Apple has yet to announce its entry into the much-watched smartwatch category nor declare that its product will indeed be called the iWatch. With buzz surrounding the Sept. 9 press conference reaching fever pitch this weekend, rumors and suggestions doting on what Apple should – and shouldn’t – do are flooding the web.

In an off-color VentureBeat column, analyst Ross Rubin chimes in with ideas and critiques about what it would to make the iWatch resonate with consumers to the level of iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Apple’s elegant and sheerly ‘cool’ design has been just as big with its fans as its software’s seamless ease-of-use. Therefore, the first suggestion from Rubin is that the iWatch “should be jewelry, not a gadget.” Here, Rubin joins a cadre of tech columnists who have all but written off smartwatches from Google, Samsung, LG and Motorola as insufficient to create a new, post-smartphone category. Apple’s ability to create and dominate categories is well-known, and so Rubin suggests the iWatch should be in competition with the likes of premium watch brands Movado and Tag Heuer, firmly putting style and vanity before geek.

The next recommendation from Rubin is the actual hardware and technology aspects of a smartwatch, which are generally viewed as hurdles for the category to move forward to wide use. Where the likes of Samsung and LG have failed to impress (Rubin writes that “most of today’s watches look like little bricks that are worn on one’s wrist”), he suggests Apple’s iWatch must reflect Apple’s innovativeness and deliver a device that overcomes bulkiness, insufficient battery life and poor display screens.

The other main points outlined by Rubin aren’t new but speak to the essence of the smartwatch as the ‘next big thing.’ One of the column’s subheads, in red font, states the iWatch “should be a post-smartphone product, not a smartphone-plus product.” This addresses the inherent duplicity that many writers have written about, that the smartwatches on the market can do some things – such as voice-activated commands – but a smartphone is still necessary to send emails or have a large enough screen to surf the web.