The screenshot is by David Gewirtz from ZDNET. Back in 2019, I bought a year old, used Apple Watch Series 4. I liked that I could save $120 over the new edition, and since it was an Apple refurb, I was pretty sure it would work well enough. Fast forward to today and, four years later, I’m still wearing it almost 24/7, every day. The only time it’s off my wrist is when I give it an hour or so to recharge. That five year old model is still the exact right set of features for me.
A few months ago, I tripped and fell. Fortunately, I’m okay, but the Watch sprung to action. I realized that if I were in trouble, it would have been there to get help. Before then, I had tried to convince my wife to wear an Apple Watch, but after seeing the fall detection really work, she saw the value in its added safety features. I want her to have all the protections the latest Apple Watch offers. She did get the new Series 9 Watch and has been learning its features. Today, she discovered how to customize Watch faces and had a grand time decorating her Watch for Christmas. All this is because of a patent dispute between Apple and a medical device maker. You can read the whole story here.
I’ll tell you what I told her. I think this is a temporary condition. Apple will pay someone something or wield the force of their legal team, and the matter will be resolved. Eventually. After all, Apple has one heck of a big bank account and that translates to a very big war chest. But it may take time, and the courts might be stubborn. As such, new Apple Watch Series 9’s from Apple may be off the market for a while. Her reasoning makes sense. I rely on the Apple Watch. It’s with me constantly. I use it for keeping in touch with all my constituents via notifications, and I use it for health and sleep tracking. As a middle aged man, it is one of the most mission-critical devices in my life. My current five year old Series 4 Watch is pretty beat up.
Up until today, that didn’t matter to me. If my Series 4 died, I could get a new one within hours, if I wanted to hop into the car, or within a day or so if I ordered it online. Or so I thought. No more. When the Apple Watch Series 9 is out of stock, it’s gone. At least for now, until the legal issues are resolved. So, should you, like me, rush out and buy a (possibly unwanted) new Apple Watch? If your current Apple Watch is as mission-critical to you as mine is to me, possibly. If you’ve been just thinking about getting a Watch, the rush might not be necessary, but again, you’ll need to factor in your own use case and how important you find the Watch’s very capable health and safety features.
As for me, I’ll be a little nervous until Amazon’s track package status indicates the product has shipped (it hasn’t yet) and a little more nervous until the package actually arrives safely. That said, as much as this definitely wasn’t an expense I expected for at least a year (until the Series 10 or 11 has blood pressure monitoring), I’m convinced this was a smart move given how central that Watch is to my day-to-day and hour-to-hour life. Do you have an Apple Watch now? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter on Substack, and follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.
