New Apple Watch is a dive computer

[Belzelbub]

In my opinion, what is disruptive is how Apple are changing how we use technology and experiences and how we have a huge thread on it. Garmin did it with their dive watch that can be used for hiking etc with GPS, but Apple offering everything it does in a watch is definitely going to change how companies approach their future development.

I have a ton of Apple products, so I don’t dislike Apple.

But, aside from cellular capability, and some Apple forced restrictions, what does the Apple Watch do that Garmin doesn’t?

Garmin didn’t start with a dive computer* and add hiking, etc. They started with a fully functional smart/activity watch and added a fully functional dive computer under the hood.

*Calling any of the Garmin Dive Computers dive watches is disingenuous. Each of the Garmin “watches” is fully capable as a stand alone dive computer well beyond the recreational limits. I use both a Garmin MK2s and a Shearwater Perdix AI. The Perdix on my right wrist has my gas pressure, but apart from that the Garmin has everything else I need.

 

[doctormike]

My Garmin is far more capable as a dive computer.

And yet Garmin never generated 30 pages of discussion in a day and a half! That's gotta count as a LITTLE disruptive, right?

 

[vondo]

the original iPhone was certainly disruptive technology, but adding DC functionality to the iWatch is not disruptive

I think you are conflating disruptive with pushing the technological envelope. Technologically, the first iPhone wasn't all that advanced. As far as I can tell, the only technological advance it brought was multi-touch. Palm had been producing hybrid PDA-phones for years with color screens and the ability to add apps. And the iPhone couldn't even add 3rd party apps. It had a 2 MP camera.

What it did have was a wow factor of a sleekly designed all in one product that became a status symbol and that's what over time allowed it to really become disruptive.

So yeah, from a technological point of view adding a pressure transducer and a thermometer to the worlds best selling smart watch is no great shakes. But that's exactly what has the possibility to be disruptive here. The worlds best selling smart watch now has a version which can function as a dive computer as good or better than what 90% of divers have. (Number pulled from nowhere

And by the time of the Apple Watch 11 in 2025 maybe the sensors needed for this will be in that watch, not relegated to the extreme sports version.

 

[Taako]

I think you are conflating disruptive with pushing the technological envelope. Technologically, the first iPhone wasn't all that advanced. As far as I can tell, the only technological advance it brought was multi-touch. Palm had been producing hybrid PDA-phones for years with color screens and the ability to add apps. And the iPhone couldn't even add 3rd party apps. It had a 2 MP camera.

i think you might be being a little dismissive of what's disruptive or not.... technology rarely makes huge leaps and bounds in a single product, but single products can change the way you think about the market they are in. The iPhone was disruptive because it was the first product with multi-touch, that had never been done ever and totally changed how we interact with devices (hand gestures). It used a capacitive touch display which was not done on PDAs ever (and capacitive touch is WAY better than resistive), it also was the first mobile device to have a full blown internet browser on it. Before the iPhone you could load a webpage on other "smart" devices but they frequently just didnt work at all or you only got the HTML and maybe the css if you were lucky. They knew mobile phone browsers crap so they just put a full blown browser in it. That changes how you think about a product and what you expect from a product in that space, it sets a new standard. That's what being disruptive is about.

The iPhone absolutely was disruptive, if it wasnt then you'd see people still using phones like the Sidekick or Razr, but those are long gone because iPhone set the new standard for smartphones.


Adding a depth sensor to the watch isn't a crazy stretch, but it does have the power to be disruptive in the (admittedly small) dive computer space.


Now any developer can write a dive computer app and integrate it with the functionality the apple watch already has. You want your dive computer to automatically log your GPS position when you enter and exit the water? Done. just ask the user for location permission (assuming you get GPS signal).

Want your dive computer to automatically text the boat captain when you surface and include those GPS coordinates? Done. Make your app ask for the boat captains number before you start the dive and ask for SMS permissions.

Do you see how integrating dive computer functionality might unlock these new possibilities that are literally just one software update away? It's not disruptive simply because its an apple watch with a depth gauge on it. It's disruptive because it allows software developers to bring added functionality that other dive computers can only dream of having. I would absolutely call that disruptive in the dive computer space. It's not as huge as the iPhone, but it certainly is going to disrupt the dive computer market.

 

[Bigbella]

RIP . . .

 

[drrich2]

I think you are conflating disruptive with pushing the technological envelope. Technologically, the first iPhone wasn't all that advanced.

If (and it's a huge 'if' - I think usage of the Apple Watch Ultra as a primary dive computer will remain a niche thing) the Ultra catches on in a big way (I imagine this would be a couple of versions down the road; Apple updates its watch series fairly often), it can disrupt the paradigm for how dive computer companies work.

Right now, the major players sell a hardware and user interface package product. Yes, they may outsource hardware to a point (e.g.: Oceanic Worldwide and Aeris at one point were competitors offering models with the same hardware as each other), but they still sell a 'package deal.'

The stand alone software options are for dive logs, not dive computer interfaces.

The closest we have to what Apple is doing is the addition of underwater case/software package combo.s to let your iPhone function as a dive camera. But that requires buying a fairly expensive underwater case, which the Ultra presumably won't need. If the iPhone didn't need the case, this might be a very different discussion.

Yes, for example, Shearwater could put out an Ultra interface ap. (which makes it a competitor with their own hardware line). But a range of other companies could devise user interfaces without having to make the investment involved in the hardware.

In theory, the Ultra might offer something no current competitor I know of does; a choice of branded user interfaces for your dive computer.

But it might take the Ultra 3.0 to offer A.I., deeper depth rating, more compelling features, etc...

 

[NothingClever]

Holy cow! I sure hope Apple's social media team is digesting this and feeding reflections back into their marketing and engineering teams.

 

[vondo]

But it might take the Ultra 3.0 to offer A.I., deeper depth rating, more compelling features, etc...

At the risk of beating @Bigbella 's horse....

Honestly they will likely never do that and probably don't care. I don't think Apple gives a second thought to whether I switch from my Perdix or you switch from whatever you use.

The market they are going after with this small hardware upgrade to their platform isn't us, it's the person who dives a week or two every year or two. Right now that person has two choices: rent a computer for $50-100 a week or buy a basic nitrox computer for $300 or so (everyone stopped selling air-only computers, right?). Either way, they end up with the same thing. A puck of some sort with hard to read B&W LCDs and an interface they have very little idea of how to read except that if it starts beeping they should probably look at it and try to find out what they are doing wrong.

Now they have a third option. A more expensive version of a device they likely have already since they are an active person for whom diving is just one of many activities they partake in. And then a $10 charge for their vacation to enable a really nice looking, full color dive computer which tells them in clear instructions what's going on and what to do. And it's a device they already know the interface for.

That's before you consider all the possible synergies of a dive computer with GPS, WiFi, cellular, microphones, speakers, vibrations alerts, frictionless connection to a phone, web browsers, etc.

From my recent observations on boats, something like 10% of people are diving with a Perdix like device, maybe 20% are using air integration. But then account for the fact that, like in most activities, 90% of the activity is being done by 10% of people and you realize that those of us who own these $1000+ dive computers are a tiny sliver of the population. Those who need all its capabilities are even smaller (I have one because I want the AI; I immediately switched it into Rec mode and even there I need a fraction of its features).

Fact is Apple is going to sell a ton of these devices whether or not Oceanic sells a single copy of their software for it. As someone way back pointed out, the real potential innovation here (besides the world's second biggest company offering a dive computer) is the separation of the hardware and software.

 

[emoreira]

I have a Citizen Aqualand. It meassures depth, time and water temperature and show those values in the display and log.
Those 3 values are enough to implement a dive algorithm.
So, take a smart watch that measures those 3 values and add an app with an algorithm, and you have a dive computer with the capability to connect to a smartphone. Add an underwater case and some fancy app and you have a brillant product.
Submerge all that in the hipe of Apple marketing and you can sell the combo at a high price.
Brillant.
Apple can buy the experience to design a dive computer. It's not the move of Apple, it's the move of Huish to be in the front line with Apple. Apple does not need Huish, Huish needs Apple.

 

[noserider]

At the risk of beating @Bigbella 's horse....

Honestly they will likely never do that and probably don't care. I don't think Apple gives a second thought to whether I switch from my Perdix or you switch from whatever you use.

The market they are going after with this small hardware upgrade to their platform isn't us, it's the person who dives a week or two every year or two. Right now that person has two choices: rent a computer for $50-100 a week or buy a basic nitrox computer for $300 or so (everyone stopped selling air-only computers, right?). Either way, they end up with the same thing. A puck of some sort with hard to read B&W LCDs and an interface they have very little idea of how to read except that if it starts beeping they should probably look at it and try to find out what they are doing wrong.

Now they have a third option. A more expensive version of a device they likely have already since they are an active person for whom diving is just one of many activities they partake in. And then a $10 charge for their vacation to enable a really nice looking, full color dive computer which tells them in clear instructions what's going on and what to do. And it's a device they already know the interface for.

That's before you consider all the possible synergies of a dive computer with GPS, WiFi, cellular, microphones, speakers, vibrations alerts, frictionless connection to a phone, web browsers, etc.

From my recent observations on boats, something like 10% of people are diving with a Perdix like device, maybe 20% are using air integration. But then account for the fact that, like in most activities, 90% of the activity is being done by 10% of people and you realize that those of us who own these $1000+ dive computers are a tiny sliver of the population. Those who need all its capabilities are even smaller (I have one because I want the AI; I immediately switched it into Rec mode and even there I need a fraction of its features).

Fact is Apple is going to sell a ton of these devices whether or not Oceanic sells a single copy of their software for it. As someone way back pointed out, the real potential innovation here (besides the world's second biggest company offering a dive computer) is the separation of the hardware and software.

A great response.
There are a couple of breakthrough innovations in the watch and that will make them more consumer orientated and ultimately will could easily become part of the standard routine for many normal divers (i.e. those that are not technical divers, only dive a few days a year in warm water locations or read scubabord) and will only be certified to 30 metres or possibly 40 metres if they have done a deep speciality.

The first innovation which is something that apple have successfully managed for 20 plus years, is the user interface, the way data is presented and the ease of understanding the data to the lay man is a real breakthrough and they have probably used classic design theory techniques to come up with such an intuitive interface. The dive computer industry should take serious note of this and up their game.

The second innovation is that they have made dive computers easily accessible to the general public through their large retail network and online presence. What other dive computer manufacturer has made its products so easily available to the general public? This is a true game changer and will be the major challenge for the current computer manufacturers, the market for basic computers could crash and if I was marketing something like the Puck Pro, Cressi Leonardo or Sunto Zoop I would be really concerned that this area of the market could disappear and people that buy entry level computers would chose to get an Apple watch or may even have an apple watch that can act as a dive computer before they even start to learn to dive.