Amongst a chorus of boos, hisses, and splattered fruit, we think the Galaxy Gear is a breakthrough product. It's imperfect, but it's a very strong debut, and by far the most exciting wearable computing device that you can buy today.

When thinking about the press' generally negative response to the Gear, we can't help but remember Samsung's original Galaxy Note. At launch, it too drew a largely unenthusiastic, lackluster response from critics. Samsung was mocked mercilessly, especially by the Apple faithful, for centering a lavish marketing campaign around a giant-sized phone that uses a stylus.

But guess what? Customers ultimately voted quite differently with their wallets. The Note sold in bunches, made the phablet a legitimate product category, and became a surprise hit. Sure, it had a lot of help from Samsung's clever and well-funded marketing machine, but so will the Galaxy Gear.