The iWatch is coming soon, but not for everyone. The Apple Watch is a wearable computer, but it’s not an independently functioning one, and requires regular interaction with a smartphone in the user’s pocket in order to handle the kind of higher level computing that something size of a wristwatch can’t perform on its own. And because Apple believes in getting the most out of tightly integrated platforms instead of watering them down for broad compatibility with other hardware, the iWatch will require a current or recent iPhone. That means Android phone users are shut out, at least for now.

Cries of “Apple just isn’t compatible” will ring from the rooftops of Samsung Galaxy users everywhere. But the reality is that Apple believes it can make the iWatch a better product by focusing on integrating it with its own iPhone, which runs a variant of the same system software as the Apple Watch, and that attempting to make the watch compatible with outside technologies like Android would hold back the experience for everyone involved.

You can’t blame Apple for not wanting to develop for Android phones; the fact that so many mobile apps come out for iPhone first, and then only venture into an Android version later if the iPhone version becomes popular, points to just how tricky it is to develop for Android. Part of that comes from the fact that there are hundreds of different Android phones from Samsung and other vendors which don’t adhere to any common standards and aren’t always even compatible with each other. But will Apple take the plunge later on, once the iWatch is a hit with iPhone users?

The answer may lie in Apple’s history on the matter. Back when the iPod first launched, it was compatible only with Mac computers because it relied upon iTunes, and Apple didn’t want to develop iTunes for Windows. After the first few years the iPod was a hit, but Apple knew it was cutting 95% of potential buyers out of the mix, so it opened up the gate to Windows - and the rest is history.

The difference here is that about half of all smartphone users in the United States are iPhone users, a far cry from the old 5% Mac marketshare. There are other nations where the iPhone is much less popular. But Apple believes it can launch the iWatch in America and its other bedrock nations, where it will quickly become a success, and then use that momentum and popularity to launch it in other nations - and by that time, the introduction of the Apple Watch will serve to boost iPhone sales in those regions because many of those who want the watch will be willing to switch smartphones just to get their hands on one.

There is every reason to expect that strategy to work to at least some extent. The long term question is whether it leads to strong enough iWatch sales, and steers enough consumers toward the iPhone, such that Apple’s executives are satisfied with the results. Only if those numbers come up short will Samsung Galaxy and other Android users have a shot at pairing an Apple Watch with a non-Apple smartphone.