Apple’s Tidal Wave

Reviewing Apple WatchOS 10’s new mapping feature here’s how DC Rainmaker observes Apple’s push into the fitness/outdoor space with their watch offering:

The thing to understand about Apple is that they work something akin to a tidal wave. From far away it may not look like much coming, but then before you know it, it’s breaking on shore and overwhelming.

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In other words, if one were to step back and look at this endurance sports push as if it were a three-part act, the segments (to me) are fairly clear:

• Act 1 – 2022: Massive renewed focus on sports data/metrics, initial trackback functionality, expanding battery life, usability of the hardware in sports
• Act 2 – 2023: Continued expansion of data/metrics, expanding of tracking to mapping/navigation, initial journey into physiological metrics
• Act 3 – 2024: I’d guess it’ll be a heavy focus on mapping/navigation/routing, with a heavy focus on physiological metrics (e.g. training load/recovery)

It will be fascinating to see if Apple’s massive size will help them navigate these waters successfully or if they will loose interest in the space and move on to other things. Sometimes getting to good enough is not really good enough to be considered having a worthwhile product in a space that isn’t just lifestyle, but products people rely on everyday to keep them alive and on track in the backcountry.