We’ll Always Have Apple

Ethan Gach

I write about comics, video games and American politics. I fear death above all things. Just below that is waking up in the morning to go to work. You can follow me on Twitter at @ethangach or at my blog, gamingvulture.tumblr.com. And though my opinions aren’t for hire, my virtue is.

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34 Responses

  1. Aaron says:

    “…replete with euphemistic allusions to gentile size.”

    A typo it is, but sometimes it’s really difficult to resist making a joke….Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    Will people be able to train themselves to look at their wrist when they want to check the time?Report

  3. James Hanley says:

    Apple outsources thousands of its jobs to workers in low paying, poorly regulated economies, and consistently finds ways not to pay taxes on the billions of dollars it makes in profit,

    Eh, the punchline wasn’t really worth the long leadup.Report

  4. Mike Dwyer says:

    I follow the tech industry as much as I possibly can and I think I have a different take on this whole thing. A lot of this comes from Robert Scoble, the tech guru I have written about here before. The fact is, smartwatches are going to be a big thing, despite the jokes about them here and elsewhere. Tech companies are investing a lot of money in them and they are being pretty smart about the features. This is part of the ‘wearables’ phenomenon that has been happening for a couple of years now. Eventually these items are not going to need a phone to pair with and then we’ll never look back.

    While I am far, far, far from being an Apple guy, they do play an important role in the industry. Scoble and others refer to Apple as the force behind ‘normalizing’ tech innovations. Right now smartwatches are a niche for earlier adopters. Apple will make them mainstream. It’s just what they do. They didn’t invent mp3 players…they just took them mainstream. They didn’t invent smartphones…they took them mainstream. This will be no different.Report

  5. zic says:

    I’m holding out for a neural net.Report

  6. Damon says:

    I am no means an early adopter. I’ve had an Apple computer way back when. The ex actually wanted it. I did like that it was “complete” and you didn’t need to buy other hardware or install drivers like the PCs at the time, but otherwise, meh.

    I don’t have an Iphone. For me, a smart phone is a tool. I’m not wedded to apple or android or whatever, and frankly, I don’t understand the love and devotion to apple products, especially when idiots “geniuses” at the apple store give me factually wrong info about products and accessories.

    That being said, it appears that the press is in bed with apple just as much as they are in bed with the gov’t, cia, nsa, etc. Color me suprised!

    https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/04/former-l-times-reporter-cleared-stories-cia-publication/

    Oh, and Ethan @ethan-gach “Indeed, it’s as if there’s something in our national consciousness that needs to believe Apple ever was, and will forever remain, the platonic ideal of artistic and technological innovation.” Was this ever true or is it just good PR?Report

  7. Patrick says:

    Indeed, it’s as if there’s something in our national consciousness that needs to believe Apple ever was, and will forever remain, the platonic ideal of artistic and technological innovation.

    The Cult of Steve is really quite fascinating, as a cultural phenomenon.

    The fact is, smartwatches are going to be a big thing, despite the jokes about them here and elsewhere.

    Unless/until somebody gets on the ball with modularity, all of this stuff is really marketing and not much else, iff’n you ask me.

    I don’t need a phone, or a laptop, or a home computer, or a watch, or smartglasses… I need functions, and I don’t particularly care what they’re embedded in, as long as the form factor suits the purpose.

    Right now, all the manufacturers are trying to sell me form factors with some functions I want and a bunch of them that don’t work in that form factor all crammed into one device.

    Part of this is emergent technology phenomenon: it’s hard to design for function when you’re not really sure which functions people really want. I get that part. But we’ve had these pieces of technology around for a while and nobody’s started taking what we learned from bottom-up adoption and started engineering actual function into form.Report

    • Mike Dwyer in reply to Patrick says:

      Patrick,

      My understanding of the direction they are going for the watches is that they will have two functions:

      1) Act as content filters for your apps.

      2) Assist ‘monitor’ technology like the Fitbit.

      With regards to #1, the watched out now have the ability to filter only certain parts of your FB or Twitter feeds, only show you designated content from a given app, etc. I think that’s probably a decent entry-point into the market. As far as actual usage goes, the public will determine much of this.Report

  8. Jim Heffman says:

    What we’re seeing is that people don’t want “a phone where you can read email”, they want “a portable touchscreen internet-connected device”. And that kind of device needs to be bigger than the first iPhone was.

    But when you have that device, it’s a bit inconvenient to drag it out of your pocket every time you want to, e.g., see what time it is. So you get a watch. But wouldn’t it be useful if that watch could show your calendar, display text messages, do any non-full-screen function? And that’s what a smart watch is.Report

  9. Damon says:

    Neural chip please….

    ala “Oath of Feality”Report