Several smartwatches have launched recently, but they fail to answer a fundamental question: why do I need this? Imagine a potential buyer asking a retail employee questions about smartwatches: It doesn't do anything my smartphone can't do already? I need to charge it every day? My phone needs to be nearby for it to work? It costs $200+? Essentially, the only benefit current smartwatches have is to reduce the number of times per day a user pulls a smart watch out of his or her pocket to check why it just buzzed. I do see a potential market that would value getting notifications on their wrist: people that carry their phone in a bag, such as women and people that use a large phablet or tablet as a phone.

I've previously used an iPad Mini as a phone and would have liked to get notifications on my wrist while the iPad was in my backpack. This may sound like a very niche market, but apparently is a trend in Asia, and I can see it catching on in the US with the introduction of larger iPhones. I'd imagine women that carry their phone in a bag would also appreciate getting notifications on their wrist. However, today's smartwatches are big, ugly, and don't give users much control over what does or doesn't get sent to their wrist. Maybe the Moto 360 and next-gen smartwatches will begin appealing to these market segments.