Apple Watch: Top 5 Business Features

The Apple Watch is a pretty slick-looking device. Credit: Apple

Apple's new smartwatch promises to make you more productive. For starters, the Apple Watch can pull in notifications from your iPhone and display them right on your watch, ensuring you'll never miss an alert. It also supports voice commands, letting you take a note or set a reminder more quickly than you could on your smartphone. And the Apple Watch has a few killer features you won't find on competing devices, such as Apple Pay, a new mobile-wallet service that could help your customers pay using their smartphone. So can Apple's new wearable device — set to launch in early 2015 — really help you run your business? Read on for five features that could make it good for work. 

Alerts

It's easy to overlook an alert or notification on your smartphone. Not so on a smartwatch like the Apple Watch, which buzzes on your wrist every time an alert arrives. The Apple Watch can grab any alert from your iPhone and deliver it to your wrist, so you'll see it immediately. That includes text messages, emails, calendar notifications, reminders and more. The feature is a big perk for business users who can't afford to miss a message or a meeting. Of course, you'll have to pair your Apple Watch with an iPhone in order to view your alerts on your wrist. Without an iPhone, the Apple Watch can only perform basic features like telling the time and counting your steps using the built-in pedometer.

Design

A smartwatch isn't just a gadget. It's also an addition to your wardrobe. Fortunately, the Apple Watch is a pretty slick-looking device that comes in a wide variety of different styles. Unlike new Android Wear watches like the Moto 360, which sports a circular face, the Apple Watch has a square face. The watch features smooth, rounded edges, and its stainless-steel design gives it a premium look and feel. And it will launch with six different types of bands including plastic, leather and metal options, so you can choose the band that matches your personal style. Apple is also the first company to launch a smartwatch in two different sizes. The smaller watch is better-suited for people with small hands, while the larger device offers a bigger touch screen with more room to run apps.

Looks aside, the Apple Watch also sports a unique design feature: the cylindrical "crown" on the side of the device. You can twist the crown to perform all sorts of actions, from scrolling through an app to zooming in and out of a map while viewing directions. In other words, the crown helps you navigate through apps on the tiny touch screen.

Apple Pay

The Apple Watch could give your customers an easier way to pay with Apple Pay, a new mobile-wallet service. Instead of forking over cash or swiping plastic credit cards, the feature will let users buy items or services by scanning their smartwatch. It works because the Apple Watch includes a near-field communication (NFC) chip that can be detected by contactless point-of-sale devices. After users link their Apple Watch to their bank account, they'll be able to complete purchases by simply scanning their wrist. Apple Pay works on any Apple Watch that is paired with the iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6 or 6 Plus. To help get the service off the ground, Apple has partnered with American Express, MasterCard and Visa. If it's a hit with consumers, it could help similar services such as Google Wallet on Android phones take off, and ultimately change the way we pay.

Voice commands

Your iPhone lets you use voice commands to perform all sorts of actions totally hands-free, from taking a note to accessing turn-by-turn directions. The Apple watch takes the same functionality and puts it right on your wrist, so you can issue voice commands without fishing your phone out of your pocket. To initiate the voice-command prompt, just press and hold the crown on the side of the device. From there, just say a command such as "Remind me to call Joe tomorrow at 2 p.m.," and you'll receive an alert when the time comes. Better yet, reminders and notes taken using your Apple Watch are automatically synced to your smartphone. Voice commands also come in handy when you're driving, letting you pull up directions without fiddling with buttons or a touch screen. That way you can stay safe but still get to where you're going.

Third-party apps

Unlike Android Wear, which focuses mostly on notifications and voice commands, the Apple Watch lets you launch and run applications right from its home screen. And developers have tons of apps in store for the device, including some that might help you run your business. For example, the Twitter app can help you manage your brand's social media presence, right from your wrist. Meanwhile, on your next business trip, the American Airlines app can help you check in with one tap.