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convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,083
I will start by saying that I have not downloaded Pokemon Go and not sure that I ever will. My youngest is a college student and she got it right away and been trying to figure it out.

The reason for the post is that I see the craze going here, the risk of people blindly walking around without looking where they are going, and the market opportunity. The Pokemon creator has their own wearable, but I see this as a great opportunity for Apple if they were ever going to partner on something. A bundled Apple Watch app and band to function with Pokemon Go would be a killer app at this point. People are paying a $200+ premium to get that Pokemon band. Image how they'd handle something that was much more functional, but also included a Pokemon banded band for the watch as well. I'm sure Apple won't push this or try to get involved, but this is the kind of thing they could use to really push the Apple Watch ahead.
 

IphoneIssues

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2010
1,028
617
I will start by saying that I have not downloaded Pokemon Go and not sure that I ever will. My youngest is a college student and she got it right away and been trying to figure it out.

The reason for the post is that I see the craze going here, the risk of people blindly walking around without looking where they are going, and the market opportunity. The Pokemon creator has their own wearable, but I see this as a great opportunity for Apple if they were ever going to partner on something. A bundled Apple Watch app and band to function with Pokemon Go would be a killer app at this point. People are paying a $200+ premium to get that Pokemon band. Image how they'd handle something that was much more functional, but also included a Pokemon banded band for the watch as well. I'm sure Apple won't push this or try to get involved, but this is the kind of thing they could use to really push the Apple Watch ahead.


Yes, Pokemon Go is out! :D

I personally think that there will be some kind of watch app. I believe the Pokemon Go Plus, which is the name of the band, will ring to notify you if there are any Pokemon nearby. The watch could do the same thing or provide haptic feedback.
 

convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,083
Yes, Pokemon Go is out! :D

I personally think that there will be some kind of watch app. I believe the Pokemon Go Plus, which is the name of the band, will ring to notify you if there are any Pokemon nearby. The watch could do the same thing or provide haptic feedback.

The watch could do a lot more that Pokemon Go Plus... which was my point, and they could give the same visual with a special band.

And for the other guys... yes, I know... fads are fads and I'm not a follower. I still don't use Twitter! But just thinking of how the watch could be leveraged in a market opportunity and/or "killer app" scenario that would drive watch adoption.
 

IphoneIssues

macrumors 65816
Dec 30, 2010
1,028
617
The watch could do a lot more that Pokemon Go Plus... which was my point, and they could give the same visual with a special band.

And for the other guys... yes, I know... fads are fads and I'm not a follower. I still don't use Twitter! But just thinking of how the watch could be leveraged in a market opportunity and/or "killer app" scenario that would drive watch adoption.

Oh, it's much more than a fad, my friend. I've been waiting nearly 20 years for this :D

I don't see them doing anything more than an app to replace Pokemon Go Plus. Would give Apple crazy leverage.
 
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Mercifull

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2012
343
300
It's not that I don't have the money to buy a pokewatch, i just don't want to have multiple wearables on my arm. For that reason alone Pokemon Go should support both Apple Watch and Android Wear.
 
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utsava

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2004
369
321
I don't know about a special band and all that, but Apple should certainly be encouraging them to make the app watch compatible... it would seriously sell millions more watches for that one feature alone.
 

BarracksSi

Suspended
Jul 14, 2015
3,902
2,664
I don't know about "millions more" -- I didn't even know a Pokemon wearable already existed -- but maybe an AW app would get players to look up once in a while so they can see "DON'T WALK" signs and whatnot.

But, an app would also eat into sales of their own wearable.
 

BrodieApple

macrumors 6502
Aug 16, 2015
280
417
So there's a Pokemon GO wristband that right now costs over $200 so I think it's stupid they don't have an Apple Watch app also. It would be free and have a screen. When you walk past a Pokestop, gym or pokemon it could give you a notification that you can act on. The Apple Watch would be the perfect companion for this game because it's not that complex for the watch. I mean they made a wristband that only has one button to use with it.
 

Rok73

macrumors 65816
Apr 21, 2015
1,161
518
Planet Earth
Give some feedback to the devs. No one here can do anything about that. And yes, it'd probably be useful for the Watch owners that play P GO.
 

BrodieApple

macrumors 6502
Aug 16, 2015
280
417
Give some feedback to the devs. No one here can do anything about that. And yes, it'd probably be useful for the Watch owners that play P GO.
Salty. I didn't know you can't post about something you want related to the product on these forums o_O
 
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dschulian

macrumors regular
Apr 29, 2015
242
523
Germany
Salty. I didn't know you can't post about something you want related to the product on these forums o_O

Starting a discussion in a forum? What do you think who YOU are? :D
I'm not a Pokémon Go player, but I'm with you. The watch is the perfect place for this.

But now take two steps back and try to see things as a salesman who wants to make money with a free to play app..
How could you make money?
In app purches? CHECK
Merchandising? CHECK

The question is:
Why would they throw out money to make that kind of app for you just to cannibalize their own producs?

So this case is closed, I think?
 
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scottyy

macrumors member
Mar 24, 2015
56
7
The Pokemon go plus wrist band is $35. People are just selling pre-orders for $200+ on eBay.

I hope they make a watch app. I am guessing it would cost money since they are charging $35 for the wrist band.
 
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utsava

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2004
369
321
I don't know about "millions more" -- I didn't even know a Pokemon wearable already existed -- but maybe an AW app would get players to look up once in a while so they can see "DON'T WALK" signs and whatnot.

But, an app would also eat into sales of their own wearable.

Yeah, it all depends on their business model... but with the Pokemon wrist band going for $250 on Ebay right now, I'm sure people would jump at an Apple Watch that allowed them to track and trap pokemon without walking around with their phone open. Pokemon has more active users than Twitter right now... I'm sure they could easily sell millions more Apple Watches if the integrated the feature nicely.
 

rctlr

macrumors 6502a
May 9, 2012
738
175
So there's a Pokemon GO wristband that right now costs over $200 so I think it's stupid they don't have an Apple Watch app also. It would be free and have a screen. When you walk past a Pokestop, gym or pokemon it could give you a notification that you can act on. The Apple Watch would be the perfect companion for this game because it's not that complex for the watch. I mean they made a wristband that only has one button to use with it.

This would be a great boon for Apple Watch if they did have a companion app for the Watch.

They would need to enable Background App Refesh first, that would help alot.
 

vertsix

macrumors 68000
Aug 12, 2015
1,863
6,096
Texas
Although it'd be a FANTASTIC idea, they already have their own band to sell.

I don't see this happening.
 

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
So there's a Pokemon GO wristband that right now costs over $200 so I think it's stupid they don't have an Apple Watch app also. It would be free and have a screen. When you walk past a Pokestop, gym or pokemon it could give you a notification that you can act on. The Apple Watch would be the perfect companion for this game because it's not that complex for the watch. I mean they made a wristband that only has one button to use with it.

No, the wristband costs £30 but it's going for more because they've sold out of their initial stock. It's not a "$200" wristband. Do you need scalping explaining?

What I hope they do is replicate the functionality with the Apple Watch via an IAP. I wouldn't mind paying for that functionality.
 
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Mercifull

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2012
343
300
If Nintendo/Niantic are worried about it eating into sales of the GO Plus they could always make enabling on the Apple Watch an IAP. I think it would be silly and confusing to do so but it could be done.
 
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convergent

macrumors 68040
Original poster
May 6, 2008
3,034
3,083
I don't know about a special band and all that, but Apple should certainly be encouraging them to make the app watch compatible... it would seriously sell millions more watches for that one feature alone.

I was thinking that a lot of people will want the Pokeman wearable because it has a distinctive band that would let people know they were playing the game. They could sell an Apple Watch band that had the same colors/pattern that folks using the Apple Watch could slip on for their game play. This would potentially give Pokemon a revenue stream to offset any lost wearable sales. Heck, they could probably sell the Apple Watch band for more than their wearable and still sell a bunch of them!
 
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utsava

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2004
369
321
I was thinking that a lot of people will want the Pokeman wearable because it has a distinctive band that would let people know they were playing the game. They could sell an Apple Watch band that had the same colors/pattern that folks using the Apple Watch could slip on for their game play. This would potentially give Pokemon a revenue stream to offset any lost wearable sales. Heck, they could probably sell the Apple Watch band for more than their wearable and still sell a bunch of them!

Definitely! Seems like a multi-million dollar opportunity...
 
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