This seems a fair critique to me, in that the clash between fashion and tech / geek / gadgets is real. For some people, blending all of that will make sense. I don't think it makes sense for enough people for the watch to mainstream like the phones have.

Take some of the commentary below as just my own idle thoughts, fantasy as to what might actually make sense. We aren't there yet, but we are close to taking some steps...

For me personally, it's compelling as an advance in what a watch can do. Of course, I was the geek back when I wore watches too. Had multi-function ones, and the best features were solar, with sensor to display light level (rare Seiko), and the variety of increment timers, alarms, and such. Had a calculator one for a while too. Used it a lot.

Some of those have aged well. I've an old Seiko that just screams "80's era peak digital tech", and it's beautiful. Machined case, reasonable display, nice band, etc... Once in a while, I'll wear it for fashion today. I no longer care about the functionality.

When I got past the simple pager and decided to carry a phone, I realized I don't like a lot of personal tech dependency. Having a phone and a watch, along with other potential things to carry around was too much. Something had to go, and that thing was the watch.

I've also realized the real appeal of wearables to me would be some sort of other interface, sci-fi at present (I think), where I can interact without looking at the thing somehow. It having a display is nice, but as a primary use case, not attractive to me anymore. I've a phone for that, and my Note 4 is a powerful phone! There are days when it's my only computing device, and I'm very happy about that development.

Someday, when the wearable can interact on a more personal level, say by stimulating nerves, or doing some other kind of thing, I see the potential for that private comms channel being really useful. Maybe meet somebody, query the phone for some info, get it, and all the while being able to engage them personally without having to pull out some tech, or interact with a thing they can see. Or maybe, it can notify me when somebody I really need / want to interact with enters the room, or is present via some other means. Maybe I could just quietly ask for help too, a 911 call without announcing it's been made.

To me, that's where wearable needs to go; otherwise, why not just have it on the phone where every other thing is?

Long ago, I learned morse code for a HAM radio license. Honestly, if I could get a wearable that would pulse to me at some reasonable rate, and I could pulse back at some reasonable rate, it would be enough to be super useful with the right software. Think text / command line type interface, with some data ending up on the display for various reasons too. Yes, this idea is primitive, and not something most ordinary people would find appealing, but I can't shake it due to my own experiences.

For people who have mastered morse, they can take it in nearly any form. Blinking lights, sound, vibration, taps on the shoulder, whatever. It just works, and they get 30-60 words per minute doing that. I've been around these people, say at a camp fire or some other event, and they literally are following a conversation via a blinking light nobody else there is aware of. I got a sense of what it would be like to be deaf, and found that potential compelling. The idea of having a comms channel with a device like that, personal, private, non intrusive to other interactions is where things become part of us, not just some thing mounted for handy interaction.

Using a watch still takes my sight, and sometimes my sound, and my hands. Using a watch with voice interaction is cool in some contexts, like when I'm using my hands, but not so cool in a social context, where using hands can work because one is speaking, etc... It's all a distraction, or rude, or public. Besides, a phone can do that stuff now.

And in that sense, forget the wrist! Just gimme something I can interact with on a more basic level, and I'll gladly learn that technique just as I did code, and would use it frequently enough to be worth the bother... or more realistically, the implant or whatever it takes to make it happen.

On that note, a friend has the little magnet implanted in their finger. It was done in a bio-compatable way, and they've had it for a long time. You can simulate this by wrapping a small, strong magnet in tape around a finger, or some other part of the body. It only takes a little while for your body to self-identify with this new thing, and it becomes a sense quickly. Feeling fields, invokes visuals much like thinking about things does. The minds eye opens up a little. This experience was compelling enough to make me very seriously consider getting one. No joke.

Say that magnet was in the wrist, or near it, just as a point of discussion for how intimate tech could work?

Now, that watch can communicate a lot of things, and do so quickly. Vibrate, pulse, low frequency, high frequency... those all become distinct, easily differentiated things quickly. Of course, it's mostly one way, unless it were near a muscle, or the watch could pick up signals for fingers, or some other basic movement... Pulse it in specific ways, and directions / vectors can be communicated too, due to the small motion of the magnet, and how one's mind tends to map that sense point in space and with relation to the body. Think Google navigation with no visuals. Just walk around, and get the nav data streamed a piece at a time. Turn left, go faster, turn right, look one way, look the other, as it gets closer, pulse stronger, etc... I would use something like that near constantly.

That's where this stuff needs to go IMHO, and we just aren't there quite yet. Just having a spiffy touch gadget on a wrist really isn't all that compelling to me, given I've got one that is more powerful, easier to interact with and higher throughput comms wise in my pocket, that I can set on a table, share with friends, and so forth. Perhaps it makes really great sense to pour more R&D into the watch / skin interface. People can learn a lot and adapt quickly. Maybe a light zap, or a grid of things that can zap might be expressive enough to be useful. Now that I write this, I'm seriously tempted to make something and try exploring what can be triggered with a simple metal to skin interface.... and what can be sensed too.

Don't get me wrong either. The tech in the watch is clever, and I'm very seriously impressed with what Apple has done in terms of packing power into small places. Damn cool. Just not useful enough to commit to wearing.

Plus, it's just another thing to recharge. I've already got a computer and a phone to manage...