I think the key here is ecosystem. The problem in the past is that your watch, pda, mp3, phone, laptop, and TV SetTop Box desktop were all separate ecosystems.
I'd rather have countless specialized workers all part of the same 'collective' than trying to engineer integration between 5-10 different systems.
Even if they didn't evolve from the same HW/SW design base, their integration frameworks are seamlessly integrated.
ITMS. AppleID. Secure Enclave. AppStore. iCloud. iWork. A heckuva lot more important than the A7 chip or gorilla glass or AAC vs MP3 (and they are important).
That's why an iPod and an iPhone and AppleTV and Mac iTunes work well together, and why MS has failed so badly in the consumer market (I'm a man of a certain age, where you ability to integrate your work environment through PERL, batch scripts, helper apps, DCL, TCL, was a mark of distinction... now it's poor use of a stubborn person's time.)
Again, alluding to the baseball analogy (I know I said I wouldn't), I'd rather have 12 utility players and one or 2 big hitters who 'know how to play the game as a team', than 12 big hitters who take 3 big cuts every at bat, because 'home runs' are the only thing that is important.
Very well said. An iPod without iTunes would have been a flop. The iPhone and iPad sell each other. Whatever Apple rolls out that is supposed to strap to our wrists (and it won't primarily be a watch), will fit into this ecosystem in a great way (or they simply won't release it). Apple is not going to stick an old iPhone into a watch, stick a low price on it, and toss it into the market. It might sell, but it wouldn't fit their corporate vision.
Apple innovation has turned into 90% Form and 10% Function anymore. I expect and iMac "Air" that is a few pounds lighter and 1mm thinner. I expect an AppleTV "Air" that is half the size but function is similar. Maybe a bigger/thinner iPhone (which I am up for :-) )
I'm glad to hear an analyst lowering expectations for the impact of a new product. There's been so much "Apple can't innovate without Steve Jobs" nonsense that I've begun to worry it could make Tim Cook hesitate to pull the trigger. Hiring industry experts, as Cook has done for some sort of wearable device, may look like bold moves toward a new product, but it could also be a stalling tactic or a sign that Apple is afraid to make a misstep.
The longer Apple goes without a new product line, the louder the "Apple is doomed" chant will become and the more pressure Tim Cook will be under to hit an iPad sized home run. Better to swing for an on-base hit now than take three strikes looking for the pitch you can knock out of the park.
I think it would be OK if an "iWatch" was basically a watch. A relatively dumb display that relied on an iPhone for its smarts. Kind of like CarPlay for your arm (don't call it ArmPlay, though!). The main function would be to display the time (what a concept!) and maybe weather when commanded, but also to relay alerts from your phone: who's calling/texting, alarms, etc...that would pretty much be it. I suppose Bluetooth LE would be the way to do this. So no calling or data entry or picture taking from your wrist. Don't bother! Perhaps a simple touch or gesture to make a message go away--if a message/alert is important enough, pull your phone out and deal with it there. Ideally, a clear, sharp color display (this might actually be where OLED would be a good idea).
This simplified concept should then allow these essential features: a slim profile, excellent battery life, and hopefully a price less than $200.
I've seen some watch products get close, but it still seems they try to do too much, compromise, and miss one or more of the features above.
I bought my daughter and myself the original iPhones when they first came out. I gave her my white Intel MacBook to go to university, I bought her a macbookpro for med school and a 3G, 3GS, 4, 4s, and an iPhone 5. When I look at the orig. iPhone compared to the 5s and the orig. MacBook (Intel white) compared to the MacBook Air or MBpro, it's incredible the difference btwn the products! I also bought her all the iPads... The mini is her fav. B/c it fits in the pocket of her white coat!
A terribly important analyst has decreed that, unbeknownst to Apple, they don't have to introduce a genre-defining once-in-a-generation type of product like the iPhone every year.
For the millionth time, Apple has launched a bunch of products that did not pan out either. They have had a good run starting with the I-Pod, other devices that built on the I-Pod (I-Phone and I-Pad) as well as with Mac OS X. But get this.
1. Apple has not come out with a new product that is not an iteration of the I-Pod. (I-Phone = I-Pod touch + telephone, I-Pad = large I-Pod touch, App Store = ITunes Store, etc.) Until they do, analysts are going to prefer companies that are trying new things, or at least trying new ways to achieve what Apple and other companies have done. Android (a free, open source OS) is new, even if it is often (but not always) used to emulate Apple products. Social networking is new, or at least newer than Apple's I-line. ChromeOS, FirefoxOS? New. Chromecast and Amazon's new offering? New, or newer than Apple TV. Wearables? New, and who knows it may actually catch on in a year or 3 like it took the I-Pod, I-Phone and I-Pad to. Maybe it just needs someone to come out with a practical device, and a Chinese chip manufacturer (the same one behind the $100 Android tablets that are, well better than the other Chinese Android tablets) that may make them possible: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2138640/newton-is-the-first-mipsbased-minicomputer-for-wearables.html
I still say that the ticket is a standalone smart watch that doesn't need to be tethered to a phone. It is already technologically feasible, even if at this point it is only capable of a very cheap or very early smart phone. Firefox should come out with $200 standalone smart watches for this market instead of $25 smart phones for developing markets, for instance.
2. You guys need to get your gripes consistent. First, you bash other companies for ripping off Apple (even when they haven't ripped off Apple you guys still claim that they have, like DED did yesterday). Then you guys bash other companies for trying to innovate. Again, what is it that you want? For Apple to be the only technology company on the planet?
I hope Amazon's stick doesn't flop because I plan to buy it :-). I already have a ton of apps bought through their Kindle store (don't ask ... I was playing around with a cheap Chinese tablet that I bought for programming purposes, turned out it didn't have Google Play) that are waiting for just such a device. I bought an Apple TV but returned it because A) AirPlay didn't work with my last generation I-Pod Touch and it did not have Amazon Prime. (Yes, there are people out there capable of appreciating Apple, Android AND Windows products ... I personally get whatever gets the job done that I am willing to pay for. Thinking of getting the latest I-Pad as a Christmas present for the wife as her 3 year old Android tablet cannot play the latest, best apps. She would LOVE the Office for Android on it and likely never use her Windows laptop again.)
But Apple is already best suited to come out with a streaming box that is capable of fully maximizing its potential just by leveraging what is already in its ecosystem. Really, all they need to do is marry the existing Apple TV and I-Pod touch functionality and they have a grand slam.
You're planning to buy Amazon stock? You must be a very giving type of person.
Apple's next product? They desperately need to focus on substantially improving if not perfecting the software products and processes they do have.
iBooks is really awful. The syncing between iBooks on iOS and the cloud (ibooks on the mac) performs poorly. One cannot change the info about the iBooks, especially the PDFs one might import. In iBooks (and Kindle and Nook, etc) one cannot have multiple documents (books) open at the same time.
Apple's iWork, iBooks Author and ePub do not support math and science symbols. Needs to get done.
iBooks does not support highlighting or placing notes in imported PDF documents. Needs to.
iBooks does not support support the kind of note taking that is required for "digesting" book content.
Every single thing you have said is wrong. You clearly have more money than sense.
Comments
I think the key here is ecosystem. The problem in the past is that your watch, pda, mp3, phone, laptop, and TV SetTop Box desktop were all separate ecosystems.
I'd rather have countless specialized workers all part of the same 'collective' than trying to engineer integration between 5-10 different systems.
Even if they didn't evolve from the same HW/SW design base, their integration frameworks are seamlessly integrated.
ITMS. AppleID. Secure Enclave. AppStore. iCloud. iWork. A heckuva lot more important than the A7 chip or gorilla glass or AAC vs MP3 (and they are important).
That's why an iPod and an iPhone and AppleTV and Mac iTunes work well together, and why MS has failed so badly in the consumer market (I'm a man of a certain age, where you ability to integrate your work environment through PERL, batch scripts, helper apps, DCL, TCL, was a mark of distinction... now it's poor use of a stubborn person's time.)
Again, alluding to the baseball analogy (I know I said I wouldn't), I'd rather have 12 utility players and one or 2 big hitters who 'know how to play the game as a team', than 12 big hitters who take 3 big cuts every at bat, because 'home runs' are the only thing that is important.
Very well said. An iPod without iTunes would have been a flop. The iPhone and iPad sell each other. Whatever Apple rolls out that is supposed to strap to our wrists (and it won't primarily be a watch), will fit into this ecosystem in a great way (or they simply won't release it). Apple is not going to stick an old iPhone into a watch, stick a low price on it, and toss it into the market. It might sell, but it wouldn't fit their corporate vision.
Apple innovation has turned into 90% Form and 10% Function anymore. I expect and iMac "Air" that is a few pounds lighter and 1mm thinner. I expect an AppleTV "Air" that is half the size but function is similar. Maybe a bigger/thinner iPhone (which I am up for :-) )
The longer Apple goes without a new product line, the louder the "Apple is doomed" chant will become and the more pressure Tim Cook will be under to hit an iPad sized home run. Better to swing for an on-base hit now than take three strikes looking for the pitch you can knock out of the park.
I think it would be OK if an "iWatch" was basically a watch. A relatively dumb display that relied on an iPhone for its smarts. Kind of like CarPlay for your arm (don't call it ArmPlay, though!). The main function would be to display the time (what a concept!) and maybe weather when commanded, but also to relay alerts from your phone: who's calling/texting, alarms, etc...that would pretty much be it. I suppose Bluetooth LE would be the way to do this. So no calling or data entry or picture taking from your wrist. Don't bother! Perhaps a simple touch or gesture to make a message go away--if a message/alert is important enough, pull your phone out and deal with it there. Ideally, a clear, sharp color display (this might actually be where OLED would be a good idea).
This simplified concept should then allow these essential features: a slim profile, excellent battery life, and hopefully a price less than $200.
I've seen some watch products get close, but it still seems they try to do too much, compromise, and miss one or more of the features above.
P.s. "Got her mother's brains!"
Best
I-P
Stop doing that.
Phew!!! Apple can breathe easy!
No, we just want you to think before you write.
You're planning to buy Amazon stock? You must be a very giving type of person.
Every single thing you have said is wrong. You clearly have more money than sense.