14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2007, big phone manufacturers like Nokia and big software makers like Microsoft ignored and even mocked the iPhone. In a famous interview, Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, was filmed laughing about the iPhone's capabilities and design. A few years later, the company is still losing money because they did not enter that game earlier.
When it comes to smart watches, Apple did not invent the first one, but they promise to bring the most well-thought one and disrupt not only the smartwatch idea, but the classic watch too.
Losing the war
Elmar Mock, the co-inventor of the Swatch watch, was recently interviewed by Swissinfo. In his opinion, the watch makers that are now ignoring the Apple watch make the same mistake they were doing in the '70s, when they ignored the Japanese quartz watches.
He explains in that interview that the Apple watch as a product is not the big deal. This is related to the fact that big tech companies like Apple have entered the market. It makes sense to have a communication tool on your wrist and there is a huge market for such a device.
Watch users are not interested just to glance at the time, but have a greater experience and the smartwatch can offer that. On the other hand, Mock says the Apple Watch is by far the most attractive of the smartwatches and he would wear it.
Just like the smartphones
He goes on to remind us how the smartphones did not immediately replace regular phones and how they are still being sold around the world, but in the long run, people prefer smartphones. This is why Blackberry did not feel threatened by the iPhone, because it didn't have a keyboard and Nokia top-hats thought that a big screen would not appeal to users. Both were wrong and their businesses suffered great loss.
Swiss watch makers have already lost the war, explains Mock. He thinks that only 1 in 200 watches produced in the world comes from Switzerland. Even so, the profit of the Swiss watch is greater than of the other 199 combined.
Swiss watches are, in his opinion, mechanical jewelry combined with great design, marketing, and communication. But those are the weapons Apple can use too.
He also explains how the Swiss watch industry has been left behind because they refuse to be part of recent changes. It's not like they lack creativity, but they have poor strategic choices.