Let me get this straight. Swatch, Tag Heuer and Richemont, all "old world" companies making and selling over-priced mechanical and quartz-based watches, all of a sudden woke up one day, saw that the Apple Watch, finally realized that THIS smartwatch was going to disrupt their industry significantly, and decided right then and there that they're going to release their OWN smartwatches which can compete with Apple's Watch AND Apple Pay. That's what this, and many other stories, seem to be saying and, indeed, what Tag's and Swatch's announcements say. That somehow within a few months or even a year, these dumb#%#s who just woke up will be able to field a smartwatch AND a secure electronic payment system to compete with Apple.

Yeah, I don't buy it. Apple has billions in cash. Apple has a massive ecosystem built out. Apple has had years developing an amazing UI and OS for it's phones/tablets on which the Apple Watches UI and OS is based on. Apple has a massive customer base. Apple has a significant number of data centers already stood up that manages all their operations and end-user devices. Apple has hundreds of banks and merchants signed up for Apple Pay support. Apple has thousands of developers working on Apple Watch, and there are thousands more external developers building apps. Apple has well-defined HealthKit and HomeKit APIs, as well many other APIs developed and tested and matured, that developers can utilize. Apple has access to tons of cutting edge technology, cutting edge manufacturing techniques, cutting edge innovations in materials and electronics, as well as access to many innovative people and designers. I could go on...

What is it that these laggard watch companies think they can accomplish in 3 months? What is it that they think they have access to that Apple doesn't that gives them such confidence that they can release anything in the next few months that can compete? What is that they think they possess that's better than dozens of other manufacturers who have released smartwatches over the past few years and failed to capture any significant market share. What is it that they think that they can do better than the dozens of past and current alternative payment companies/schemes? Bendable batteries? Flexible wristbands? WTF?

I would argue that Samsung is the one company today that has shown that they could most compete with Apple's products and ecosystems, but even they, in spite of their cash reserves, access to technologies and resources, and manufacturing base, can't seem to keep up with Apple's products (even when they blatantly copy them) or Apple's techniques. Now we're hearing about Samsung Pay, which is based on LoopPay, which will most likely be a dismal experience for its users (emulating magnetic stripes?? storing card info on the phone?? really??). The second Apple released the iPhone 6 Plus Samsung saw its Galaxy S5 sales tank as consumers abandoned Samsung and switched back to Apple (and Samsung's mobile unit reported billions in losses that quarter). The reason I'm bringing this up is to illustrate how a $160B technology company is having a hell of a time competing with Apple in these product categories -- and yet somehow I'm to believe that a $13B watch manufacturer is going to be able to compete. Yeah, right.

If there's one thing worse than delusional CEOs and companies, it's journalists who repeat their delusions as inevitabilities.