Apple Watch and hands free computing

Ben Bajarin, writing for TechPinions, homes in on the value of hands free computing and the Apple Watch.

What has stood out to me the most about this experience is how the Apple Watch allows me to be “hands free” but still get value from the digital world.

On this point, I believe an important framework is worth establishing. To get value from the digital computing world with devices like a PC, tablet, or smartphone, you have to be looking at and engaged with the device. In the case of the smartphone and tablet, you are likely to be holding the device in at least one hand but frequently both. This means your hands and full attention are on that screen. There are absolutely times for these experiences. But if the average person spends about 2 hours using their smartphone daily, how does one get value from the digital world in all the other hours of the day? This is where I think a wearable screen begins to establish its value proposition.

This is all about efficiency, about reducing interface friction, the time cost of having to pull out your phone to check for a progress notification or seek some reportable data.

It is also about freeing up your hands. Imagine doing the dishes, with your hands full of suds. Or in the middle of some messy cooking, where you have sauce or some other cooking concoction on your hands. If you get a text, or some other notification, the best you can do is either interrupt the process, clean up, get out your phone, then get back to your hand-messing activity. The Apple Watch is like a remote signal tower for your iPhone (and for the Apple ecosystem).

Another use case is for people who have to silence their iPhone at work and don’t keep their phone in their pockets (or don’t have pockets), so they don’t have access to the notification vibrations. The Apple Watch is a boon to those folks, as well as to the people trying to reach them.