Hot or Not? Apple Surveys Apple Watch Owners About Their New Device.

Has the Apple Watch earned a permanent place on your wrist? Does the gentle touch of the taptic engine delight you?

These are among the questions Apple poses to Apple Watch owners in a survey, soliciting their opinions on matters both concrete (on which wrist do you typically wear the watch?) and subjective (overall, how satisfied are you with your Apple Watch?).

Apple conducts these random consumer surveys with all of its products. But it’s nonetheless interesting to see how thoroughly the company probes every facet of the device, its first new product category since the 2010 introduction of the iPad tablet. The request comes via the email address consumers have registered with Apple.

And, no, you won’t be taking this survey on the tiny screen of your Apple Watch.

Apple is curious about how consumers got their hands on the device, which launched April 24 but had limited retail availability until mid-June. It asks about how well the smartwatch is meeting consumer expectations: Better than expected, just as expected, or worse.

The company attempts to determine what initially motivated the purchase, to evaluate whether the consumer is an Apple devotee, gadget freak, or was attracted by certain features — such as health and fitness or, um, timekeeping.

Apple

The questionnaire seeks to learn whether the purchase was motivated by aesthetic considerations (design and appearance, customizable watch faces, interchangeable bands) or more practical applications (such as the ability to check email or messages).

Apple

Apple is trying to gauge whether the Apple Watch has become a daily habit — a sign that it has earned valuable real estate on the consumer’s wrist — or a technological castoff. And it is looking to identify potential problem areas, such as ease of use or battery life.

Apple

The questionnaire spends a good deal of time getting in the weeds of features and functionality, asking whether consumers were satisfied with, say, the digital crown, which is the watch’s navigation tool, or the taptic engine, which delivers notifications via a gentle wrist tap. If the consumer expresses dissatisfaction with any one feature, Apple asks the respondent to explain why.

Apple also asks which features are the most popular, whether consumers have figured out how to install apps on the watch and their level of satisfaction with, say, the Siri virtual assistant, heart-rate sensor and notifications from third-party apps.

Apple

Apple engages in a bit of competitive intelligence-gathering, asking if consumers had previously used a fitness band, activity tracker or smartwatch (if so, which ones?) — and whether the Apple Watch has successfully displaced the rival device on the consumer’s wrist.

It seeks to evaluate how consumers learned about the device, whether they tried it on before buying it, and what they thought of the initial setup process, from pairing the Apple Watch with the iPhone to setting up features such as Apple Pay to customizing the watch settings.

Apple also gives consumers the opportunity to express their own opinion: What one thing would you add to or change about your Apple Watch? Maybe just a shorter survey.

https://twitter.com/rwhmur/status/627512934051135488

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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