9 ms·

Watches, phones, and music players also all existed for a long time, and weren't a huge leap. Sure, smart watches were called revolutionary, but the first Appl

by hnbear 4y ago

Watches, phones, and music players also all existed for a long time, and weren't a huge leap. Sure, smart watches were called revolutionary, but the first Apple Watch told the time and was fun but mostly unusable for much else. The notifications popped up, but actual interaction was so slow. But that's fine. It was great to have a watch (a >100 year old device), that shows texts. Same for phones - it was just iterative, but done well. Music players - obviously, around for a long, long time, and people were well used to portable tape, CD, and minidisk players, and even basic MP3 players existed. This is a genuinely evolutionary change. People aren't used to information privately beamed to their eye-balls, walking around with glasses sure, but those don't provide information like a mechanical watch did, so not sure that's the analogy. It's a Mac all over again - something actually new, interesting, and needing a killer app.

ulfw 4y ago
But there was a significant and fast growing market for watches, smartphones and MP3 players. Where is that for VR headsets? It's neither a huge installed market (watches) nor is it fast growing (smartphones late 2000s).
- rgbrgb 4y ago
  Agreement phrased as rebuttal?
- toast0 4y ago
  I'm no fan of Apple, but my impression is that Apple's involvement significantly grew the market of smartwatches, smartphones, and mp3 players. There's a reason people think Apple invented them. I'm a grump, and don't see how you could make VR headsets into a mass market product at this time, but Apple has been good at doing that in the past; MP3 players were probably going to boom otherwise, smartwatches were a bit of a fizzle (imho), but Apple inspired everyone to become smartphone zombies in a way that BlackBerry and Nokia couldn't. Which is not to say everything they touch is gold. AirPorts are dead. Xserve is dead. Not sure if I should mention 90s failures like Newton and Pippin. Apple TV doesn't seem to have the broad reach into non-Apple users that iPod had, etc.
  - hnbear 4y ago
    I think Airports died out when Apple realized they didn't need to drive that segment. They were the first decent Wifi APs, and pushed wifi hard as a standard, putting 802.11 into everything very quickly. When every ISP starting bundling APs with their modems it was pointless to compete. Airport Express isn't necessary any more either - they've been replace with HomePods and HomePod Minis. It would be nice to have a dedicated Apple Timemachine box, but plenty of other devices exist in that segment. I think if they wanted they could come up with a mesh solution, or build it into HomePods. But, it's not really necessary, and not an area they'll sell in quantities that make a difference to them. AppleTV is actually a pretty fantastic product, and I love mine, putting them onto TVs, especially the modern ad-filled smart TVs. Dumb TVs are hard to find, so I just don't both connecting the TV to a network, and purely use an AppleTV. The interface beats anything I've seen natively on a TV, and I trust it more than Samsung, LG, etc.
woobar 4y ago
> first Apple Watch told the time and was fun but mostly unusable for much else. I had 1st gen watch till 2019 and my usage pattern hardly changed with the newer versions: - clock and weather information - notifications - Apple Pay - exercise tracking What else are you using it now?
- hnbear 4y ago
  Not a huge amount more. I loved my first-gen too, but seldom even tried to hit the buttons to do anything. It was time + looking at notifications. Everything else was too slow. I use it for things like timers, eg. cooking, quite a lot. I have high blood pressure, so like the other health features, which have improved a lot. Pretty nice for directions, and it can store music now to use, which is handy. I think a lot of features, even the basic ones have improved a lot too, to the point it's hard to remember that the first was pretty basic. Maybe I'm mis-remembering and the rest of the world has also caught up to the wonders of tap to pay, and wallet/etickets. Somewhere in the last couple of years realistically not carrying a phone became more of a reality.
- scarface74 4y ago
  I use my (3rd gen) Apple Watch while I’m running. It can stream music directly, has its own cellular connection and GPS. You couldn’t do that with the first gen.

by hnbear 4y ago

ulfw 4y ago

But there was a significant and fast growing market for watches, smartphones and MP3 players. Where is that for VR headsets? It's neither a huge installed market (watches) nor is it fast growing (smartphones late 2000s).

rgbrgb 4y ago
Agreement phrased as rebuttal?
toast0 4y ago
I'm no fan of Apple, but my impression is that Apple's involvement significantly grew the market of smartwatches, smartphones, and mp3 players. There's a reason people think Apple invented them. I'm a grump, and don't see how you could make VR headsets into a mass market product at this time, but Apple has been good at doing that in the past; MP3 players were probably going to boom otherwise, smartwatches were a bit of a fizzle (imho), but Apple inspired everyone to become smartphone zombies in a way that BlackBerry and Nokia couldn't. Which is not to say everything they touch is gold. AirPorts are dead. Xserve is dead. Not sure if I should mention 90s failures like Newton and Pippin. Apple TV doesn't seem to have the broad reach into non-Apple users that iPod had, etc.
- hnbear 4y ago
  I think Airports died out when Apple realized they didn't need to drive that segment. They were the first decent Wifi APs, and pushed wifi hard as a standard, putting 802.11 into everything very quickly. When every ISP starting bundling APs with their modems it was pointless to compete. Airport Express isn't necessary any more either - they've been replace with HomePods and HomePod Minis. It would be nice to have a dedicated Apple Timemachine box, but plenty of other devices exist in that segment. I think if they wanted they could come up with a mesh solution, or build it into HomePods. But, it's not really necessary, and not an area they'll sell in quantities that make a difference to them. AppleTV is actually a pretty fantastic product, and I love mine, putting them onto TVs, especially the modern ad-filled smart TVs. Dumb TVs are hard to find, so I just don't both connecting the TV to a network, and purely use an AppleTV. The interface beats anything I've seen natively on a TV, and I trust it more than Samsung, LG, etc.

woobar 4y ago

> first Apple Watch told the time and was fun but mostly unusable for much else. I had 1st gen watch till 2019 and my usage pattern hardly changed with the newer versions: - clock and weather information - notifications - Apple Pay - exercise tracking What else are you using it now?

hnbear 4y ago
Not a huge amount more. I loved my first-gen too, but seldom even tried to hit the buttons to do anything. It was time + looking at notifications. Everything else was too slow. I use it for things like timers, eg. cooking, quite a lot. I have high blood pressure, so like the other health features, which have improved a lot. Pretty nice for directions, and it can store music now to use, which is handy. I think a lot of features, even the basic ones have improved a lot too, to the point it's hard to remember that the first was pretty basic. Maybe I'm mis-remembering and the rest of the world has also caught up to the wonders of tap to pay, and wallet/etickets. Somewhere in the last couple of years realistically not carrying a phone became more of a reality.
scarface74 4y ago
I use my (3rd gen) Apple Watch while I’m running. It can stream music directly, has its own cellular connection and GPS. You couldn’t do that with the first gen.