After the US Division of Justice (DOJ) formally filed an antitrust lawsuit towards Apple, the corporate instantly defended itself towards the accusations with a collection of statements. Curiously, Apple even confirmed that it thought of making the Apple Watch suitable with Android sooner or later. Nevertheless, doing so wouldn’t be simple for Apple from a technical and strategic standpoint.
Apple Watch and iPhone
When Apple Watch was introduced in 2014, Apple made it clear that it was designed as an adjunct for iPhone customers. Pairing and establishing an Apple Watch requires a smartphone from Apple, and that’s it – it doesn’t work with an iPad or Mac, for instance.
Because the years glided by, Apple made the Apple Watch rather less depending on the iPhone. You’ll be able to, for instance, arrange an Apple Watch for a kid even when the kid doesn’t have an iPhone of their very own. Nevertheless, an iPhone remains to be required, and the DOJ is utilizing this truth as proof to justify its declare that Apple is a monopoly.
Apple’s smartwatch—Apple Watch—is just suitable with the iPhone. So, if Apple can steer a person in direction of shopping for an Apple Watch, it turns into extra pricey for that person to buy a unique sort of smartphone as a result of doing so requires the person to desert their pricey Apple Watch and buy a brand new, Android-compatible smartwatch.
Based on Apple itself, the corporate has thought of making its smartwatch suitable with Android smartphones. Nevertheless, the concept was scrapped after a three-year investigation. Apple says the undertaking wasn’t possible as a result of technical limitations. Whereas it’s simple to suppose that the corporate gave up on the concept due to its enterprise technique, there are in truth many technical limitations behind making Apple Watch suitable with Android.
watchOS closely depends on iOS
watchOS, the Apple Watch working system, is an unbiased platform primarily based on iOS, identical to tvOS. Nevertheless, due to the best way watchOS was developed, it’s immediately tied to most of the options accessible in iOS with the intention to function.
Within the early days of watchOS, it wasn’t attainable to run apps utilizing the Apple Watch {hardware}. As a substitute, apps ran immediately on the iPhone and have been mirrored within the background to the Watch display. This was partly as a result of watchOS was a brand new platform, which gave Apple extra time to refine a local SDK earlier than making it accessible to builders.
However on the similar time, Apple made the Apple Watch tremendous reliant on the iPhone as a result of it might additionally save quite a lot of {hardware} utilization. The primary Apple Watch didn’t have a robust chip – those that had the expertise of utilizing one most likely bear in mind how lengthy it took to open an app or reboot the Watch.
The Apple Watch is actually a mirror for what occurs on the iPhone.
The Apple Watch has change into extra unbiased, however…
Lots of issues have modified since then. With watchOS 2, Apple lastly allowed builders to create apps that run natively on the Apple Watch {hardware}. Native apps can connect with Wi-Fi and work even when the iPhone isn’t close by. On the similar time, new variations of the Apple Watch have been outfitted with extra highly effective chips.
Apple Watch Sequence 3 was additionally a major leap ahead when it got here to lowering reliance on the iPhone. With the introduction of the Mobile model, Apple made quite a lot of adjustments to make extra watchOS apps work on their very own with out the iPhone. This allowed customers to ship iMessages and even stream Apple Music immediately from the 4G community.
Apple Watch is now extra unbiased than ever. Most apps work with out an iPhone close by, particularly for individuals who have a Mobile model. Nevertheless, the muse of watchOS 10 is actually the identical as earlier than. There are nonetheless quite a lot of iOS frameworks which can be required to make the Apple Watch work. The setup course of nonetheless will get all the pieces it wants from an iPhone.
A terrific instance of that is that, with the intention to use some new watchOS options, customers additionally have to replace to the most recent model of iOS due to the shared frameworks between the 2 platforms.
Apple Look ahead to Android wouldn’t be inconceivable, however wouldn’t it make sense?
Does this imply that it’s inconceivable to make Apple Watch work with an Android cellphone? Probably not. Nevertheless, it might definitely require much more effort from Apple, which remains to be slowly engaged on making the Watch much less dependent by itself smartphone.
Apple must utterly overhaul the Apple Watch setup course of and the best way it handles issues like eSIM, for instance. As a result of earlier than making the Apple Watch suitable with Android, Apple must utterly separate watchOS from iOS. Might Apple do this finally? Completely. Would it not be definitely worth the effort? I don’t suppose so.
At this level, Apple most likely sees extra worth in convincing folks fascinated with having an Apple Watch to purchase an iPhone than promoting a number of extra Watch items to a couple Android customers right here and there. And we will’t blame Apple for that – there are competitor smartwatches that solely work with Android.
If there’s one factor the corporate may do proper now, it might be to open up its APIs in order that different firms can higher combine their smartwatches and different equipment with iOS with out having to depend on methods and workarounds. However that’s a subject for an additional article.
What about you? Tell us if you happen to would use an Apple Watch with an Android cellphone if it have been attainable.
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