A top developer said the Apple Watch is a 'confused product' — and lots of people agree

Marco Arment, a developer who helped found Tumblr and then Instapaper, has written a blog post describing the Apple Watch as a "confused product" that needs to be "rethought to do less, better."

"The Apple Watch is a confused product, designed like a tiny iPhone," Arment writes. "To be great, the Apple Watch needs to be rethought to do less, better."

Arment has now ditched his Apple Watch for a mechanical one.

John Gruber, a top Apple blogger who ditched his Watch in November last year, linked to Arment's blog post and offered an agreement.

"[The lack of software] is a huge part of the appeal of mechanical watches for me," he wrote. "No electricity. Just mechanics. They’re tangible in a way that software never can be."

A number of high-profile Apple blogger, developers, and watchers linked to the piece on Twitter, offering agreement.

—Guy English (@gte) February 6, 2016

—John Biggs (@johnbiggs) February 6, 2016

—Justin Duke (@justinmduke) February 5, 2016

Some of the initial reviews of the Watch also expressed concern about the complexity of the software, which is essentially a paired-down version of the iPhone's.

"On first use, the device felt a little confusing and clumsy," wrote Stephen Pulvirent in a review for Bloomberg. "Sometimes it seemed to do one thing; at other times, just the opposite."

"At first, it was really cool ... But I suspect some buyers will feel overwhelmed by all the things you can do with the Apple Watch," wrote Rachel Metz for the MIT Technology Review.

Wristly, a research firm, found that some users who ditched the Apple Watch blamed the performance, likely driven by the complexity of third-party apps.

For its part, Apple touts the high satisfaction with the Watch — around 96% of users are happy — as a sign that the product is popular.

Apple does not break out sales of the Watch specifically, but revenues for the "Other" group of products — which includes the Watch and new Apple TV — grew around 40% year-over-year to $4.3 billion (£3 billion) in the three months leading up to January.

Apple is expected to announce an updated version of the Watch in March, alongside a smaller iPhone and updated iPad Air.