Even if Watch hasn't reached your country yet, it's never too early to start getting your newsroom enthused.
That was the message from a wearables workshop in Washington today. And paradoxically, it came from a digital journalist from New Zealand, where the Apple device isn't yet on the market.
NZME group general manager for digital content Marcus Forbes was interacting to questions posed by news media designer Mario Garcia, Stibo Accelerator director Kim Svendsen and Anders Kring of Copenhagen-based Berlinske Media.
The workshop organized by Stibo and WAN-Ifra's Global Alliance for Media Innovation precedes the World News Media Congress, which opens here tomorrow (Monday).
And it was an event at which the pace of change was palpable: Garcia - who spoke at Publish Asia in Bangkok last month - was updating his views on Watch after a month with one strapped to his wrist. And Jonas Skytt and Ganesh Ram, the two university students researching Watch as part of the Stibo initiative, were able to present more of their findings.
Mario Garcia had noted an average 37 visits to the NYT Watch app (his favourite) in a day - and expected younger users might interact much more - and noted that only once had he gone from app to iPhone: "You need to abandon the idea that you need to," he says.
But he says publishers need to seduce users - "go from silly to serious" - with content that mixes news with recipes and items such as the Pope deciding Adam was wrong to blame Eve for original sin.
Stressing the importance of headlines, bullets, images and of course, design, he urged restraint on alerts and "less is best".
It was a message reinforced by Deniz Ergüral of Turkey's Zaman Media, who says the highly personal Watch "must be the right companion".
"People don't buy Watch for news; they buy it because they are curious, it's cool, or for its health and fitness features," he says.
Ergüral, who is the paper's technology journalist as well as its research and development director, says that while health and fitness are "the big opportunity", others exist through location triggers, audio bulletins, personal alerts and the ability to follow news.
Ganesh and Skytt are coming to the end of a six-month internship at Stibo - the patent of technology developers CCI Europe and Escenic - where both had put their hands up for the opportunity to research wearables in an industrial environment.
Among key findings released at the workshop:
- while people will interact with Watch in lots of places - "in the toilet, in a meeting with the boss, or with the mother-in-law" - they won't object to being disturbed if the content is relevant;
- tolerance to irrelevant information was low among users polled;
- between six and ten articles a day is "ideal", with users who received three or less not being satisfied;
- personalization is key.
Ram says bullets and lists are useful in Watch postings, together with the facility to access more on a story.
Where's the money? Kring urged careful use of advertising options, but pointed to opportunities such as pushing restaurant reviews to users who were nearby, using geolocation.
And both agreed that the 'pull' aspects of apps were also important... and easier. "It can be a means to bring people to sites you already control," he says.
Tamás Szépvölgyi from Sanoma defined attributes needed for Watch apps, comparing the purist Guardian app with the complex, menu-based HuffPost one and providing assessments of a dozen more.
"It's early days and these are just test cases," he says.
Not that Watch is the only wearable: Eduardo Pellanda - literally just arrived from Brazil after an airline delay in Miami - and colleague André Pase talked about UCLAN experiments with the "misunderstood" Google Glass, which Pellanda says was "not a ready-made tool" but would need editorial champions to show it was worthwhile.
Among projects had been the "experience" of a £25,000 front row box at a Manchester football ground, with pictures from Glass used in a newspaper spread.
Finally, from Forbes, Garcia, Svendsen and others, the key message was to "take some home" - get newsrooms enthused about Watch and other wearables by letting them handle the goods.
World News Media Congress opens tomorrow and continues until Wednesday, with more than 1000 delegates expected. A welcome cocktail party opens the networking tonight at Washington's Newseum.
Peter Coleman
Pictured: Workshop attendees write headlines and text for Watch
On our homepage: Jonas Skytt and Ganesh Ram present findings from their Stibo Accelerator-supported research