Cook: Apple Watch must be as irreplaceable as iPhone

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Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Tuesday. In an interview at the conference, he mentioned many topics, including his thoughts on the Apple Watch smartwatch, the development of Apple Pay and the popularity of Apple products in China.

Cook said the Apple Watch, due to be released later this year, will have a feature that sounds an alert when people sit too long, a trend that recent medical studies have shown puts people over 60 at greater risk of disability.

At the conference, Goldman Sachs Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn asked Cook how the Apple Watch differed from other smartwatches currently on the market. Cook drew a comparison with the MP3 industry. He said: "Think about the MP3 industry. We were not the first company to produce MP3 music players. There were many companies in this business at the time, but their products were not widely used and were basically difficult to use. Their user interfaces were terrible. You almost had to get a Ph.D. to use them. No one remembers those products."

Cook continued: "I think about the smartwatch category in much the same way. There are a few things out there that are called smartwatches, but I'm not sure you can name them because none of them have changed the way people live. At Apple, that's our goal. We want to change the way you live."

“There are a lot of things called smartwatches, but I’m sure you can’t name many,” Cook said in a speech at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. “Obviously, none of them have changed the way people live. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Cook said consumers will be surprised by the breadth of Apple Watch features, including "micro-notifications" that can display scores, such as a football game, the moment you raise your wrist. "Everyone has their favorites," Cook said of the smartwatch. "I wear it all the time when I'm working out to track my activity. It also gives me reminders on my wrist if I'm sitting too long to get up and move around. Many doctors believe that sitting is the new cancer."

Of course, Apple Watch faces a challenge in that it may need to be bundled with the iPhone, which would limit its potential market size. Cook confirmed earlier this month that the Apple Watch is still scheduled to be released in early 2015 and will start shipping in April, with pricing starting at $349 for the low-end version.

Cook said that Apple's mobile payment service Apple Pay is also being promoted very quickly. Currently, out of every $3 of contactless payment transactions made through smartphones, $2 is completed through Apple Pay. Since the launch of this service, Apple has signed agreements with more than 2,000 banks and credit institutions, and has received cooperation intentions from many retailers. Even Jet Blue Airlines has begun to accept Apple Pay, allowing passengers to pay for entertainment, food and drinks in the cabin through this service.

"We're seeing this service accelerate faster and faster," Cook said. "We design and control the hardware, software and services, which makes this possible. Imagine if several companies were working together on this project, you would definitely be scratching your head." This seems to be a reference to Apple Pay competitor CurrentC, which is backed by several major retailers including Walmart.

Cook also introduced Apple's popularity in China in his speech. In the past five years, Apple's revenue in the Chinese market has soared from US$1 billion to more than US$38 billion. He attributed this rapid development to the in-depth understanding of the Chinese market and the cooperation with Chinese operators and technology companies.

However, in the eyes of many people, Apple is still vulnerable. Apple's future growth depends largely on iPhone sales in developing countries such as China and India, where the price of an Apple phone is almost the monthly salary of an ordinary worker. Especially in China, some people believe that Apple will face competitive pressure from local mobile phone companies.

At the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference, Cook was also asked if he was worried about the growth of Android manufacturers such as Xiaomi. Of course, Cook did not specifically mention Xiaomi in his answer, but he said that Apple has always faced fierce competition. When Apple started selling iPhones, it had to beat the two giants at the time: Nokia and BlackBerry. Then Samsung began to rise rapidly. In the PC field, Apple also competed with Dell, IBM and other rivals. All Apple has to do is focus on making the best products in the world, and it doesn't need to worry about the rest.

Cook's experience attending the conference was perfect. Just as he was speaking, Apple's market value exceeded 700 billion US dollars, becoming the first company in American history to reach this level.