Om Malik Interviews Yves Behar on His Love Affair with Watches

Om Malik has a really great interview with industrial designer, Yves Bahar on his love for watch design coming off his recently designed Movado Edge, which I admittedly think looks beautiful. If you’re into or care about watch design, you should definitely read this interview.

One part of this interview caught me off, though, and it was a comment made by Om about the Apple Watch as if it hasn’t met expectations:

Om: One of the more ironic things about the Apple Watch is that more people are interested in watches now. We thought that Apple would crush everybody, but now more people are paying attention to the idea of a watch as a fashion accessory.

Yves: Also as a sign of personal style and belief. That’s the issue: Some of these digital products, they don’t give you the opportunity to express yourself, even when there is range. I’ve always been a big fan of range. We were probably the first ones, with Jawbone, to do a range of different headset colors or different Jambox colors and finishes and colors and textures. But most technology products come in one flavor.

Om makes it seem like the Apple Watch hasn’t met expectations by saying “we thought the Apple Watch would crush everybody.” I don’t know if he meant to sound like that but with the Watch only being out 6 months, I think it’s a bit short sighted to look at it as if its impact on Watch industry has negligible. Six months and roughly 7 million units sold is by no means a small number. And Om, of all people, should know that the beginnings of many Apple products often have a slow start.

Yves response is interesting and I agree that range is going to be important in the wearable segment. I think Apple did wonderful job here by offering a variety of cases, bands, and watch faces. Still, I think there’s more that they can do, and my gut feeling tells me that in the years to come we may see a round version or perhaps a stripped down Fitbit-like version.

Check out the full interview here. It’s definitely worth your time.