Most of us are still waiting... Enough With the Watch Tips Already!

OK, maybe I’m a little jealous. I did wake up at 2 AM (Central) the day the Watch went on sale to make sure I would be near the front of the line. And even though I had my watch configuration saved to my favorites on the Apple store, by the time I was finally able to get the “Place Order” button to work at 02:08, I still wasn’t able to get a watch that was in stock. My 42mm stainless steel watch with a milanese loop band won't arrive until May 13 - 27th. On one hand I’m happy Apple is doing so well selling out so quickly. On the other hand I’m pissed off about waking up in the middle of the night only to order an Watch that wouldn’t arrive for 4 - 6 weeks.

So, now I’m faced with an RSS feed filled with titles like “What I’ve Learned After One Week With the Watch”, and “8 Must-have Apps for the Watch” and “How to Navigate With the Watch”…

The list is endless and my Instapaper is filling up. While these posts are probably good reading and very informative, they all seem a bit premature given the relatively few people who actually got a watch on April 24th (the day they officially went on sale). It makes sense that tech journalists all want to be first to press with their words of wisdom, but who the hell is their audience? The vast majority of Watch pre-orders won’t ship for another couple of weeks. If the people who ordered them are still checking their order status two or three times per day (like I am), then all this press only serves to piss them off. It’s almost like these pundits have their thumbs in their ears, waving their fingers saying, “Na na na boo-boo, I got my watch and you didn’t!”

Well, I suggest we don’t torture ourselves. When we spot another post titled “Why I Love My Watch” or something like it, just quickly click the Instapaper button and stuff it into the “Read Later” pile.

Perspective

I’ll just come right out and say it. I’m 58 years old. While some people are obsessed with hiding their age, I’m kinda proud I made it this far and don’t mind bragging a little bit. Those who knew me in my youth are probably a little surprised I’m still sucking wind. Well, they don’t know my wife, I guess. Aside from being the love of my life, she’s the person that keeps me out of trouble (for the most part). And, while she’s brilliant at what she does, she’s typical of most in our age group when it comes to technology. We both learned to use a slide rule in high school and our college computer courses involved punch cards, but that’s where our technical similarity ends. She uses just enough tech to do her job while I chose technology as a profession years ago mainly because I wasn’t getting enough of it when it was just a hobby. My youngest daughter (16) has been raised in a time when the ubiquitous Internet is a simple fact of life and smartphones are harder to live without than a missing limb. Her first mobile device was an iPhone 3GS and her first computer was a Core i5, 13” MacBook Pro. Recently, I was prompted to give some thought to the differences in our perspectives regarding technology by reading the latest biography of Steve Jobs, “Becoming Steve Jobs”.

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