Dear Apple,

 

Remember Think Different? We do.

 

It’s been 13 years since your last revolutionary product. 13 years of the same iPhone with a better camera and slimmer edges around the screen.

 

Before you launched Apple Watch, we expected it to be another revolutionary product like the iPhone. Instead, you kept a 200-year-old design made for glancing at the time instead of updating that design for your actual product.

 

The traditional arm position – requiring an arm raise and wrist twist – is okay for a quick glance to check the time. But if you step back and look critically, it’s a ridiculous and unnatural movement and really bad ergonomics. Nobody ever moved their arm that way before the invention of the wristwatch except to karate block a kick to the face. 

 

Apple Watch has great features that we love to use, but to hold our arms in that karate block position long enough to actually get use out of the device causes unnatural anatomical strain. And when I’m holding my phone or my drink, I can’t even see my watch. 

 

That’s why 99 times out of 100, you see an Apple Watch only being worn and not used. And when they are used, friends, dates and family call you out because that wrist twist is such an obvious interruption.

 

Well, we did Think Different and invented a simple solution. Our challenge is we don’t have billions of dollars in marketing dollars like you do to get Dr. Dre and Taylor Swift to wear it and make it cool. Until they do, people will think it looks weird. It is weird because it’s radically different from the norm, but that’s not a bad thing. 

 

When you announced the iPhone, the prevailing reaction was a predicted flop. They said, “nobody will buy a phone that doesn’t have a physical keyboard.” People laughed at it. 

 

We’re at that stage right now, but we know our design is right. It balances naturally with the anatomy. It’s ergonomic. With it, you actually use and get the most out of your Apple Watch. And even though you can’t imagine it by looking at a picture, it truly is much more comfortable to wear than the traditional watch band. You just have to try it to believe it. 

 

We will keep working hard to get our vision onto people’s wrists. We will persist until Taylor Swift or Dr. Dre wears it and then it becomes not weird but cool.

 

You made a great smartwatch, and now we’ve made the great accessory that puts it in the right spot on your wrist. 

 

Here’s to Thinking Different again.

 

Yours truly,

TILT