Abdel Ibrahim, writing for WatchAware:

Last night while I was out for a drive, I had an incredible realization about the possible benefits of Apple Watch. I was listening to the radio (yes, I do that from time to time), and I was jumping around between channels and changing the volume with my thumb. Just like I always do. But this time, I looked down at the steering wheel and then over to my dashboard, and a thought occurred to me. “Huh,” I said to myself, “that’s interesting. The controls are right down here and right over there.” And then I started to understand the value of having such controls within a few inches of my fingers, even when redundant controls are only a few inches farther away.

Yes! This clicked for me. It’s all about economy of motion, reducing interface friction. Think of the analogy as Apple Watch is to iPhone as little button on your steering wheel is to same control on your car radio.

To me, the steering wheel revelation offers an even more basic level of insight. And that insight has to do with friction. Friction, in nearly every context, is something we’re always trying to get rid of. Anything we can do to make things faster and more efficient is almost always welcomed, especially when it comes to consumer technology. Whether it’s 1-Click ordering at Amazon or self-checkout in Walmart, if there is a faster way to get something done, we’re generally all for it.

A few weeks ago, I posted about Henry Ford’s time/motion studies and their relation to the Apple Watch. Abdel is homing in on the same concept here. These may be small movements, but they turn out to be important when magnified by time.