After the US Division of Justice (DOJ) formally filed an antitrust lawsuit towards Apple, the corporate instantly defended itself towards the accusations with a sequence of statements. Curiously, Apple even confirmed that it thought-about making the Apple Watch appropriate with Android in some unspecified time in the future. Nonetheless, doing so wouldn’t be simple for Apple from a technical and strategic standpoint.
Apple Watch and iPhone
When Apple Watch was introduced in 2014, Apple made it clear that it was designed as an adjunct for iPhone customers. Pairing and establishing an Apple Watch requires a smartphone from Apple, and that’s it – it doesn’t work with an iPad or Mac, for instance.
Because the years glided by, Apple made the Apple Watch rather less depending on the iPhone. You possibly can, for instance, arrange an Apple Watch for a kid even when the kid doesn’t have an iPhone of their very own. Nonetheless, an iPhone continues to be required, and the DOJ is utilizing this reality as proof to justify its declare that Apple is a monopoly.
Apple’s smartwatch—Apple Watch—is just appropriate with the iPhone. So, if Apple can steer a person in the direction of shopping for an Apple Watch, it turns into extra pricey for that person to buy a unique sort of smartphone as a result of doing so requires the person to desert their pricey Apple Watch and buy a brand new, Android-compatible smartwatch.
In response to Apple itself, the corporate has thought-about making its smartwatch appropriate with Android smartphones. Nonetheless, the thought was scrapped after a three-year investigation. Apple says the mission wasn’t possible as a result of technical limitations. Whereas it’s simple to assume that the corporate gave up on the thought due to its enterprise technique, there are the truth is many technical limitations behind making Apple Watch appropriate with Android.
watchOS closely depends on iOS
watchOS, the Apple Watch working system, is an impartial platform primarily based on iOS, identical to tvOS. Nonetheless, due to the way in which watchOS was developed, it’s immediately tied to lots of the options obtainable in iOS to be able to function.
Within the early days of watchOS, it wasn’t doable to run apps utilizing the Apple Watch {hardware}. As a substitute, apps ran immediately on the iPhone and had been mirrored within the background to the Watch display. This was partly as a result of watchOS was a brand new platform, which gave Apple extra time to refine a local SDK earlier than making it obtainable to builders.
However on the identical time, Apple made the Apple Watch tremendous reliant on the iPhone as a result of it will additionally save quite a lot of {hardware} utilization. The primary Apple Watch didn’t have a robust chip – those that had the expertise of utilizing one most likely keep in mind how lengthy it took to open an app or reboot the Watch.
The Apple Watch is actually a mirror for what occurs on the iPhone.
The Apple Watch has turn out to be extra impartial, however…
A whole lot of issues have modified since then. With watchOS 2, Apple lastly allowed builders to create apps that run natively on the Apple Watch {hardware}. Native apps can connect with Wi-Fi and work even when the iPhone isn’t close by. On the identical time, new variations of the Apple Watch have been geared up with extra highly effective chips.
Apple Watch Sequence 3 was additionally a big leap ahead when it got here to decreasing reliance on the iPhone. With the introduction of the Mobile model, Apple made quite a lot of modifications to make extra watchOS apps work on their very own with out the iPhone. This allowed customers to ship iMessages and even stream Apple Music immediately from the 4G community.
Apple Watch is now extra impartial than ever. Most apps work with out an iPhone close by, particularly for many who have a Mobile model. Nonetheless, the inspiration of watchOS 10 is actually the identical as earlier than. There are nonetheless quite a lot of iOS frameworks which are required to make the Apple Watch work. The setup course of nonetheless will get all the things it wants from an iPhone.
An incredible instance of that is that, to be able to use some new watchOS options, customers additionally must replace to the newest model of iOS due to the shared frameworks between the 2 platforms.
Apple Look ahead to Android wouldn’t be unattainable, however wouldn’t it make sense?
Does this imply that it’s unattainable to make Apple Watch work with an Android telephone? Probably not. Nonetheless, it will actually require much more effort from Apple, which continues to be slowly engaged on making the Watch much less dependent by itself smartphone.
Apple must fully overhaul the Apple Watch setup course of and the way in which it handles issues like eSIM, for instance. As a result of earlier than making the Apple Watch appropriate with Android, Apple must fully separate watchOS from iOS. Might Apple do this finally? Completely. Wouldn’t it be definitely worth the effort? I don’t assume so.
At this level, Apple most likely sees extra worth in convincing folks all for having an Apple Watch to purchase an iPhone than promoting a couple of extra Watch items to some Android customers right here and there. And we will’t blame Apple for that – there are competitor smartwatches that solely work with Android.
If there’s one factor the corporate may do proper now, it will be to open up its APIs in order that different corporations can higher combine their smartwatches and different equipment with iOS with out having to depend on methods and workarounds. However that’s a subject for an additional article.
What about you? Tell us in case you would use an Apple Watch with an Android telephone if it had been doable.
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