Consider the impact of Apple announcements -- and move on

Gadgets and gizmos all around, but when is a watch a timepiece? Consider the Apple announcements. How prophetic was the Little Mermaid who said "You want thingamabobs? I've got twenty!" Now think about Maxwell Smart's shoe phone. Somehow the new Apple Smartwatch reminds me of gadgets that were so silly and fanciful, they could only have been in the movies (Captain Kirk, Dick Tracey had a variety of amazingly smart watches) or on television.  Just think how many other tech products have emerged from the movies -- or for that matter, read this article about the technologies today -- like the Flip phone -- that were imagined by the creators of Star Trek. Just because they can be created -- they are, and often have amazing and compelling implementations (3-D printers and replacement body parts?)

Robbery -- in person or just our data through NFC payments?  Merchants and consumers are struggling to get a grip on money, whether it is scams, credit card fraud -- or actual robbers. Last year my bank branch was robbed at gunpoint -- actually at grenade-point -- and the suspect left with the money, though later arrested and prosecuted. Meanwhile, for the past several years, that branch had a guard (outside) with a gun -- this was apparently not much of a deterrent for this clumsy robber, one of 5000 attempted in-person robberies per year in the US. And then there's retail purchase handling by Target with its credit card breach versus Home Depot and the cash register malware -- guess such security as they had was not much of a deterrent. And NFC payments? Even Best Buy turned them off.

Your personal information is everywhere -- but especially on your phone.  Remember that most people are not downloading phone apps -- and can you blame them? Do we really believe holding up our phone as payment is better/smarter than that plastic credit card -- which may have chip/pin security within the next year? Do we seriously buy that phone payment is preferable because the phone has GPS and the processor can tell where we are where we say we are?  Duh, so can anyone else who may be hacking into your phone. Do you really want to share your health information in an app -- only one-third of health apps even have privacy policies -- and consider  why health apps may not succeed?   

Watches are jewelry -- often beautiful.  But the usefulness of a smart watch is questionable -- even to the gadget geeks who buy one of everything -- struggling to drag around their laptops, tablets, phablets, smartphones and their chargers. The fitness tracker market growth has stalled -- in fact, Nike fired most of its wearable tech staff in April!  Consider the driver looking down at a watch -- for data? Today, software for tracking your steps is readily available for your phone -- and it's generally free. And smartphones (even last year's models) do just about everything now -- crushing the consumer digital camera market, which in turn crushed the film camera market, and in a moment of poetic justice, even wrecked the iPod market. But ah, a beautiful watch that lasts decades -- or has a design that synchronizes with the right outfit? That's jewelry.