I was an Apple naysayer back in the 90's when they were on the ropes. I remember a having a discussion with a colleague where I exclaimed why doesn't Apple just give it up? They only have something like 2-3% of the PC market share. He quickly responded by pointing out that Apple was making $2 Billion in revenue and that we were working for a company that was making $70 Million in revenue. Should we just fold up shop? I've never forgotten that discussion or the profound impact it's had on my way of thinking since. So yeah, a $500 Million Apple Watch market is something I would <i>kill</i> for. Or any one of their myriad other "losing" propositions.<p>There's another lesson here as captured by the Harvard Business Review. Let's suppose you're a technology organization, especially an IT organization, and you want greater innovation. What path should you take? Should you focus on innovation or should you focus on execution? Counterintuitively, those organizations focusing on execution achieved greater innovation than those focusing on innovation. Execution is <i>everything.</i> Why do so many of us have all these great ideas yet aren't millionaires? Execution. So Tim Cook is focused on execution. Good.
The Apple Watch is a business success of course, but I don't see it as a consumer success. Sure a lot of people are using it, but I feel a general sense of "wanting to like it" instead of really liking the thing. Nobody I know who owns an Apple Watch tries to recommend me or anyone else to buy one, and when I ask them what they like about it, they fumble about notifications etc.