AppleInsider Staff
Nick Hayek, chief executive of Swiss watch behemoth Swatch, called the Apple Watch an 'interesting toy' and expressed concern over the privacy of health and fitness data collected by modern smartwatches as his company gears up to launch its own wearable later this year.
"The Apple watch is an interesting toy, but not a revolution," Hayek told Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger. His comments were translated by The Guardian.
"These devices, which all eat so much power that they last no longer than 24 hours without needing to be plugged in," Hayek added. "In addition, the user immediately loses control of their data. I personally don't want my blood pressure and blood sugar values stored in the cloud, or on servers in Silicon Valley."
It's not immediately clear how familiar Hayek is with the Apple Watch's actual functionality, as the device does not measure blood sugar. Apple also encrypts all health data locally based on the user's passcode, and detailed privacy settings allow users to control where their data is shared.
Hayek then extolled the virtues of his own company's forthcoming smartwatch, saying it will compete with current wearable payment systems and contain a programmable NFC chip that can be used for access control, among other things. Swatch will not consider any form of health tracking, however.
"I cannot accept the responsibility of whether my device warns a customer in time before a heart attack," Hayek said.
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94 Comments
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/187840/swatch-ceo-calls-apple-watch-an-interesting-toy-voices-privacy-concerns#post_2765032"]Nick Hayek […] expressed concern over the privacy of […] modern smartwatches as his company gears up to launch its own wearable later this year.[/QUOTE] If the way I've seen traditional watch makers tout storing your credit/debit cards for NFC-based payments is accurate then the privacy concerns fall on them, not Apple. [QUOTE]"In addition, the user immediately loses control of their data. I personally don't want my blood pressure and blood sugar values stored in the cloud, or on servers in Silicon Valley."[/QUOTE] 1) No, they don't lose control of it. 2) It would be nice to have the option to keep the data locally on the device. We wouldn't your [I]daily step count[/I] falling into the wrong hands now, would we? [SIZE=2][I]Worst… Bond… Villian… EVER![/I][/SIZE] [QUOTE]Hayek then extolled the virtues of his own company's forthcoming smartwatch, saying it will compete with current wearable payment systems and contain a programmable NFC chip that can be used for access control, among other things. Swatch will not consider any form of health tracking, however. "I cannot accept the responsibility of whether my device warns a customer in time before a heart attack," Hayek said.[/quote] Are you taking responsibility if the data stored on the NFC chip is used by without permission? The banks are gonna love you if you do. Bottomline: This is a lot of pooh-poohing for something that is only a 'toy' with no threat to your [I]traditional[/I] business model.
I get 4 days out of a single charge on my Sport edition, really impressed.
[quote name="DarenDino" url="/t/187840/swatch-ceo-calls-apple-watch-an-interesting-toy-voices-privacy-concerns#post_2765035"]I get 4 days out of a single charge on my Sport edition, really impressed.[/quote] I can get about 2 with wOS 2.0 with the current beta. With the earlier betas I wasn't even getting a full day. Still some bugs with the current beta with some freezing apps, the device occasionally restarting on its own, and sometimes needing a manual restart to get the M8(?) motion chip to register when I'm standing, but it seems like it's nearly there.
Since his company is trying to play catch up to Apple, I would assume they know all about the watch functionality (know thy enemy and all that) and is just trying to paint Apple in a bad light. It would be funny if after all of his talk about Apple and privacy, that their new watch comes out running Android. We'll see.
Well what did you expect him to say... Not everyone wants an Apple Watch believe it or not. I am not sold on health tracking for people that do not have a condition that needs that kind of monitoring either but to each his own. I think AW is not a fully developed product and it's usefulness (for me) is not there yet. Even Apple's own commercials are selling "lifestyle" over function, I guess if I am lost in a museum someone watching me from a distance can draw and arrow and send it to me, ahhh that is not enough for me.