Page Six reports that will.i.am was asked about his feelings on the Apple Watch during a talk at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France.
will.i.am said that he was at the gym when he saw someone wearing an Apple Watch with an iPhone 6 strapped to their arm. "I went to work out and I was like, that s-?-t is weird," he said.
It makes sense for will.i.am to publicly criticise the Apple Watch - he's trying to launch his own smartwatch, the i.am+ PULS.
The PULS has had a disastrous launch, though. The Verge called it "the worst product I've touched all year," and Gizmodo said that it was "so bad I'm actually kind of impressed."
Even worse, there's little evidence that anyone has actually bought a PULS.
will.i.am's comment won't go down at Apple, which has repeatedly invited the musician to its events even though he's launching competing products. will.i.am holds a founder stake in Beats, which Apple acquired in 2014. It even invited him to the launch of the Apple Watch in September 2014:
http://t.co/tQxk5bUVaL and Angela Ahrendts are in the house (via @lkahney) pic.twitter.com/RGtg7KoW3w
- Buster Hein (@bst3r) September 9, 2014