do little more than pass notifications along from the iPhone to the wrist. But what it needs to do is find more context-senstive, Pay-like applications where it just knows what you want it to do.

If not, Watch could end up as little more than a footnote in tech history, alongside PDAs and MiniDisc players, remembered with fondness but also a little bafflement.

Max Slater-Robins has been writing about technology for nearly a decade at various outlets, covering the rise of the technology giants, trends in enterprise and SaaS companies, and much more besides. Originally from Suffolk, he currently lives in London and likes a good night out and walks in the countryside.

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