31 ms·

so true - but don't you think that it's only a matter of time? Some of the futuristic applications that we only imagine today are probably not that far away...

• duaneb 11y ago
  > but don't you think that it's only a matter of time? If there were a killer app for a watch, it would be out already. Most people just don't want a crippled computer strapped to their wrist except as a status symbol.
  • MCRed 11y ago
    All of these criticisms could have been made about the iPhone (and were-- regarding the keyboard being virtual) or the iPad (I personally couldn't figure out what the compelling app was for the iPad).... but once the platform is out there, you find out what it is. It turned out the iPhone's compelling app was the app itself. Previously people paid $4/month to carriers for crappy junk. For the iPad it was actually browsing, though a lot of other near computer type apps work great on it. Here's the thing-- whatever the compelling reason is, Apple kept the product in gestation long enough to figure out what it was before releasing it. All three of these products were in gestation for a long time. People lampooned the iPad before it was released with "why would anyone want a device just to brows the web while on the toilet???". I don't know what the compelling app is for the watch--- I suspect it's actually being notified by your phone without having to pull your phone out. But if there isn't a compelling app, then this would be a huge change from Apple. They've been pretty consistent in knowing the killer app, or category, before releasing the product-- even though it's often not obvious to us when we buy the first version.
    • minthd 11y ago
      With regards to the tablet, the killer app is the big screen. Once you know people use their phone on the sofa and bed(and Apple surely did know that) plus the fact that people prefer large screens(They also did know that), the tablet usecase is simple. The only question why did nobody release something before them. Could have been luck. Could have been that they worked on a tablet long before.Could have been Apple's amazing supply chain Could have been some other business reason. But i think it was just a matter of time till someone releasing a tablet. And btw ,nokia had a device similar to the tablet a few years before the ipad(and even before the iphone), but they didn't made a product of it.
      • mercer 11y ago
        I think the iPad did well partly for the same reasons that the iPhone did well despite not being the first 'smartphone': an easy, slick user interface and decent/great hardware. The fact that the iPad had tons of apps (which the iPhone didn't) probably helped. Another factor might be timing. The iPhone, and by extension other smartphones, laid the groundwork for making it socially more acceptable to use these kinds of devices. I vividly recall being a bit embarrassed to pull out my geeky 'PDA' in the dumbphone days, and I felt much less of that when I got the iPad (while none of the people around me had one).
    • aetherson 11y ago
      With regards to smartphones: this just isn't true. The compelling app on the iPhone was not third-party apps (they didn't even exist at launch!), it was browser + messaging + camera + maps. That was clear form day one, and while you're right that some people argued for a physical keyboard and they have been proven wrong by history, the fundamental value prop of the iPhone was absolutely not a blank-slate platform that people kind of figured out what to do with. The value prop was "we know that you want to get emails on the go, look up simple things on the web, have a more convenient UI to your text messages, have a camera on hand, and be able to navigate." Apps came later, as a differentiating point against other smartphones, not as the value prop of the smartphone as a platform. Tablets: I think that the doubters have been proven right by history. Sales are way, way down on tablets -- largely because they just aren't that useful.