How do you test out a smartwatch without alerting anyone to the fact that you’re working on a smartwatch? You disguise it as another company’s smartwatch. That’s exactly what Apple engineers were supposed to do when they were testing the Apple Watch out in the wild, they had to put fake castings over the device that made it appear as though it was a Samsung smartwatch.
For Apple, the hard part — making a smartwatch — is nearly over. Soon it will be time for the harder part: selling the long-anticipated Apple Watch to consumers who, so far, are not very excited about the idea of wearing computers on their bodies. The first batch of smartwatches from companies like Samsung Electronics, Motorola and LG did not sell well, nor were they particularly well reviewed. And wearable devices like the Google Glass eyewear that got mainstream attention — if not sales — were greeted with considerable skepticism. But Apple has been in this situation before. Most consumers didn’t care about computer tablets before Apple released the iPad, nor did they generally think about buying smartphones before the release of the iPhone. In both cases, the company overcame initial skepticism.